After the dismal 1989 season, which yielded very poor results, and with the alluring idea of testing Guy Nègre's W12 engine mounted on a JH22 chassis fading away, the small team Automobiles Gonfaronaises Sportives (AGS) found itself entering the new season with increasingly limited funds and, above all, with no glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel. Henri Julien, former owner of the small French team, stepped down after serving as honorary president in 1989, handing over full ownership of the team to the majority shareholder Cyril de Rouvre, who moved the company headquarters to a new facility adjacent to the Le Luc circuit, still near Gonfaron.
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| AGS JH25, Gabriele Tarquini Paul Ricard, French GP 1990 |
It was only in January 1990 that the "new" AGS could finally focus on developing the new JH25 single-seater, with the project entrusted to French engineer Michel Costa, who had already worked at AGS as a collaborator to Christian Vanderpleyn, the longtime designer who had always been at Henri Julien's side. Constantly seeking new funding, de Rouvre secured a small new sponsor, the clothing brand Ted Lapidus, as well as a new partnership with Oreca Racing, whose founder Hugues de Chaunac became the team’s sporting director.
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| AGS JH25, Yannick Dalmas Monza, Italian GP 1990 |
Naturally, the modest financial support from the new sponsor was insufficient, and this became symbolically evident in the livery of the AGS cars at the Brazilian and Monaco Grands Prix, where a series of question marks appeared on the engine cover, as if to ask, “Who wants to fill this empty space?” The 1989 drivers were confirmed for the 1990 season, Italian Gabriele Tarquini and Frenchman Yannick Dalmas, who had to face the dreaded Friday pre-qualifying sessions, using the old JH24 for the first two races of the championship.
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| AGS JH24, Gabriele Tarquini Interlagos, Brazilian GP 1990 |
Only at Imola, for the third race of the season, was the new car ready. It was quite different from its predecessor, at least in terms of aerodynamics, while mechanically it closely followed the JH24, featuring the same Ford-Cosworth DFR engine, chassis, and suspension layout. Costa abandoned the bulky shapes created by Galopin and returned to a sleeker design reminiscent of the Leyton House, closely adhering to the lines of the chassis and engine.
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| AGS JH25, Gabriele Tarquini Estoril, Portuguese GP 1990 |
The black livery used in 1990 gave the car a very elegant appearance, but this wasn’t enough to ensure good performance. It’s no surprise that capable drivers like Tarquini and Dalmas achieved only a few occasional qualifications, mostly in the second half of the championship, with no significant results, except for Dalmas’s ninth-place finish at Jerez, one of just three races the JH25 completed in 1990.
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