Xavier Roger Perrot (1 February 1932 – 8 December 2008) was a Swiss

racing driver 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 ...

and garage owner, who won 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 ...

in 1972. He had previously competed in

Formula Two Formula Two (F2) is a type of Open-wheel car, open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009 FIA Formula Two Championship season, 2009 to 2012 FIA Formula Two C ...

and drove his

Brabham Motor Racing Developments Ltd., commonly known as Brabham ( ), was a British race car, racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. It was founded in 1960 by the Australian driver Jack Brabham and the British-Australian designer Ron Ta ...

in the Formula Two class of the

1969 German Grand Prix The 1969 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Nürburgring on 3 August 1969. It was race 7 of 11 in both the 1969 World Championship of Drivers and the 1969 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. Twelve Formula Two c ...

Career

After participating in national-level motorsport as a driver and

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 ...

co-driver, Perrot began racing in

hillclimbing 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 ...

in the early 1960s, campaigning cars such as a

Lotus 23 The Lotus 23 was designed by Colin Chapman as a small-displacement sports racing car. Nominally a two-seater, it was purpose-built for FIA Group 4 racing in 1962–1963. Unlike its predecessors Lotus 15 and 17, the engine was mounted amidsh ...

and an Abarth-Simca. In 1968 he switched to Formula Two, driving a Brabham BT23C, and after a difficult first season, improved in 1969. He finished fourth in a non-championship race at

Hockenheim Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain, Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" ( ...

and sixth in the Formula Two class of the German Grand Prix at the

Nürburgring The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...

, and was classified tenth overall. In 1970 Perrot campaigned a

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 2 ...

702, the first customer car sold by the company. With this car, he won the ''Preis von Deutschland'' Formula Two event at the Nürburgring. He continued in Formula Two in 1971 with a March 712M, finishing third at

Imola Imola (; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical region Romagna ...

, while also making a successful return to hillclimbing. He won the European Hill Climb Championship in 1972 using a March 722 F2 car, winning six events. He also raced this car occasionally in Formula Two, scoring points in three races, including fourth and fifth places in events at Hockenheim, and was classified 13th in the championship. Although Perrot raced in the Formula Two class of a World Championship Formula One event, he never raced in a full Formula One World Championship race. He did however drive

Jo Siffert Joseph Siffert (; 7 July 1936 – 24 October 1971) was a Swiss racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Siffert won two Formula One Grands Prix across 10 seasons. Affectionately known as "Seppi" to his family and friends, Siffert ...

's ex-works March 701 in the non-Championship 1971 Jochen Rindt Memorial Trophy race at Hockenheim, where he finished 11th.''The Motor Racing Year No. 3'', Anthony Pritchard, Pelham Books, 1972. Perrot retired in 1973 to concentrate on his garage business in his hometown of

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, where he died after a long illness in 2008, aged 76.

Racing record

Complete Formula One World Championship results

( key)

Complete Formula One non-championship results

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Complete European Formula Two Championship results

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References

* "Motorsport Memorial

* ''The Grand Prix Who's Who'', Steve Small, Guinness Publishing, 1996. {{DEFAULTSORT:Perrot, Xavier 1932 births 2008 deaths Swiss racing drivers Swiss Formula One drivers European Formula Two Championship drivers Sportspeople from Zurich