About Gijs van Lennep
Gijsbert "Gijs" van Lennep (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɣɛizbərt ˈxɛis fɑn ˈlɛnɛp]; born 16 March 1942) is a Dutch racing driver who competed in eight Formula One races. However, his main achievements were in sports car racing. He is a member of the untitled Dutch nobility. == Career == Van Lennep drove for the Porsche sportscar team beginning in 1967. He won the Porsche Cup, an annual award presented by Porsche AG to recognize the world's most successful privateer racing driver competing with Porsche machinery in a customer racing team, in 1970. He shared the number 22 Martini Racing Porsche 917K with Helmut Marko, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1971. They set a distance record, covering 5,335 km (3,315 mi), which remained unbeaten until 2010. Also in 1971, the Stichting Autoraces Nederland (Foundation for Car races in the Netherlands) hired a Surtees TS7 for van Lennep to make his F1 debut in his home GP where he finished a creditable eighth in a very wet GP. The following year Van Lennep won the 1972 Rothmans European Formula 5000 Championship driving a Surtees TS11 and a McLaren M18. He also drove twice for the Williams GP team, earning his first World Championship point with sixth place in the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix. With Ensign, he scored a second point in the 1975 German Grand Prix, making him the fifth most successful Dutch Formula One driver behind Max Verstappen, Jos Verstappen, Carel Godin de Beaufort and Christijan Albers.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.