Raul de Mesquita Boesel (Portuguese pronunciation: [raˈuw boˈɛzew], born 4 December 1957 in Curitiba, Brazil) is a former racing driver who raced for the March and Ligier Formula One teams and later raced in Champ Car and the Indy Racing League.
He won the 1987 World Sportscar Championship and the 1988 24 Hours of Daytona. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Raul de Mesquita Boesel was born on the 4th December, 1957, in Curitiba, Brazil, and entered thirty Grands Prix (with twenty three starts) for March and Ligier then competed in Champ Car and the Indy Racing League and won the 1987 World Sportscar Championship and 1988’s 24 Hours of Daytona. However, his was an unusual route into racing as, growing up, he was an outstanding show jumper, winning his state championship of Parana twice and other competitions, and the aim was to follow his brothers into the equestrian world. However, though he was studying engineering, after helping a friend in a go-kart event he decided his future lay in motor racing and he gave up his degree. But in order to do this he needed to convince his family that he should race cars so to achieve his aim he went on strike and in a later Jaguar press release in 1991, told how “I did not speak to anyone, not my father, my mother, anybody. I would sit at the kitchen table and there would be no conversation. Then suddenly, I’d make a noise like a motorcar. I guess they saw that I really wanted that go-kart, that I was committed to it. And I finally got it.” He started karting in 1974 and took his first title the following year with the ‘City of Curitiba Championship’.
In 1978 he made his debut in Brazilian Stock Cars, coming second in the state of Parana while a fourth place finish the following year earned him the ‘Rookie of the Year’ award, voted by the racing press. Moving to England, he competed in Formula Ford in 1980 for Van Diemen and finished second in both the RAC and Townsend Thoresen championships, winning eight races along the way. Then came a jump to F3 with Murray Taylor Racing and he finished the season in third place, taking sixteen points finishes in twenty rounds, which included three victories (at Oulton Park and two at Silverstone) plus twelve podiums with their Ralt RT3/81.
Although Raul tested for McLaren in November 1981, his F1 debut came with RAM in 1982, alongside Jochen Mass. The team was formed in 1975 by Mike Ralph and John Macdonald, with RAM derived from their names and, after entering the World Championship in 1976, drivers who would race for them included Loris Kessel, Emilio de Villota, Patrick Nève, Jac Nellemann, Damien Magee, Lella Lombardi, Bob Evans, Boy Hayje and Michael Bleekemolen. Guy Edwards finished second in 1977’s British Shellsport Group 8 Championship, then fourth when they switched to the British Aurora F1 series with a March and fifth in 1979 in a Fittipaldi F5A. For 1980, RAM bought a pair of Williams FW07s and Emilio de Villota took the title and they ran Rupert Keegan in one of the cars in the British GP while Kevin Cogan and Geoff Lees would each race a car in the last two rounds. In 1981, RAM managed and ran the returning March GP team, with Derek Daly and Eliseo Salazar driving, but the team failed to score any points. The team received backing from Rothmans for 1982 and the new March 821 featured design work from a young Adrian Reynard. With Jochen Mass leading the team, backed up by Raul, hopes were high but despite having strong qualifying positions at several races, the season would prove a disappointing one. By the time the season reached the Monaco GP, Rothmans announced they would not put any more money into the team and to compound their problems, they were also facing issues regarding their tyre supply. After starting out with Pirelli, MacDonald took the decision to switch to Avon, but shortly afterwards the company withdrew from racing! Although he managed to secure the complete remaining stock of Avon tyres, there was no support or development from the tyre company so the team’s performance dropped even further. However, if they switched to another supplier, such as Michelin, for the final races, it would be a risk due to the short time available to build up a relationship but in an ironic twist, Pirelli’s tyre performances greatly improved during the season. He finished fifteenth in the first round at South Africa then retired in Brazil and was ninth in the US GP West at Long Beach and eighth at Zolder. There followed a run of non qualifications and retirements in eleven rounds before finishing thirteenth in the final round at Las Vegas. Team mate Jochen Mass achieved his best result of the season with seventh in Detroit but unfortunately was involved in a serious accident in France. After colliding with Mauro Baldi’s Arrows, the March crashed into the guard rails and rolled over them, then landed upside down in a spectator area and caught fire. The roll bar broke off on the first impact and his helmet also tore open but, though injured, he was able to get out of the vehicle. Some spectators also suffered minor injuries. He took part in the first Friday practice session at the next round at Hockenheim but withdrew due to excessive pain and announced his retirement from F1, with Rupert Keegan taking over for the remaining five races. Away from singe seaters, in a sports car drive alongside Eliseo Salazar and Chris Craft, their Dome RC82 retired from the Silverstone 6 Hours due to fuel pressure issues after 116 laps.
