Equipe Alméras Frères (French: ''Alméras Brothers Team'') is a French

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

team founded by

Jean-Marie Alméras Jean-Marie Alméras (born 13 September 1943 in Montpellier, France) is a French former racing driver and co-founder of Alméras Frères with his brother Jacques Alméras Jacques Alméras (born 30 January 1949 in Montpellier) is a French form ...

and his brother

Jacques Alméras Jacques Alméras (born 30 January 1949 in Montpellier) is a French former racing driver and co-founder of Alméras Frères Equipe Alméras Frères (French: ''Alméras Brothers Team'') is a French auto racing team founded by Jean-Marie Alméras ...

in 1971. The racing team is an extension of the automotive dealership in

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

through which the brothers tune, develop, and restore

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

s, in which the team is commonly known as Porsche Alméras. Early success in French and European

hill climb Hillclimbing, also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing, or speed hill climbing, is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. It is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, since the firs ...

s led to

rallying Rallying is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (sometimes called "rally racing" in United States), navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed ...

efforts across Europe, including overall victories at the

Monte Carlo Rally The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo) is a rallying event organized each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. From its inception in 1911 by Albert I, Prince of Monaco, Prince Albert I, the rally ...

and

Tour de Corse The Tour de Corse is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica. It was the French round of the World Rally Championship from the inaugural 1973 season until 2008, was part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge from 2011 to 2012, and ...

, and the full support of Porsche in developing their

911 911, 9/11 or Nine Eleven may refer to: Dates * AD 911 * 911 BC * September 11 ** The 2001 September 11 attacks on the United States by al-Qaeda, commonly referred to as 9/11 ** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that ousted the ...

model for rallying. Small forays into

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing that uses sports cars with two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built Sports prototype, sports prototypes, which are the highest level in sports car racing; or grand to ...

in the 1970s eventually shifted to the team running sports cars full-time in the 1980s, including multiple participations at the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

and eventually an effort in the

World Sportscar Championship The World Sportscar Championship was the world Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing series run for sports car racing, sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), from 1953 World Sportscar Championship, 1953 t ...

. By the 1990s the team returned to hill climbs and rallying while participating in French circuit championships including the

Porsche Carrera Cup Porsche Carrera Cup (sometimes abbreviated PCC) is a number of one-make racing by Porsche premier series competed with, initially Porsche 911 Carrera Cup, then later Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. The cars are specifically built by Porsche for on ...

. Jacques' son

Philippe Alméras Philippe is a masculine given name, cognate to Philip, and sometimes also a surname. The name may refer to: * Philippe of Belgium (born 1960), King of the Belgians (2013–present) * Philippe (footballer) (born 2000), Brazilian footballer * Prince ...

began driving for the team in the late 1990s before partnering with Jean-Pierre Champeau to create Pro GT by Alméras, a new team to continue the Alméras family name. Following success in several French sports car championships, Pro GT currently participates in the

Porsche Supercup The Porsche Supercup (officially known as Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, known as Porsche Michelin Supercup prior to 2007 and often abbreviated as PSC) is an international One-design racing, one-make production stock car racing series supporting the ...

and

Porsche Carrera Cup France Porsche Carrera Cup France is a Spec racing, one make motor racing championship held in France. The cars are Porsche 911 GT3#Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (Type 991.2) with 4.0 liters, Flat-six engine, flat-6 naturally aspirated engines that pr ...

. Equipe Alméras continues to participate in

historic motorsport Historic motorsport or vintage motorsport, is motorsport with vehicles limited to a particular era. Only safety precautions are modernized in these hobbyist races. A historical event can be of various types of motorsport disciplines, from road ...

events with restorations of their own cars, still driven by Jean-Marie, while Jacques manages the company.

History

Jean-Marie Alméras began his racing career in

karts Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size moto ...

at the age of 16, earning a reputation in France for the construction of his own karts. In 1966 he opened a body shop to develop karts as well as improvements for road cars. Feeling the need to test his road car offerings, Jean-Marie was joined by his younger brother Jacques as

co-driver A co-driver is the navigator of a rally car in the sport of rallying, who sits in the front passenger seat. The co-driver's job is to navigate, commonly by reading off a set of pacenotes to the driver (what lies ahead, where to turn, the severity ...

to tackle the Critérium des Cévennes in their

Peugeot 204 The Peugeot 204 is a small family car produced by the French manufacturer Peugeot between 1965 and 1976. The 204, known in development as Project D12, was available in many body styles including a sedan/saloon/berline, convertible/cabriolet, ...

