Spirit F1 team owner John Wickham dies aged 73

John Wickham who co-founded the Spirit F1 team and guided Bentley to its Le Mans win in 2003 has passed away from a long illness at 73.

As an operator, Wickham learned his trade in Formula 2 with Team Surtees and then with the works March team where he worked alongside famed designer Gordon Coppuck, guiding Marc Surer to the European title in 1979.

Wickham and Coppuck eventually teamed up to form Spirit Racing in 1982 with the support of Honda. The outfit immediately became a front-runner in the European Formula 2 Championship with drivers Thierry Boutsen and Stefan Johansson.

Spirit stepped up to F1 the following year, again with the works support of Honda who used the British team as a low-profile test bench for its F1 power unit.

The team switched to Hart power in 1984 but threw in the towel after three races in 1985.

Wickham then hooked up with the Tom's GB squad in 1987 to help the team set up its Le Mans, Formula 3 and touring car endeavors.

The Briton returned to F1 in 1990 with Arrows-Footwork, a spell that lasted four years.

Wickham was later involved with team owner Richard Lloyd and Audi Sport UK for him he masterminded the manufacture's success in the BTCC between 1996 and 1998.

Lloyd called upon Wickham to spearhead Bentley's winning efforts at Le Mans in 2003 with Tom Kristensen, Rinaldo Capello and Guy Smith.

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After Bentley pulled out of motorsport, Wickham took the reins of the fledgling A1GP series, running the latter's operations on a day-to-day basis.

But F1 beckoned once again in 2011 when Wickham enjoyed a brief stint at the helm of the HRT minnow outfit, later moving for another brief management role with the Lotus Renault GP team.

He subsequently returned to Bentley in 2012 for the marque's foray into GT racing with its Continental GT3 racer.

After working with the M-Sport factory team in the 2014 and 2015 Blancpain GT Series, he was due to work with the Team Parker Racing Bentley squad in the British GT Championship in 2018 when he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, an illness that would ultimately claim his life.

In the wake of Wickham's passing, long-time Bentley motorsport boss Brian Gush paid tribute to a “master organiser who was always on top of everything”.

“That’s why I brought John back when we did the GT3 programme, because he was the ideal person to handle all the intricacies of FIA homologation,” said Gush.

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