Equipe Ligier
 |
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| Full name | Equipe Ligier |
|---|---|
| Base | Vichy (1976–1988) and Magny-Cours (1989–1996), France |
| Founder(s) | Guy Ligier |
| Noted staff |
Ken Anderson Loïc Bigois Flavio Briatore Cyril de Rouvre Frank Dernie Richard Divila Gérard Ducarouge Claude Galopin Tom Walkinshaw |
| Noted drivers |
 Jacques Laffite Patrick Depailler Jacky Ickx Didier Pironi Eddie Cheever Andrea de Cesaris René Arnoux Stefan Johansson Thierry Boutsen Martin Brundle Mark Blundell Aguri Suzuki Olivier Panis
|
| Next name | Prost Grand Prix |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| First entry | 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix |
| Races entered | 332 entries (326 starts) |
| Engines | Matra, Ford-Cosworth, Renault, Megatron, Lamborghini, Mugen Honda |
| Constructors' Championships |
0 |
| Drivers' Championships |
0 |
| Race victories | 9 |
| Podiums | 50 |
| Points | 388 |
| Pole positions | 9 |
| Fastest laps | 10 |
| Final entry | 1996 Japanese Grand Prix |
Equipe Ligier is a motorsport team, best known for its Formula One team that operated from 1976 to 1996. The team was founded in 1968 by former French rugby union player Guy Ligier as a sports car manufacturer.
After retiring from racing following the death of his friend Jo Schlesser, Guy Ligier decided to found his own team and had engineer Michel Tétu develop a sports car named JS1 (Schlesser's initials). The Cosworth-powered JS1 took wins at Albi and Monthlery in 1970, but retired at Le Mans and from the Tour Automobile de France.
For 1971, Ligier had the JS1 developed into the JS2 and JS3. The JS2 was homologated for road use and used a Maserati V6 engine, while the JS3 was an open-top sports-prototype powered by a Cosworth DFV V8 engine. The JS3 won at Monthlery in 1971 but failed to finish the minimum distance in Le Mans. Therefore, it was retired, and Ligier installed the Cosworth DFV in the JS2 road car, finishing second overall at Le Mans in 1975. Guy Ligier then switched his efforts into Formula One.
Following the acquisition of the Matra F1 team's assets, Ligier entered Formula One in 1976 with a Matra V12-powered car, and won the 1977 Swedish Grand Prix with Jacques Laffite. This is generally considered to have been the first all-French victory in the Formula One World Championship.
The deal with Matra ceased in 1979 and Ligier built a Cosworth-powered wing-car, the Ligier JS11. The JS11 began the season winning the first two races in the hands of Laffite. However, the JS11 faced serious competition when Williams and Ferrari introduced aerodynamically modified cars. The rest of the season was less successful for the French marque.
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