He never made the grade in Formula 1 but this flying Dutchman was no slouch in a Porsche. Now in his eighties, he recalls his pivotal drives and a life-long desire to go faster, faster, faster
INTERVIEW BY PAUL FEARNLEY
RACING LIVES THE MOTOR SPORT INTERVIEW
Formula 1 has gone Dutch. Max Verstappen’s domination with Red Bull plays out before an orange backdrop: hats, smoke, T-shirts. He has also put Zandvoort back on the grand prix map after 36 years in the wilderness. Dutch drivers (even those born in Belgium) haven’t always been so hi-viz.
Much has changed – albeit gradually until very recently – since a speed-happy six-year-old badgered his father into taking him to Zandvoort’s maiden international race in 1948: “I saw Prince Bira win!” Raised a few miles from this seaside circuit, the formative Gijs van Lennep would thereafter often cycle from Aerdenhout to sneak under its fence and watch his racing heroes. There, he would also learn car control at Rob Slotemaker’s famous skid school, make his F1 debut and register his first F1 point.
His, however, would be a spasmodic F1 career – eight starts spread between three teams over five years – counterbalanced by consistent sports car success, mainly with Porsche, and including a brace of Le Mans wins as well as victory in the final true Targa Florio.
An all-rounder from the Vic Elford mould – van Lennep finished sixth in the 1966 Tulip Rally in a 911 co-driven by elder brother David – he was renowned as a safe pair of hands: surefooted in the wet, mechanically sympathetic and formidably quick when circumstances demanded – witness his fastest lap at Le Mans in 1972 in Jo Bonnier’s ill-fated Lola.
That this – plus the 1972 European Formula 5000 title – did not create a fair crack at F1 was the frustration that led him to retire, at 34. Now a fit and chatty 81, he’s gotten over it. Of course, it helped that he went out in style: winning the most important endurance race for the category’s most iconic marque, alongside its greatest exponent.
Motor Sport:Had you made public your F1 retirement before your 1976 Le Mans win?
GVL: Yes. I had finished sixth – Ensign’s first Formula 1 world championship point – in the 1975 German Grand Prix, from 24th on the grid! You’d think that they would have been happy. I rang one of the sponsors – brothers, whose company did security at Schiphol airport – and the first thing he said was, “Van Lennep, you drove a bad race.” I replied, “OK, bye bye!��
