Olivier Gendebien
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| Nation: |
 Belgium
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| Automobile world championship | |||||||||
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| First start: | 1956 Grand Prix of Argentina | ||||||||
| Last start: | 1961 USA Grand Prix | ||||||||
| Constructors | |||||||||
| 1956–59 Scuderia Ferrari · 1960 Yeoman Credit Racing Team · 1961 Emeryson Cars - Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC - UDT-Laystall Racing Team | |||||||||
| statistics | |||||||||
| World Cup balance: | World Cup sixth ( 1960 ) | ||||||||
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| World Cup points : | 18th | ||||||||
| Podiums : | 2 | ||||||||
| Leadership laps : | 3 over 41.6 km | ||||||||
Olivier Gendebien (born January 12, 1924 in Brussels ; † October 2, 1998 in Tarascon , France ) was a Belgian automobile racing driver who won the Le Mans 24-hour race four times in the late 1950s and early 1960s and is considered one of the best sports car racing drivers of that era.
Career
Parachutists and mercenaries
Both his origins and his path to motorsport were unusual. In the specialist press it was often speculated that Gendebien was of aristocratic origin, but without finding any direct evidence. What is certain, however, is that Olivier, who comes from a wealthy background, worked as a parachutist for the Resistance during the Second World War .
Even after the war ended, he committed himself to work in the Belgian Congo for four years in order to work in an unconventional way in the Stanleyville area. There he met rally driver Charles Fraikin , who showed him the way to racing. Fraikin was reportedly impressed with Gendebien's orientation skills and vehicle control. He also complained that he did not have a suitable co-pilot at home in Europe .
The rally co-driver
After both had traveled back to Belgium, Gendebien started on a Veritas at the Grand Prix des Frontières near Chimay , where he finished sixth. He then joined Fraikin to occasionally take part in rally events with a Jaguar .
Their collaboration lasted until 1955. But by then Gendebien had already established himself as an independent and competitive driver. When they split up, they already had the nickname “The Eternal Bridesmaids”, as they always came second in many races, but not the win. They had twice completed the Liège - Rome- Liège rally in this way , but in 1955 they were finally successful with a Mercedes 300 SL .
Start your own career
Without Fraikin, Gendebien was much more successful, as early as 1954 he won the Italy Rally, the Dutch Tulip Rally and the Northern Roads Rally in a Porsche in a Plymouth within his class .
Sports car and Formula 1 races for Ferrari
Still, his career calmed down a bit. The further efforts gave the impression that Enzo Ferrari had offered him a works contract for sports car races and some outings in Formula 1 . But his first start for Ferrari ended during training for the RAC Tourist Trophy in Dundrod, to everyone's disappointment, with a serious accident in which he suffered a concussion .
At the beginning of the Formula 1 season in 1956 , his health was again satisfactory. Without any experience on a monoposto he was entered for the Argentina Grand Prix , which he finished with a remarkable fifth place and his first world championship points. A sixth place at the Mendoza Grand Prix confirmed his good form.
In the course of the year he made some outstanding entries in sports car races: second place in Buenos Aires , the Supercortemaggiore in Monza and in the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring alongside Alfonso de Portago , third place in Le Mans with his colleague Maurice Trintignant and at the Targa Florio .
He then started for the later Equipe Nationale Belge with Jacques Swaters in a Ferrari 250 GT, with which he also finished two major tours in third place. 1956 was Gendebien's breakthrough in the racing scene, which was followed by six more successful years.
In 1957 he celebrated an outstanding victory with his cousin Jacques Washer as co-driver in the Tour di Sicilia in a Ferrari 250 GT, with which he achieved an amazing third place in the last Mille Miglia .
Later that year he won the Reims 12-hour race with his colleague Paul Frère in the same car and ended the season by winning the Tour de France alongside Lucien Bianchi . Gendebien, who was extremely popular in Belgium, was now considered the star of the sports car scene, which celebrated a series of racing victories in the years that followed.
The great victories
In 1958 he won the race in Reims again. This was followed by a series of victories at the Targa Florio, in the same year with Luigi Musso , three years later with Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips and finally the Targa of 1962 with Willy Mairesse and Ricardo Rodríguez .
Other outstanding victories were those at the Sebring 12-hour race in 1960, in a Porsche with Hans Herrmann and in 1961 with Phil Hill for Ferrari. He was also able to win the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring a year later.
His greatest successes were the four victories at Le Mans, unprecedented for a long time, where he triumphed in 1958, 1960, 1961 and 1962, only to then declare his retirement from racing. He shared the victory three times with Phil Hill; In 1960 Paul Frère celebrated with him.
His dominance in the sports car scene can only be seen in the fact that, together with Phil Hill and Peter Collins, he played a key role in enabling Ferrari to win numerous sports car world championship titles in the late 1950s and early 1960s .
Completion of his Grand Prix career
His Formula 1 career lags behind these impressive successes. In 14 starts between 1956 and 1961, however, he was able to score points in half of the races. Mostly starting as a guest driver for Ferrari, he achieved his greatest Grand Prix successes in 1960 with a Cooper T51 : third place in Spa-Francorchamps and second place in Reims. Despite missing four races during the 1960 Formula One season , he finished sixth in the world championship.
