Last lap for Emmanuel de Graffenried

01/25/2007
Modena

Emmanuel (Toulo) de Graffenried has passed away at the age of 92.

The Swiss ex-Maserati driver was the last living participant of the very first Formula 1 Grand Prix.

In the early 1930s de Graffenried drove his Maserati 1.5 in national events at the Bremgarten circuit in Berne.

In the immediate postwar period, he was team mate of Prince Bira at the Scuderia. Driving Enrique Platé's Maserati 4CLT he won the 1949 GP of England held at Silverstone.

He drove for Maserati until the end of his career, the only exception being the three races in the summer of 1951 in which he appeared in an Alfa 159. In 1953 he secured his best ever placing in a world championship when he took fourth at Spa aboard a Platé F2. His last F1 appearance for Maserati came in 1956, this time in a 250F.

Once he had retired from motor-racing he dedicated himself completely to the automobile dealership he had established in Lausanne. The dealership had sold Alfa Romeos and Rolls Royces since the 1950s and also Ferraris between 1959 and 1967.
At the start of the 1970s he became involved in competitive racing once more on behalf of Philip Morris.

Maserati recalls de Graffenried with special affection.