| rdfs:comment | - Joakim "Jo" Bonnier (bonn-EE-ay; born 31 January 1930 in Djurgården, Stockholm, Södermanland and Uppland, Sweden – died 11 June 1972 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, Sarthe, Pays de la Loire, France) was a Swedish racing driver who competed in Formula One and sportscars. A once-24 Hours of Le Mans runner up, Bonnier died at the race's 1972 edition. A horrendous accident with Swiss amateur driver Florian Vetsch saw Bonnier's car fly over the armco barriers and into the trees behind them, killing him instantly.
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| abstract | - Joakim "Jo" Bonnier (bonn-EE-ay; born 31 January 1930 in Djurgården, Stockholm, Södermanland and Uppland, Sweden – died 11 June 1972 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, Sarthe, Pays de la Loire, France) was a Swedish racing driver who competed in Formula One and sportscars. Making his début at in 1956 at the Italian Grand Prix with the Maserati team, Bonnier spent most of 1957 and 1958 driving in privately-entered Maseratis, usually under Scuderia Centro Sud and his own racing team. Moving to BRM at the end of 1958, Bonnier scored his first points at the Morocco Grand Prix before taking what turned out to be his only win (from his only pole) at the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix. Bonnier scored three other points finishes before leaving at the end of 1960. Bonnier was part of Porsche's F1 attempt in 1961 and 1962, scoring six points over two years (while teammate Dan Gurney scored one win and five podiums), before the manufacturer left the sport. Needing a new team, Bonnier found a drive at the Rob Walker Racing Team, first driving a Cooper in 1963, switching to a Brabham in 1964 and scoring four seventh-place finishes in 1965. Reforming his old team as the "Anglo-Suisse Racing Team" in 1966, Bonnier drove a Cooper T81 without much success for two years before switching to a McLaren M5A. At the end of 1968, Bonnier chose to focus more on his sportscar efforts, and made only sporadic entries to F1 races over the next three seasons, making his final start at the final race of 1971, the United States Grand Prix. A once-24 Hours of Le Mans runner up, Bonnier died at the race's 1972 edition. A horrendous accident with Swiss amateur driver Florian Vetsch saw Bonnier's car fly over the armco barriers and into the trees behind them, killing him instantly. Bonnier was chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association from 1963 to 1971, and was a strong campaigner for safety throughout his career.
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