. Jean-Marie and Jacques later sought support from an automotive manufacturer, making their first negotiations with French

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French automobile brand owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was established in 1810, making it the oldest car company in the world. On 20 November 1858, Émile Peugeot applie ...

and

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

before finally settling with Porsche. Jacques began to take his share of driving duties as well, competing in the Critérium des Cévennes and

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

with used Porsches, but eventually selling to customers the modifications they had made to their own cars. In 1971 the brothers formally created Equipe Alméras Frères and invested in a pair of

Porsche 911 The Porsche 911 model series (pronounced ''Nine Eleven'' or in ) is a family of German two-door, high performance Rear-engine design, rear-engine sports cars, introduced in September 1964 by Porsche, Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. Now in it ...

s for the

French Hill Climb Championship The French hill climb championship, or Championnat de France de la Montagne started in 1967 and rapidly became one of the continent's most competitive national series. For much of its history, the leading cars have been from Formula 2 (later Form ...

, Jacques competing in a Carrera RSR and Jean-Marie competing in a 911 S. The brothers won the championship in their respective classes consecutively from 1973 to 1975. Equipe Alméras also expands to sports car racing, entering a customer Porsche in the

1976 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 44th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 12 and 13 June 1976. This year the FIA introduced its new Group 5 (racing)#4th Generation Group 5 – “Special Production Cars” (1976 to 1982), Group 5 and Gr ...

where the team finished 23rd overall. The brothers began competing in the

European Hill Climb Championship The FIA European Hill Climb Championship (FIA EHC) is an FIA-run motorsport competition held across Europe on closed public road courses. Unlike circuit racing, each driver competes alone, starting from a point at the base of a mountain and rea ...

after conquering the French series, replacing their cars with newer and more powerful

Porsche 934 The Porsche 934 is a racing version of the Porsche 911 Turbo, prepared to FIA Group 4 rules, similar to the Porsche 935 which was prepared to FIA Group 5 rules. History The Porsche 934 was introduced for the 1976 racing season. It was manufact ...

s and

935 Year 935 ( CMXXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Arnulf I ("the Bad") of Bavaria invades Italy, crossing through the Upper Adige (modern Tyrol). He proceeds ...

s. Jean-Marie becomes the European champion three years in a row with his 935, while Jacques won the touring car category title in the same years. The brothers also finished the French championship in first and second in 1978 before concentrating fully on the European campaign. The 1978 campaign also involved Equipe Alméras' involvement in the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...

preparing a 911 SC for

Jean-Pierre Nicolas Jean-Pierre Nicolas (born 22 January 1945) is a French former rally driver who competed mainly in the 1970s. Nicolas took five WRC event wins in the World Rally Championship. His best result in the drivers' championship was second with 31 points ...

with which he won the

and helping Porsche to fourth in the championship; in return Porsche increased their investment for the team. The team participated in the

European Rally Championship The European Rally Championship (officially FIA European Rally Championship) is an rallying, automobile rally competition held annually on the European continent and organized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The champion ...

for several years, winning the title in 1980 with Antonio Zanini, while

Jean-Luc Thérier Jean-Luc Thérier (7October 194531July 2019) was a French rally driver. He was the highest scoring driver in the inaugural World Rally Championship in 1973 and the only one to win three events. However, until 1977 the championship was only formal ...

won the

rally in the world championship that same year. Jean-Marie and Jacques also participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as drivers for the first time in 1980 before aiding in the development of the Porsche 924 Carrera GTR in 1981. Defending world rally drivers' champion

Walter Röhrl Walter Röhrl (; born 7 March 1947) is a German rally and auto racing driver, with victories for Fiat, Opel, Lancia and Audi as well as Porsche, Ford and BMW. Röhrl had 14 victories over his career, with his notable achievements including winnin ...

drove for Alméras in the San Remo Rally in 1981, leading the event before a failure ended his rally. Jean-Marie was badly injured in a road accident in 1982, ending his campaign in the European Hill Climb Championship, but Jacques continued to rally alongside the team's customer entries, the team earning two podiums in the

1982 World Rally Championship The 1982 World Rally Championship was the tenth season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World Rally Championship (WRC). The season consisted of 12 rallies. By this time, the schedule format had become generally stable wi ...

. Equipe Alméras shifted to sports car racing in 1983 with the purchase of a Porsche 930 Turbo for the

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for Grand tourer, grand touring (GT) cars used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World S ...

category while also adapting the 924 for the French Superproduction Championship, later convincing former Formula One driver

Jean-Pierre Beltoise Jean-Pierre Maurice Georges Beltoise (; 26 April 1937 – 5 January 2015) was a French racing driver and motorcycle road racer, who competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing from to , and Formula One from to . Beltoise won the 1972 Monaco Gran ...

to join the championship in their cars. The company also developed a unique road car, the Porsche 930 3.3 Bi-turbo Alméras, an adaptation of the 930 with twin turbochargers in place of the single turbocharger, increased displacement, and unique bodywork. Although never sold,

Michelin Michelin ( , ), in full ("General Company of the Michelin Enterprises P.L.S."), is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes '' région'' of France. It is the second largest t ...

