Pescarolo began his lengthy involvement with the sport in a minor way during 1965 when he raced a Lotus Seven, and was soon offered the third place in the Matra Formula 3 team for the following year. It proved to be something of a false start to his F3 career, as his car was not ready until mid-season. It was a different story in 1967, however, when he became the man to beat, winning the European championship. His victories that year included the important events at Barcelona, Monaco, Rouen and Zandvoort, so his promotion to the Formula 2 team in 1968 was a formality. Supporting Beltoise, Henri put in some excellent drives, taking second places at Barcelona, Hockenheim, Zandvoort and Hockenheim again before finishing the year with his first win at Albi. Highly regarded by Matra, he was given a run in the second V12 car in the end-of-season Grands Prix.

    Pescarolo's career then received a big setback when, while testing the Matra sports car at Le Mans, he crashed on the Mulsanne Straight and suffered serious burns which laid him low until mid-season. Henri did well to return at the German GP, where he took the F2 Matra into fifth place overall and won the small-capacity class, and the season ended on a bright note when he shared the MS630 sports car with Beltoise to win the Paris 1000 Km at Montlhery. With Matra now committed to their own Grand Prix project once more, Beltoise returned from his year with Tyrrell and Pescarolo joined him in the Matra V12s. Henri put in some solid performances that year, with a third place at Monaco his best finish. He was also a member of the sports car squad, taking victory in the Buenos Aires 1000 Km with Beltoise.

    Pescarolo was surplus to requirements at Matra in 1971 and took some backing from Motul to Frank Williams, which enabled the team to go racing in both F1 and F2. Henri started the season with the old March 701 and picked up a second place on aggregate in the non-title Argentine GP, but Frank Williams was soon over-extended both financially and logistically, which showed in the team's preparation and lack of competitiveness as the year wore on. Meanwhile Pescarolo pursued a parallel programme in sports cars with Alfa Romeo, winning the BOAC 1000 Km with de Adamich. Despite all the problems, Henri was back in the Williams fold in 1972. It turned out to be a miserable season for all concerned as his March 721 was involved in a succession of crashes which required extensive and expensive rebuilds and, to cap it all, the prototype Politoys was written off in the midst of all this on its Brands Hatch debut. Fortunately Pescarolo escaped the carnage largely unhurt, and was buoyed up by his Le Mans win with Graham Hill in the Matra. Racing for the smart Rondel squad in Formula 2, Henri also won at Enna that year, and took another victory at Thruxton in 1973 after bringing Motul sponsorship to the team. With only the occasional Grand Prix ride that season, Pescarolo returned to Matra for a hugely successful programme of sports car racing, winning at Vallelunga, Dijon, Le Mans (for the second time), the Osterreichring and Watkins Glen.

    With Motul backing once more, Pescarolo made a full-time return to Grand Prix racing with BRM in 1974, but the team had lost their way, and his only decent finish came in the International Trophy where he was fourth. His partnership with Larrousse at Matra was still a potent one, however, and Henri completed a hat-trick of Le Mans victories and scored other wins at Monza and the Osterreichring. By now, of course, he was widely recognised as one of sports car racing's best talents and in 1975 he returned to Alfa Romeo, winning rounds at Spa, the Osterreichring and Watkins Glen, all with Derek Bell.

    Henri made a last attempt to find success in Formula 1 with a privately entered Surtees in 1976, but neither he nor the car was remotely competitive. From then on Pescarolo concentrated on his sports car career, taking a fourth win at Le Mans in 1984, and raising his tally of World Championship victories to 21 by the end of 1986.

    In 1991 he shared the winning Porsche at the Daytona 24-hour race and he subsequently continued his career Stateside in IMSA, before focusing his efforts on Le Mans with the Courage C36.

    Henri has more recently looked after Elf's La Filiere young driver scheme which has helped so many French drivers to the top echelons of the sport. In 1999 he entered his own Courage C36-Porsche to register a remarkable 33rd Le Mans 24 Hours start, finishing in ninth place.

(c) 'Who is Who' by Steve Small, 2000