Rondeau M379 - 1979

Born and raised in Le Mans, Rondeau developed a passion for motor racing and began competing in touring and sports cars at a very young age. He made his debut ‘at home’ in 1972 with Chevron, withdrawing after a few laps. During the following years, he continued racing with private teams, notably driving Porsches and Mazdas. In 1976, he produced a prototype with which he competed in two editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car, named after his sponsor, Inaltéra, won the GTP class on both occasions ( first with Pescarolo and Beltoise at the wheel, then with Rondeau and Ragnotti), achieving an excellent fourth place overall in the second year. And yet, at the end of the season, the team was discontinued.

The design studies remained the property of Rondeau, who used them to build a new car now bearing his name: the Rondeau M378. He retained the basic tubular trellis structure with aluminium reinforcements, the braking system and the Ford-Cosworth V8 DFV engine, which Rondeau preferred to the locally produced V6 PRV due to its superior performance. In addition, the car was fitted with a new aerodynamic body designed and built specifically for Le Mans by a group of engineers known as Bureau d'Études Ovale. The car finished well behind the Alpines and the Porsche 936 and 935, yet it secured ninth place overall and took first place in the GTP Class.

Then in 1979, Rondeau prepared the M379, a slight evolution of the M378 with very few changes to the structure and mechanics, but with a few aerodynamic refinements. Three models were produced: the first, which was none other than an improved version of the M378 from the previous year, retaining its GTP homologation. Rondeau himself and Jacky Haran drove this car, but it failed to finish the race.  The two new cars, both entered in the over 2-litre Sport Class, performed better: the N°5 car, with Bernard Darniche and Jean Ragnotti at the wheel, won its class and finished fifth overall behind four Porsches (935 and 934), while the N°4 car, with Henri Pescarolo and Jean-Pierre Beltoise at the wheel, finished tenth.

Then in 1980, after a further development of three new cars, the M379B, there was an historic one-two finish: the winning car was the one in the hands of Rondeau and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, who managed to maintain their lead over the faster Porsche 908 driven by Jacky Ickx and Reinhold Joest, followed by the Rondeau driven by Philippe and Jean-Michel Martin and Gordon Spice. A third M379B, driven by Pescarolo and Ragnotti, who had secured pole position, was forced to withdraw. In 1981, the M379C occupied two of the lower podium places, 14 laps behind the untouchable Porsche 936/81 with Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell at the wheel.