He continued in F1 in 1983 with Ligier but despite a number of strong qualifying sessions it was a disappointing season. Having used Talbot engines for the previous two seasons, the JS21 was designed to be powered by a Ford Cosworth DFV. They were the first choice to be the recipient of the then new Honda turbo engine due to team owner Guy Ligier’s longstanding relationship with Honda but the team declined to use it. For most of the year, Raul qualified several places behind his team mate, JP Jarier, but improved towards the season’s end although he missed qualifying for the Austrian and Italian races. There were a number of retirements and non qualifications while his finishes included seventh (his best result) at the US GP West at Long Beach, ninth in San Marino, thirteenth at Spa, tenth at Detroit and Zandvoort and fifteenth in the European GP at Brands Hatch. However, this was the first season in the team’s history that it failed to score a single point.
Switching to sports cars in 1987 with Jaguar proved fruitful and with five victories he took the title in his first season. The year started well and he and Eddie Cheever were third at Jarama, won at Jerez and in the following months took another victory at Silverstone and were fourth at Norisring. They won at Nurburgring and, joined by Jan Lammers, came home fifth at Le Mans plus he was third in a solo drive in a German Supercup round at Hockenheim. A partnership with John Nielsen brought victory at Brands Hatch and in late September he, Martin Brundle and Johnny Dumfries won at Spa while he and Dumfries were second in the season’s final race at Fuji. October and November saw two CART outings with Granatelli Racing, where he retired at Laguna Seca and was sixth at Miami.
1988 started on a high note with victory in the 24 Hours of Daytona alongside Martin Brundle and John Nielsen with the TWR/Jaguar XJR9 but his Le Mans entry with Henri Pescarolo and John Watson in an XJR-LM ended after 129 laps, due to gearbox issues. Continuing his CART racing, he was fifth with Shierson’s March 88C at the opening round at Phoenix plus fourth at Long Beach and Milwaukee while drives in their Lola T88/00 brought seven top ten finishes, including seventh in the Indy 500 and fifth at Cleveland, Pocono and Nazareth. He continued for a second season with the team, where his best finishes with the Lola T89/00 were fourth at Milwaukee, sixth at Long Beach and Meadowlands plus seventh at Portland and Toronto while a highlight was an impressive third place in the Indy 500. Unser and Fittipaldi had been battling hard against each other but with only a few laps remaining, they touched wheels and Unser spun and crashed into the wall while Fittipaldi recovered and was able to continue. The yellow flag came out for the last lap, with Fittpaldi leading, and the pace car escorted the field around the final corner for him to take the win. Despite the crash Unser was credited with second place, having completed four more laps than Raul, who managed to nurse his failing car to the chequered flag. His third place result was his best Indy finish plus the best finish up to that point for Shierson Racing.
A move to Truesports for 1990 saw a number of top ten finishes, with his best results with a Lola T8900 sixth in Milwaukee and Detroit and he finished twelfth in the standings. There were a handful of sports car drives and his best result was eleventh in the 480km Nurburgring with Konrad Motorsport/Dauer Racing’s Porsche 962. 1991 saw a busy schedule of sports car drives with Bud Light/Jaguar Racing and, alternating between a Jaguar XJR-10, XJR-12 and KJR-16, he won at Miami and was third at Road Atlanta, fourth at Mid-Ohio and Road America and sixth at Lime Rock. In shared drives with an XJR-12 alongside Davy Jones and John Nielsen, they were fifth in the 12 hour Sebring while contesting Le Mans with Silk Cut Jaguar’s XJR-12 LM he was second alongside Davy Jones and Michel Ferté.
Raul returned to CART in 1992, for the first of three seasons with Dick Simon Racing. He had ten top ten finishes from thirteen starts with a Lola T9200, taking podium finishes with second and third in Detroit (with a 9100) and Michigan plus seventh at Indianapolis. The following year proved to be his best season in IndyCars, ending up fifth in the points. Racing a Lola T99306 he took his first pole at Milwaukee plus completed the most miles of all the drivers (3,543.352 of 3,658.902) and tied with Bobby Rahal for the most top ten finishes-thirteen. His tally included second at Phoenix, Milwaukee and Detroit, fourth at Michigan, Road America, Mid-Ohio and Indianapolis, seventh in Portland, Burke Lakefront Airport and Toronto, eighth at Surfers Paradise plus ninth in Vancouver and Nazareth. At the Indy 500 he started on the front row alongside Arie Luyendyk and Mario Andretti after qualifying third, he went on to lead the first seventeen laps and, despite two stop and go penalties, finished fourth. In his single sports car outing he was eleventh in the 1 Hour 45 minutes Miami race with Auto Toy Store’s Spice SE90C. His final season with the team, now running a Lola T9400 saw a number of top ten results, including a podium with second at Laguna Seca, plus fourth at Long Beach, New Hampshire and Nazareth and sixth at Road America and Cleveland. He again started on the front row at Indianapolis (but retired) and had the second pole of his career at Milwaukee, then led the most laps until an engine problem late in the race denied him of his first IndyCar victory. He finished the year seventh in the standings. Away from single seaters, he, Rubens Barrichello and Rudiger Schmidt raced a Ford Escort in the Mil Milhas Brasileiras at Interlagos.
1982 USA GP
Gallery Other F3 CART and Indy 500 F1
