Raymond Sommer

Raymond Sommer
Sommer in 1932
BornPierre Raymond Sommer
(1906-08-31)31 August 1906
Mouzon, Ardennes, France
Died10 September 1950(1950-09-10) (aged 44)
Cadours, Haute-Garonne, France
Championship titles
Major victories
24 Hours of Le Mans (1932, 1933)
Formula One World Championship career
NationalityFrance French
Active years1950
TeamsFerrari, Talbot-Lago (works and non-works)
Entries5
Championships0
Wins0
Podiums0
Career points3
Pole positions0
Fastest laps0
First entry1950 Monaco Grand Prix
Last entry1950 Italian Grand Prix
Champ Car career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish10th (1936)
First race1936 Vanderbilt Cup (Westbury)
Wins Podiums Poles
0 0 0
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years19311935, 19371939, 1950
Teamsde Costier, privateer, Chinetti
Best finish1st (1932, 1933)
Class wins2 (1932, 1933)

Pierre Raymond Sommer (31 August 1906 – 10 September 1950)[1] was a French racing driver.[2] He raced both before and after WWII with some success, particularly in endurance racing. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race in both 1932 and 1933, and although he did not reach the finishing line in any subsequent appearance at the Le Mans, he did lead each event until 1938. Sommer was also competitive at the highest level in Grand Prix motor racing, but did not win a race. He won the French Grand Prix in 1936, but the event that year was run as a sports car race.

After European racing resumed in the late 1940s, Sommer again won a number of sports car and minor Grand Prix events, and finished in fourth place in the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix, the second round of the newly-instituted Formula One World Drivers' Championship. He was killed toward the end of 1950, when his car overturned during a race at the Circuit de Cadours.

  1. ^ "Motorsport Memorial - Raymond Sommer". Motorsport Memorial. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  2. ^ "Driver – Raymond Sommer". chicanef1.com. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2016.