<< Prev Page 2 of 3 Next >> Despite three consecutive class victories, Jean Rondeau still struggled to find structural backing. All work was suspended until early in 1979 when ITT and several other sponsors stepped up. One of the factors contributing to the increase in Rondeau's efforts was the withdrawal from both Porsche and Renault-Alpine, which left the privateer effort with an actual chance of victory. Subtle tweaks to the aerodynamics and reliability improvements were made to the design before two new chassis were constructed. Both these 'M379s' were built to Group 6 specifications clearly with an eye on the outright victory. The existing car was updated and again entered in the GTP class. Unfortunately the M378 fell victim to the very wet conditions and crashed heavily during the race. The Group 6 cars were manned by top flight drivers like Ragnotti, Beltoise and three-time winner Pescarolo. They fared considerably better with the fastest of the two finishing in fifth overall and first in the Group 6 class. With a production based Group 5 Porsche taking the outright victory, the 1979 Le Mans was a missed opportunity for all prototypes entered that year.
Le Mans was again the only race on the schedule in 1979 and immediately after the race the attention already shifted to the next edition. Early in 1980 funds had been found to perform an actual test with the 'B-spec' of the M379. The biggest change was the addition of a small winglet to each of the two fins to increase the downforce. The modified car completed 26 hours at Paul Ricard with little trouble. Rondeau's squad for Le Mans again consisted of three cars with two Group 6 examples as 'works' entries and the Belga backed GTP car run for Gordon Spice and Jean-Michel and Philippe Martin. This duly finished third outright, securing Rondeau's fourth GTP class victory. During the race the Pescarolo and Ragnotti driven machine suffered Rondeau's first mechanical failure, a cracked cylinder, while leading the race. Rondeau and Jaussaud in the second Group 6 M379 almost did not qualify for the race due to electrical issues. The race itself was also far from flawless with some niggling problems and two spins. Fortunately it was good enough to claim a spectacular victory despite a very strong challenge in the final hours from Jacky Ickx in a privately entered Porsche 936.
The Le Mans win opened the sponsorship floodgates and Rondeau returned to the track in 1981 with no fewer than five examples of the latest version of the M379. Two of these were entered in the GTP class. Of the three Group 6 cars, two were fitted with the long stroke DFL engine, which displaced 3.3 litres. All five cars sported full-width rear wings. The increased effort from Rondeau was more than compensated by the arrival of two considerably upgraded works Porsche 936s. Tragedy struck early in the race when Lafosse suffered a fatal accident aboard one of the Group 6 Rondeaus. The other Group 6 cars also failed to reach the finish with the Jaussaud/Rondeau's Otis liveried machine succumbing to a cracked chassis and the Pescarolo/Tambay 'Oceanic' M379 grinding to a halt with fuel pump failure. The two GTP cars fared much better and finished second and third outright and first and second in their class. The faster of the two was piloted by Haran, Streiff and Schlesser. << Prev Page 2 of 3 Next >>
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Despite three consecutive class victories, Jean Rondeau still struggled to find structural backing. All work was suspended until early in 1979 when ITT and several other sponsors stepped up. One of the factors contributing to the increase in Rondeau's efforts was the withdrawal from both Porsche and Renault-Alpine, which left the privateer effort with an actual chance of victory. Subtle tweaks to the aerodynamics and reliability improvements were made to the design before two new chassis were constructed. Both these 'M379s' were built to Group 6 specifications clearly with an eye on the outright victory. The existing car was updated and again entered in the GTP class. Unfortunately the M378 fell victim to the very wet conditions and crashed heavily during the race. The Group 6 cars were manned by top flight drivers like Ragnotti, Beltoise and three-time winner Pescarolo. They fared considerably better with the fastest of the two finishing in fifth overall and first in the Group 6 class. With a production based Group 5 Porsche taking the outright victory, the 1979 Le Mans was a missed opportunity for all prototypes entered that year.