Gijs van Lennep in Ensign N174 at 1975 Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort

Gijs van Lennep lining up for one of three races he drove for the Ensign team in 1975. Van Lennep had better luck than most driving for the tiny team, finishing each of the races, and once in the points. The driving force behind Ensign was Mo Nunn (nicknamed No Mon in those days) who left F1 for a very successful career in Champ Car, primarily with Target Chip Ganassi. Later, Van Lennep had much more success in sports cars, wining Le Mans twice and the Targa Florio for Porsche.

Jonkheer Gijsbert van Lennep (born 16 March 1942, Aerdenhout, North Holland) is a Dutch esquire and former racing driver who gave a good account for himself in his eight Formula One drives. However his main achievements were at the wheel of a sports car.

Van Lennep drove for the Porsche sportscar team from 1967 and won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1971 with Helmut Marko driving the number 22 Martini sponsored Porsche 917K. They set a distance record, covering 5335 km which remained unbeaten until the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans .

That year the Stichting Autoraces Nederland (Foundation for Car races in the Netherlands), hired a Surtees TS7 for him to make his F1 debut in his home GP where he finished a creditable eighth in a very wet GP. The following year Van Lennep won the British F5000 Championship in a Surtees TS11 and drove twice for the Williams GP team, winning his first championship point with 6th place in the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix. With Ensign he scored a second point in the 1975 German Grand Prix, making him the second most successful Dutch Formula 1 driver, until the emergence of Jos Verstappen.

In 1973 he won the last Targa Florio with Herbert Müller in a Martini Porsche Carrera RSR.
He continued with sportscar racing, winning the Le Mans 24 Hours for a second time in 1976, sharing a Porsche 936 Turbo with Jacky Ickx before retiring from racing.

1971 – Le Mans 24 Houres in Porsche 917 – Gijs van Lennep

1971 – Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort in Surtees TS7 – Gijs van Lennep

1973 – Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort in Williams Iso Marlboro-Ford – Gijs van Lennep

1973 – Gijs van Lennep and Niki Lauda at Dutch GP in Zandvoort.

1973 – Brands Hatch with Lola T330 – Gijs van Lennep (Copyright Simon Lewis)

(Prints of this photo are available at shop.simonlewis.com)

1973 – Targa Florio in Porsche 911 Carrera RSR – Gijs van Lennep

1973 – Nurburgring in Porsche 911 Carrera RSR – Gijs van Lennep

1973 – Nurburgring in Porsche 911 Carrera RSR – Gijs van Lennep

1973 – Italian Grand Prix Formula One – Gijs van Lennep

1974 – Dutch Grand Prix Formula One – Gijs van Lennep