We are at the second half of the 1979 season. Development, work, testing and training were going on at our home factory in France. We have been predicting for the best result ever at France because it is the team's home country, and with that the crowd would be cheering for us. Hmm, if we had magic or luck.
Now the training and hope is over, and we take off to Dijon-Prenois! Tambay and Takahara were 1.0 and 1.2 seconds respectively behind the polesitter, but in the race, Tambay was involved in a multiple crash with Tyrrell's Didier Pironi and Renault driver René Arnoux, meanwhile Takahara finished a well-deserved 8th place. In the interview, the team manager said that ”the race was half disappointing” and ”it wasn't something the team expected”.
Next race is at the Great Britain, the 9th round of the season and the manager's favourite country because of the ”country's accent”. In qualifying Tambay qualified 15th, 1.254 seconds off the pace but Takahara was 2 seconds behind the polesitter, qualifying 25th. During the race, Tambay was battling with Fittipaldi's Niki Lauda and McLaren's Keke Rosberg against Tyrrell's Pironi for an 8th place. Eventually, Lauda managed to score his team's point, meanwhile Tambay was so close to get a points finish in the second half.
Going to Hockenheim in Germany for the 10th race, something happened for the team in qualifying, as Takahara qualified 17th and ahead of Tambay, who qualified 19th. It was the second time that the Japanese man qualified ahead of the Frenchman. The race was disappointing for the team. Tambay had to retire from a tyre puncture, but Takahara impressed the team with another finish – 8th place. ”P17 and P19. P8. Shame.”, the team manager said to the French media.
Heading off to the 11th round located at Austria, Tambay qualified 11th and Takahara 13th. They both finished the race, but this time Takahara finished 9th, ahead of the Frenchman who finished 10th. ”We're chasing for the Top 6”, it came from the manager.
Going to Zandvoort at the Netherlands, it happened again in qualifying – for the team – Takahara qualified ahead of Tambay for the third time, qualifying 17th, meanwhile Tambay qualified 23th. Tambay had another retirement in this race due to a crash, meanwhile Takahara finished 10th – which is a good streak of finishes for him. The manager said that ”it isn't important with a Top 10, a points finish is important”.
The quarterfinal round kicks off at Monza, Italy, the manager's – also – favourite country at all. In qualifying, Tambay qualified ahead of his teammate with a 14th place and 1.652 seconds behind the polesitter, and Takahara qualified 18th and 2.170 seconds behind. Tambay finished 12th meanwhile Takahara was 18th and lapped 3 times. ”Come on Ligier, we can do it in the semifinal round”, the team manager was hoping after the race.
The semifinal round kicks off at the high-speed circuit, Île Notre-Dame Circuit, in Montréal at Canada. Tambay qualified a half-disappointing 20th meanwhile Takahara qualified 26th, almost failing to qualify, but 0.060 seconds quicker than Rebaque's qualifying time. In the race, Tambay finished 8th and Takahara 10th, another double finish for them, as reliability improved much than the previous races.
All packed for the Grand Finale, which is taking at the Watkins Glen circuit in the United States. Tambay impressed the team with a 9th place in qualifying, but Takahara qualified 24th. And now it happened. Patrick Tambay managed to score Ligier's first points in the second half of the season, and the team was very, very impressed with the result the great Frenchman had. Takahara, meanwhile, finished 11th and last, ahead of all who retired.
And that's the end of the second half of Ligier's season review for 1979. In this season, we have scored a podium finish and 4x points finishes in the first half of the season, and in the second half Takahara finished all races, meanwhile Tambay gave a points finish to the team in the end. It's the end of the 70's era, but we hope that we will have something much good for next season. Thank you and see you again next season!
