Rondeau

Jean Rondeau joined an effort to develop a Group Six race car to replace those of the French factory teams that withdrew from the class in 1975. The original project was centered on use of a 2.7 L Peugeot V8, but Rondeau was convinced that the more powerful Ford-Cosworth DFV V8, which had powered the winning car in the 1975 24 Hours of Le Mans, had greater prospects for success. After picking up sponsorship from the French wallpaper company Inaltera, Rondeau built group of six cars eligible to compete in the GT prototype class. Rondeau's factory, similarly to those of Courage and Pescarolo Sport, was based near Le Mans. The first Rondeau-built car to compete at Le Mans was the Inaltera GTP in 1976. It achieved GTP class wins against Peugeot, Aston-Martin, and Ferrari powered cars for two consecutive years, in 1977 placing fourth overall and 27 laps behind the race winner.

He raced a handful of Le Mans events as a guest driver before leading the Inaltera team in 1976. After the wallpaper company withdrew its sponsorship, Rondeau continued with Ford-powered GTP cars bearing his own name in 1978, scoring a coup by hiring Henri Pescarolo for his team in 1979.

Rondeau and Jean-Pierre Jaussaud took victory in the 1980 24 Hours of Le Mans after fighting hard against the Porsche 908/80 of Jacky Ickx and Reinhold Joest. Rondeau remains the only man to win the race in a car bearing his own name and design. After teammates Pescarolo and Jean Ragnotti retired with engine problems during the night, Rondeau and Jaussaud took overall victory by a margin of two laps.

Rondeau finished second in the 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans as part of the American Preston Henn's race team, running with John Paul, Jr. in a Porsche 956B. The pair finished two laps behind the Joest Racing Porsche 956B of Henri Pescarolo and Klaus Ludwig, and seven laps clear of the third placed Skoal Bandit 956B of David Hobbs, Philippe Streiff and Sarel van der Merwe.