later used the car for the development of performance road tyres. The brothers purchased a

Porsche 962C The Porsche 962 is a sports prototype racing car designed and built by Porsche. Created to replace the Porsche 956, 962 was introduced at the end of 1984 and replaced the 956 in the IMSA's GTP class in 1985 due to regulation changes obsoleting ...

in 1989 to enter the World Sports-Prototype Championship, entering races outside Europe for the first time and developing unique bodywork for their prototype sports car yet never finding success in the series. Returning to 911s, the brothers shared an entry with

Jacques Lafitte Jacques-Henri Laffite (; born 21 November 1943) is a French former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Laffite won six Formula One Grands Prix across 13 seasons. Born and raised in Paris Paris () is ...

at Le Mans in 1994 before entering the French GT Championship and later

. Jacques stepped back from racing to take over management within the team in the 1990s while his son Philippe begins his driving career, eventually racing for the team at the

2003 Spa 24 Hours The 2003 Proximus 24 Spa was the 56th running of the Spa 24 Hours and the sixth round the 2003 FIA GT Championship. This event combined the FIA GT's two classes (GT and N-GT) with cars from national series and one-make series, designated G2 and ...

. Philippe later earned his first attempt at Le Mans driving for

Luc Alphand Luc Alphand (born 6 August 1965) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from France. He specialized in the speed events and later became a race car driver. Ski racing Born in Briançon (Hautes-Alpes), Alphand was world junior champion in 19 ...

's racing team and finishing sixteenth while continuing to participate in French national championships en route to taking over the racing department of the family business. Jean-Marie continues to participate in

driving, and winning, in many of the team's former cars.

Pro GT by Alméras

After graduating through the

and

FFSA GT Championship The FFSA GT Championship (''Championnat de France FFSA GT'') is a French Grand Touring-style sports car racing series that began in 1997. It is the main event of the ''Championnat de France des Circuits'' (formerly called ''Super Série FFSA'' an ...

, Philippe Alméras worked with Jean-Pierre Champeau in 2007 to launch Pro GT by Almeras for the 2008 season, extending the family team beyond his single entries to a variety of drivers in the Carrera Cup and GT Championship. Driver

Henry Hassid Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainment ...

earned three consecutive Category B championships in the Carrera Cup before

Anthony Beltoise Anthony Jean-Pierre Beltoise (born 21 July 1971, in Neuilly-sur-Seine) is a French auto racing driver. He is the son of former Grand Prix motorcycle racer and Formula One driver Jean-Pierre Beltoise and nephew of fellow Formula One driver Franço ...

won two FFSA GT championships in 2011 and 2012, teamed with Laurent Pasquali then Hassid. The first entry in the international

also comes in 2011. Pro GT's success earned them the support of the Porsche factory after they participate in the

Blancpain Endurance Series The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by SRO Motorsports G ...

for the first time in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, being assigned factory drivers for the

Spa 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by CrowdStrike. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their and ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and finishing in thirteenth place. The team rapidly expanded in 2014, adding the

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

alongside their Blancpain campaign as well as a return for select events in the Porsche Supercup, while

Côme Ledogar Côme Norbert Ledogar (born 23 May 1991) is a professional racing driver from France. He is best known for winning the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup overall title in 2016, with Robert Bell and Shane van Gisbergen, and for winning the 2021 24 ...

became the Carrera Cup France champion.

Mathieu Jaminet Mathieu Jaminet (born 24 October 1994) is a French racing driver. He is currently employed by Porsche as a factory driver and participates primarily in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Career Jaminet originally began pursuing a career in ...

repeated the French championship in 2016, followed by

Julien Andlauer Julien Andlauer (born 5 July 1999 in Lyon) is a racing driver from France. He is a Porsche factory driver who competes in a range of championships having won both Porsche Carrera Cup France, French and Porsche Carrera Cup Germany, German Carrera ...

in 2017, and

Ayhancan Güven Ayhancan Güven (born 2 January 1998) is a Turkish racing driver and a Porsche factory driver. He currently competes in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. Born in 1998 in Istanbul, Ayhancan Güven was introduced to racing at four years old by h ...

in 2018 and 2019, while the teams title went to Pro GT in all four seasons. Pro GT became a full-time Supercup entrant in 2016, signing a sponsorship deal with caterer Pierre Martinet and rebranding the team as Martinet by Alméras. Martinet by Alméras continues to participate in both the Porsche Supercup and Porsche Carrera Cup France in 2020.

References

External links

* * {{Official website, http://www.pro-gt.com, Pro GT by Alméras French auto racing teams 1971 establishments in France World Sportscar Championship teams 24 Hours of Le Mans teams World Rally Championship teams European Rally Championship teams European Le Mans Series teams Porsche Supercup teams International GT Open teams GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup teams Auto racing teams established in 1971 Auto racing teams established in 2008