Formula One Career
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! Nationality
| Belgian
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! Active years
| 1967 - 1979
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! Team(s)
| Cooper, Ferrari, Brabham,
McLaren, Williams, Lotus, Wolf, Ensign, Ligier
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! Grands Prix
| 120
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! Championships
| 0
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! Wins
| 8
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! Podium finishes
| 25
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! Pole positions
| 13
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! Fastest laps
| 14
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! First Grand Prix
| 1967Italian Grand Prix
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! First win
| 1968French Grand Prix
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! Last win
| 1972German Grand Prix
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! Last Grand Prix
| 1979United States Grand Prix
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Endurance racing career
In 1966, Ickx teamed up with Hubert Hahne in a BMW 2000TI to win the Spa 24 Hours endurance race in his native Belgium.
In 1969 Jacky Ickx raced in the 24 hours of Le Mans for the first time. This race also saw the first appearance of the Porsche 917 in Le Mans, which was regarded by far as the favorite. The Ford GT40 that Ickx drove with Jackie Oliver appeared at that time as an obsolete car, outperformed by the new Porsche 917 but also by the older Porsche 908 and the Ferrari, Matra and Alfa-Romeo.
As Ickx was opposed to the traditional Le Mans start which he considered to be dangerous, he slowly walked across the track to his machine, instead of running. He locked the safety belt carefully and thus was the last to start the race, chasing the field. In lap one, a tragic event proved that Ickx was right: private driver John Woolfe had a fatal accident in his new and powerful 917 and fellow countryman Willy Mairesse had an accident which ended his career. He had not taken time to belt himself in.
During the race the Porsche 917 proved unreliable, and none were to finish. The last four hours of the race turned into a duel between the Porsche 908 of Hans Herrmann/Larrouse and the Ford GT-40 of Ickx/Oliver. In the last hour, Ickx and Herrmann continuously leapfrogged each other, the Porsche being faster on the straights due to less aerodynamic drag, while being passed again under braking as the brake pads were worn and the team reckoned there was no enough time left to change them. Ickx won the race by the smallest of competitive margins ever, with less than 120 yards between the two cars, despite having lost a bigger distance intentionally at the start. He also won his case for safety, as in 1970, all drivers could start the race sitting in their cars with the belts tightened properly.
In later years, Ickx won a record 6 times at the 24h race at Le Mans, becoming known as "Monsieur Le Mans". Three of the win was with Derek Bell which would become one of the most legendary partnerships. In 2005, Tom Kristensen surpassed him with 7 victories overall, but most of these came within consecutive years and the same superior car and team of Audi.
From 1976 on, he was a factory driver for Porsche and their new turbocharged race cars, the 935 and especially the 936 sports car, which he drove to wins in Le Mans 3 times. These drives, as well as the losing effort in 1978, often in the rain and at night, were some of the finest ever. The win in 1982 came with the new and superior 956 model, though, which carried him to two title as world-champion of endurance racing, in 1982 and 1983.
In 1983, Ickx was the team leader at Porsche, but a new team mate was faster than him: young German Stefan Bellof set new lap records at the Nürburgring in the last ever sports car race held on the original configuration of Ickx favourite track. As it turned out, Ickx and Bellof would become involved in controversional events later on.
In 1984, Ickx acted as F1 race director in Monaco, and red-flagged the race due to rain, when leader Alain Prost in a Porsche-powered McLaren was about to be caught by a young Ayrton Senna. Also, Stefan Bellof had started from the back of the grid, as his underpowered Tyrell-Cosworth could not provide extra boost in qualifying like the turbos of all others. Yet, in the wet race, he managed to pass many others and was on pace for catching both Senna and Prost when Ickx decided to stop the race. That saved the win for Prost, but due to the short distance covered over all, only half the points for the win were awarded (4.5), less than for a second place in a full race (6). Ironically, at the end, Prost lost the 1984 championship to Lauda by half a point!
In 1985, Ickx was involved in a tragedy. Bellof raced a privateer Porsche while waiting to join the Ferrari F1 team in 1986, which had promised him a seat after his performance in Monaco, similar to what they had done for Lauda after he outclassed Ickx there in 1973. At Spa, Ickx hometrack, the young German in the private Porsche of Brun tried to lap the experienced Belgian in the factory car. In Eau Rouge, it seemed that Ickx left a gap and Stefan squeezed into it. Both cars collided and crashed, with Bellof getting killed, while Ickx walked away. He would retire from professional racing at the end of the season
His other Le Mans 24 hour victories outside that as a driver was when he consulted for the Oreca team who were running a Mazda 787B for Mazdaspeed in 1991
After he retired from his professional racing career, he continued to compete in the Paris Dakar Rally, winning it in 1983 and even competing with daughter Vanina in recent years. Nowadays, he appears in historic events as a driver, such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Monterey Historics, usually on behalf of Porsche and Ferrari. He still acts as the Clerk of the Course for the Monaco Grand Prix.
Considers the 1977 24 Hour of Le Mans race to be a favourite win of all time, which he won despite retiring earlier on in another Porsche 936 which he shared with Henri Pescarolo and was transferred to the car of Jürgen Barth and Hurley Haywood which suffered from delays and fell way to 42nd place. Ickx made up for lost laps to lead the race in the early morning, but suffered a mechanical problem which forced the car to pit in. The mechanics resolved the issue by blocking off one cylinder and went on to win the race.
