Alain Génestier

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Alain Génestier (* probably 1948 ) is a former French rally raid driver who won the car classification of the first edition of the Paris-Dakar rally in 1979 in a Range Rover V8 . In the overall classification he reached fourth place together with co-driver Joseph Terbiaut and mechanic Jean Lemordant.

Génestier was living in the Ivory Coast at the time , where he was a construction manager at a state-owned company, working on the electrification of the villages and the construction of power stations and water treatment plants. As a result of this activity, he covered around 90,000 kilometers annually on West African tracks, and this is how his passion for rallying developed.

The amateur driver had already participated in the first Côte d'Ivoire-Côte d'Azur rally (also known as the Abidjan-Nice rally ) in a Peugeot 504 in 1975-76 . In 1976 he started together with Jean Lemordant on a Datsun 240 Z at the 8th  Bandama Rally , but only finished last of the eight teams that reached the finish.

Génestier's participation in the first Dakar rally was his only one, as he failed to win sponsors. One of the reasons for this was that there were no separate ratings for the various vehicle categories at this rally and that it was only listed as the winner of the car category afterwards. Officially, however, he did not reach a podium. In addition, the French media preferred to report on the Marreau brothers, who were only fifth behind Génestier, but were able to sell advertising in newspapers with a French make, a Renault 4 L Sinpar .

In 1986 Génestier returned to France, where he managed a retirement home for many years. Today he lives in retirement in Bordeaux .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c 40 ans du Dakar: le vainqueur de la première édition du rallye se souvient. leparisien.fr, January 5, 2018, accessed on September 22, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b 1979 Alain GENESTIER / Joseph TERBIAUT / Jean LEMORDANT - RANGE ROVER V8 n ° 162. dakardantan.com, accessed September 22, 2018 .
  3. ↑ History of Dakar - RETROSPECTIVE 1979-2007. (PDF) dakar.com, archived from the original on May 21, 2011 ; accessed on September 22, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b c Qu'est devenu le premier vainqueur auto du Dakar? ouest-france.fr, January 13, 2017, accessed on September 22, 2018 .
  5. ↑ 1976 - 8ème Rallye du Bandama. historiquerallyebandama.over-blog.com, accessed on September 22, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Génestier, Alain
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French racing car driver
DATE OF BIRTH uncertain: 1948