MotorsportMemorabilia 1988 Grand Prix commemorative cover signed JEAN LOUIS SCHLESSER

With turbo engines further regulated and Honda transferring their engine from Williams to McLaren, the MP4/4 dominated the 1988 season. Champion, Ayrton Senna had 8 wins and Alain Prost was runner up with 7 wins; together they achieved 10 ‘one/twos’ en route to the Constructors' Championship title and the MP4/4 led for 1003 of the 1031 laps during the season. Gerhard Berger was third in the drivers' points and, together with Michele Alboreto gained second place constructor for Ferrari. Ross Wardle's artwork shows Ayrton Senna and team mate Alain Prost in their MP4/4s, followed by Thierry Boutsen's Benetton and Gerhard Berger's Ferrari.

The second cover version is signed by the extraordinary driver, JEAN-LOUIS SCHLESSER (nephew of Jo Schlesser raced F1 for Matra and Honda in the 1967-68 timeframe). He started racing in the Formula Renault class and upgraded to French Formula 3, winning the championship in 1978 with a Chevron-Toyota. In the late 1970s and early 80s, he competed in European F3, production and sports cars WCM; achieving a notable second place in the 1981 Le Mans 24-hour race, driving a Rondeau-Ford. His first F1 experience came as a test driver for Williams 1983, the same year he attempted to qualify the RAM March-Cosworth for the French GP. In 1985, he won the French Touring Car Championship in a TWR Rover. For 1986, he raced a TWR Jaguar in WSCC, moving to Sauber-Mercedes in 1987 and winning a Super Cup Sport Prototypes Race. In 1988, he was runner-up in Sport Prototypes Championship with 4 wins. His success continued with Sauber-Mercedes, becoming the 1988 Super Cup Sport Prototypes Champion with 3 wins and runner-up in the WSCC with 4 wins. A second F1 chance came that year, when he competed in the Italian GP at Monza, driving a Williams-Judd. In 1989 & 90, he was WSCC Champion again with the Sauber-Mercedes team, achieving 11 wins in the 2 years. He continued driving WSCC in 1991 but had grown to enjoy participating in the Paris-Dakar Rally, having competed in 1989, 90 & 91. In 1992 he was winner of the Paris 24-Hour Ice Race in his self-designed Schlesser. Further success followed with his owner/driver combination; he won the: 1992 Baja & Pharaons Rallies; 1993 Paris-Dakar 2-Wheel Drive Trophy; 1994 Historic Champions' Race; 1994 2-Wheel Drive Trophy and Pharaons & Desert Challenge Rallies; 1995 2-Wheel Drive Trophy and Desert Challenge Rally; 1996 2-Wheel Drive Trophy; 1996 Orpic Maroc Rally and 1997 2-Wheel Drive Trophy. He also won the 1997 Chateau Lastours Race in an Opel. From 1998-2001 he was the FIA World Champion Driver in Cross-Country Rallies driving a Schlesser-Renault; taking the 4 successive championships with 21 wins. Other racing achievements with his team during this period included: the 1998 Granada-Dakar 2-Wheel Drive Category; winner 1999 Granada-Dakar Race; Finals Winner 2000 Andros Trophy Race, Stadt de France; winner 2000 Paris-Dakar-Cairo Race and winner 2000 Paris-Dakar 2RM Category. In 2002, he won the FIA World Champion Cross-Country Rallies for the fifth consecutive time with 4 wins in a Renault. More recently, he won the 2003 Optic Tunisie & For Las Pampas Rallies and the 2004 Telefonica Dakar Rally 2-Wheel Drive Category, both with Ford

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