Jean Rondeau was a French interior designer who lived in Le Mans. He had a strong passion for his home race, which was the greatest in the world. He designed his first car in 1976, and they sported the name of the manufacturer which backed him : Inaltera. The Grand Touring Prototype category had been devised by the ACO and would later been used as the basis for the category to come in 1980. The car was a sheet aluminum-clad steel spaceframe design with GRP coachwork. It was powered by a classic 3,0L DFV powerplant and was Michelin shod. The while package just weighed under 900 kgs. The two cars who entered the 1976 and 1977 races won their class, but Inaltera situerez from Motor racing, and the cars were sold. Jean Rondeau would build then the very first Rondeau, which carried basically the same design as the earlier cars. They just were more sophisticated, and much lighter. They were still slower than the true prototypes. Things would improve with time, and were highlighted by an overall victory in the 1980 race, a true feat. He became a national hero by becoming the first driver/builder to win such a race. The M379 was the car that won Le Mans, and the M382 was supposed to be more powerful and sport bigger brakes. The car was to be outclassed by its successor : the M482. It was a ground effect car, which was just a more ambitions projet. Unfortunately, it would turn into a failure. The older cars would earn a relative success in 1982, but the company would lose the title to Porsche. One car was entered at the 24 Hours of Daytona(chassis #001), which was driven by Danny Sullivan, Gary Belcher and Hubert Phipps. Powered by a Ford engine, it was not able to run for the overall. It was its only race and a dnf.The second car would be sold to Bill Koll(chassis #002), who was a Porsche regular entrant. He would fit a Chevrolet 5,7L engine and grab some good results with this car. However, he and co-driver Skeeter McKitterick would never run for the win. John Gunn would enter this car by the end of 1983 and at the beginning of the 1984 season, also with Chevrolet power, with mixed results. Jean Rondeau himself was here to help set up the car. The company was striving to survive and would later go into receivership. Joe Gonzalez and Hugo Gralia drove this car in 1985, which was somewhat modified aerodynamically. By this time Porsche was dominating the GTP fields and the car was somewhat outdated. In 1986, Jean Rondeau was killer in a tragical way. That was quite the end of the story, with all the cars now in private hands, running for the chequered. The name Rondeau will be remembered.

Jean Rondeau won Le Mans in 1980, but he had trouble selling his cars. He co-drove John Gunn at Sebring 1984.