pierre-boncompagni

In 1947, Boncompagni took part in the Circuito di Pescara in a Stanguellini 1100 but retired. In 1949 he finished second in a race for cars over 2000cc in Nice and was second in class in a hillclimb at Mt. Ventoux. He also drove a DB in some 500cc Formula Three races: in 1950 he retired from a race at Montlhéry, and in 1951 he raced at Draguignan, finishing runner-up in the second heat.

In 1950 Boncompagni purchased a Talbot-Lago T150C SS (chassis number 90120), which he would drive under the entry Ecurie Nice over the following two years. He returned to Nice, driving a Cisitalia to second in the 1100cc race and winning the race for cars over three litres in the Talbot-Lago. Later that year he finished fourth in the Coupes du Salon at Montlhéry.

The year 1951 brought Boncompagni's sportscar career strong momentum. At the Agadir Grand Prix he won the S1.1 and S1.5 races in his Cisitalia and the S+3.0 race in his Talbot-Lago. He repeated his Nice victory in the Talbot-Lago and added three further wins in the Circuit d'Orléans, the Circuit de Bressuire, and at Agen, as well as hillclimb victories at Mt. Ventoux and Draguignan. He came within minutes of winning the 12 Hours of Hyères before mechanical failure struck near the finish.

The Automobile Club de Nice reinstated the Tour de France Automobile that year over six stages and 5,239 km (3,255 mi). Boncompagni hired a Ferrari 212 Export (serial number 0078E) from Luigi Chinetti and won the first edition of the revived event alongside navigator Alfred Barraquet. Chinetti later exported the car to the United States to support his young protégé Phil Hill in club racing.

In 1952, Boncompagni returned to the Agadir Grand Prix and won the S+2.0 race in his Talbot-Lago. He entered several races in a Ferrari 212 Export purchased from Chinetti (serial number 0141T): at Montlhéry he placed second in the Coupes de Vitesse and won the supporting production car race; he finished first in class at the Circuit de Nîmes; he won the Course de côte du Val de Cuech (a hillclimb in Salon-de-Provence); and he was third in class at the Mt. Ventoux hillclimb. At the Montlhéry Spring Cup he won the production race and finished second in the Formula Libre race, then won the S3.0 race at Bordeaux in his final outing in that car.

For the remainder of 1952, Boncompagni loaned a Ferrari 225 S (serial number 0152EL). He drove it to fifth in the Monaco Grand Prix, held that year as a sportscar race. His results attracted the attention of Enzo Ferrari, who offered Boncompagni an entry to the 24 Hours of Le Mans under the official Scuderia Ferrari banner, co-driving with Tom Cole — they retired with electrical issues. He also entered the Grand Prix of Reims but retired with rear axle failure, and finished second overall in the Tour de France alongside navigator Adolfo Macchieraldo. He closed the season with a class victory and second overall at Agen and a class win in the production car race at the Coupes du Salon.

In 1953 Boncompagni purchased a Ferrari 340 MM (serial number 0236MM). He took it to second in the S+2.0 race at the Agadir Grand Prix and second in the S+1.5 race at the Circuit de Nîmes. He then won the Rallye Soleil-Cannes, an eight-day road rally across France, finished second in the Coupes de Vitesse, and won the 3 Hours of Algeria under the Ecurie Côte d'Azur banner. He subsequently purchased a 340 MM Touring Spyder (serial number 0268AM) and won the Montlhéry Spring Cup.

On 7 June 1953, Boncompagni drove his 340 MM Touring Spyder in the 12 Hours of Hyères. The race began at 6 a.m. in pouring rain. Boncompagni was leading and had just set the fastest lap — a time that would stand until the end of the race. On the 34th lap, shortly before 8 a.m., he lost control of his car at a high-speed bend near the hippodrome on the easternmost part of the street circuit. The car hit a telegraph pole and overturned, fatally injuring him. A one-minute silence was observed after the race in remembrance of Boncompagni and of Jean Heurtaux — the winner of the 1952 edition — who had been killed four weeks earlier in a hillclimb near Saint-Étienne. A monument was installed near the scene of the accident on the D197 at the northwest corner of the Hippodrome du Var. Prior to the accident, Boncompagni had been entered for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Talbot-Lago T26 GS.

It has been suggested that the surname Boncompagni was notorious in France after he had acted as a collaborationist during the Second World War, which led him to race under the nom de course "Pagnibon". His family came from Italy and his wife was from Turin. He operated a mechanics business in Alpes-Maritimes with help from Alfred Barraquet, his navigator in the 1951 Tour de France.

This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.