The following year he started at his home Grand Prix in Spa in a Ferrari 156 painted in the yellow national color , which, unlike the cars of his teammates, had not been equipped with the latest engine specifications. In the first laps he led the race confidently from pole position to the enthusiasm of the audience, but later his colleagues relegated him to fourth place.
Retreat into private life
At the age of 38, Gendebien said goodbye to motorsport because he had seen too many of his teammates die over the years and no longer wanted to take the risk for the sake of his wife. Tragically, the woman died a little later of cancer . He then emigrated to the USA , where he was very successful in raising cattle. He later settled in the south of France, where he died in 1998.
statistics
Statistics in the automobile world championship
general overview
| season | team | chassis | engine | run | Victories | Second | Third | Poles | nice Race laps |
Points | WM-Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari 555 Super Qualo | Ferrari 2.5 L4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | 23. |
| Ferrari D50 | Lancia 2.5 V8 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| 1958 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari Dino 246F1 | Ferrari 2.4 V6 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | NC |
| 1959 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari Dino 246F1 | Ferrari 2.4 V6 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | 3 | 15th |
| 1960 | Yeoman Credit Racing Team | Cooper T51 | Climax 2.5 L4 | 5 | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | 10 | 6th |
| 1961 | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari 156 | Ferrari 1.5 V6 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 3 | 14th |
| UDT Laystall Racing Team | Lotus 18/21 | Climax 1.5 L4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | |||
| total | 14th | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | 18th | ||||
Single results
| season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 10 | 11 |
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| 1955 |
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| 1956 |
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| 5 | DNF | DNA | |||||||||
| 1958 |
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| 6th | DNF | DNF | |||||||||
| 1959 |
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| 4th | 6th | ||||||||||
| 1960 |
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| DNA | 3 | 2 | 9 | 7th | 12 | ||||||
| 1961 |
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| DNQ | 4th | 11 |
| Legend | ||
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| colour | abbreviation | meaning |
| gold | - | victory |
| silver | - | 2nd place |
| bronze | - | 3rd place |
| green | - | Placement in the points |
| blue | - | Classified outside the point ranks |
| violet | DNF | Race not finished (did not finish) |
| NC | not classified | |
| red | DNQ | did not qualify |
| DNPQ | failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify) | |
| black | DSQ | disqualified |
| White | DNS | not at the start (did not start) |
| WD | withdrawn | |
| Light Blue | PO | only participated in the training (practiced only) |
| TD | Friday test driver | |
| without | DNP | did not participate in the training (did not practice) |
| INJ | injured or sick | |
| EX | excluded | |
| DNA | did not arrive | |
| C. | Race canceled | |
| no participation in the World Cup | ||
| other | P / bold | Pole position |
| SR / italic | Fastest race lap | |
| * | not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered |
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| () | Streak results | |
| underlined | Leader in the overall standings | |
Le Mans results
| year | team | vehicle | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
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| 1955 |
Equipe Nationale Belge
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Porsche 550 / 4RS 1500 Spyder |
Wolfgang Seidel
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Rank 5 | |
| 1956 |
Scuderia Ferrari
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Ferrari 625LM Spider Touring |
Maurice Trintignant
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Rank 3 | |
| 1957 |
Scuderia Ferrari
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Ferrari 250TR58 |
Maurice Trintignant
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failure | Engine failure |
| 1958 |
Scuderia Ferrari
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Ferrari 250TR58 |
 Phil Hill
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Overall victory | |
| 1959 |
Scuderia Ferrari
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Ferrari 250TR59 |
Phil Hill
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failure | Motor overheated |
| 1960 |
Scuderia Ferrari SpA
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Ferrari 250TR59 / 60 |
Paul Brother
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Overall victory | |
| 1961 |
Scuderia Ferrari
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Ferrari 250TRI / 61 |
Phil Hill
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Overall victory | |
| 1962 |
Ferrari SEFAC Spa
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Ferrari 330TRI LM Spyder |
Phil Hill
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Overall victory |
Sebring results
| year | team | vehicle | Teammate | Teammate | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
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| 1957 |
Harry Kullen
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Ferrari 250 GT Europe |
William Greenspun
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failure | Engine failure | ||
| 1958 |
Scuderia Ferrari
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Ferrari 250TR / 58 |
Luigi Musso
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Rank 2 | |||
| 1959 |
Scuderia Ferrari
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Ferrari 250TR59 |
Phil Hill
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Dan Gurney
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Chuck Daigh
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Overall victory | |
| 1960 |
 Joakim Bonnier
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Porsche 718 RS |
Hans Herrmann
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Overall victory | |||
| 1961 |
Sefac Automobile Ferrari
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Ferrari 250TRI |
Phil Hill
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Overall victory | |||
| 1962 |
North American Racing Team
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Ferrari 250TRI / 61 |
Phil Hill
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Rank 2 |
Individual results in the sports car world championship
Web links
- Olivier Gendebien's career ( Memento from May 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) on gpracing.net192.com
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gendebien, Olivier |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Belgian racing driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 12, 1924 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Brussels |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 2, 1998 |
| Place of death | Tarascon , France |