1980 will be always remembered as the year when history was made in the 24 Hours of Le Mans: backed by Total, Jean Rondeau won the race in a car that he designed and built himself, the Rondeau M379-Ford, in association with Jean-Pierre Jaussaud.
Back then, local driver Jean Rondeau took on the might of Martini Racing’s Porsche 908s driven by Reinhold Joest and Jacky Ickx, with three M379 models (two group 6 cars and a GTP). Powered by V8 Ford Cosworth engines developing around 460 bhp, the cars’ main quality was their reliability. With treacherous conditions greeting competitors at the start, Jean Rondeau and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud adopted a cautious approach in the early stages. The sister car driven by Pescarolo and Ragnotti, which had started in pole position, was leading the race after ten hours of racing when it was forced to retire with a broken cylinder head gasket. From that point onwards, the pressure was on Jean Rondeau and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, but they kept in touch with the Porsche during the night, until the favourite suffered a gearbox problem in the early hours of Sunday morning. At the point, Rondeau – and Total – were within touching distance of the overall win. However, a heavy storm hit the track at the end of the race, resulting in a huge scare for Jean Rondeau. He aquaplaned at the Dunlop curve but fortunately escaped unscathed from the incident and was able to continue. In the end, Total’s standard bearers Jean Rondeau and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud crossed the finishing line as overall winners. Rondeau’s incredible achievement – winning the race with a car he designed and built himself – remains unmatched today, whilst Jean-Pierre Jaussaud secured his second victory at Le Mans after first winning the race in 1978 with the Alpine-Renault A442B, this time in ELF colors.