Ligier Richier, ''Lamentation of Christ'', Church of St. Étienne, Saint-Mihiel | Ligier JS31 |
For the third consecutive race, a Ligier driver took pole position, Didier Pironi setting a time some 5.8 seconds faster than the pole time set by Ronnie Peterson at the previous Grand Prix at Brands Hatch two years before.
Renault held on to team leader Alain Prost but lost René Arnoux to Ferrari, and poached Cheever from Ligier to replace him (the rumor mill was that Renault wanted to sell more cars in North America and signing Phoenix native Cheever to the factory team was a good promotional tool).
However Ligier withdrew his entry in order for their #1 driver Andrea de Cesaris to start after the Italians Friday time was disallowed due to an empty onboard fire extinguisher in his JS23 and he could not post a quick time in the wet final session.
A qualified GP before taking up motor racing in 1978, Palmer stopped his Zakspeed just past Laffite's crashed Ligier-Renault, jumped out and raced to assist the injured Frenchman.
By lap 23 he had a three second lead before coming up to lap the Eurobrun of Stefano Modena and the Ligier of notorious blocker René Arnoux.
A classic example is the "Transi de René de Chalons" by Ligier Richier, in the church of Saint Etienne in Bar-le-Duc, France.
In the original Transformers series, Mirage transforms into a Formula One Ligier racecar sponsored by "Citanes" (altered so as to get past the law forbidding tobacco advertising).
A falling out with Benetton boss Flavio Briatore saw Walkinshaw move to a position as team manager at Ligier, which had been acquired by Briatore.