« 24 heures du Mans »

Jean Jacquelin had already designed the official poster for the race the previous year — one of the most famous motor races in the world, alongside the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 — and had also produced the 1972 poster.

For the following year, he supplied this new artwork, at 1:1 scale of the official medium-format poster. The official sponsor, omnipresent on the circuit, was the cigarette brand Gitanes, which, paired with the French car manufacturer Matra, had won the previous edition — a year of triumph, as the French team won nine of the ten races of the World Sportscar Championship that season. On the strength of this success, the sponsor decided to become the race’s official advertiser, and, for the first time in the history of the 24 Hours, a non-automotive brand appeared on the official poster.

But the 1975 edition would see Matra’s dominance broken: the Ligier-Gitanes team, which had taken over from Matra, finished only second, flanked on the podium by the two Ford GR8s and the triumph of car no. 11, driven by Derek Bell and Jacky Ickx, who completed 336 laps in 24 hours, covering 4,596 kilometers. This was the first of their three titles together, and the second for the Belgian driver. Ickx would long hold the record for victories in the race (6), before being overtaken in the modern era by the Dane Tom Kristensen, who now holds 9 victories at Le Mans.

Gitanes, owned by Seita, continued its motor-racing venture the following year by becoming the main sponsor of the French Formula 1 team Ligier, then named “Équipe Ligier-Gitanes.” Gitanes was also present in rallying in the late 1970s and early 1980s, backing Alpine and later Renault cars under its colors. The brand was likewise associated with the Renault cycling team between 1978 and 1982, which brought four of Bernard Hinault’s five Tour de France victories.

The brand nevertheless returned in 1982 as official sponsor of the race, for two years: the blue pack and its gypsy figure reappeared on the posters of the 1982 and 1983 editions, seven years before the Loi Évin, which would ban all direct or indirect tobacco advertising or sponsorship. This marked the end of the emblematic tobacco-brand partnerships and of a world unknown to anyone under fifty: that of Prost’s Marlboro-McLaren, Senna’s Lotus John Player Special, Nigel Mansell’s Camel-Williams, right up to Schumacher’s Marlboro-Ferrari!

A magnificent, original and previously unpublished composition by Jacquelin, drawing on the visual style of the celebrated Michel Vaillant series, drawn by Jean Graton, which gave pride of place to the circuit and the speed of the competing cars.