Olivier Gendebien (12 January 1924 – 2 October 1998) was a Belgian racing driver who was called “one of the greatest sportscar racers of all time”. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Olivier Gendebien was an all-round sportsman (sprinting, skiing, tennis and equestrianism) and during his racing career he achieved four overall wins at Le Mans (1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, all with Scuderia Ferrari), numerous wins in other endurance races, including three times in the Sebring 12 hrs, three times in the Targa Florio, twice in the Reims 12 hours and once in the Nürburgring 1000 kms. Also, he competed in 14 F1 races and took two podiums.
Olivier was studying engineering at university but when war broke out he joined the resistance movement, leasing with British agents and soldiers and eventually went to England where he served in a Belgian Paratroop unit attached to the British Army. After the war, he spent time in Spain and then moved to the Belgian Congo and while there met a racer Charles Fraikin, who owned a Jaguar XK120 and was looking for a co-driver.
Before joining Fraikin in rallying, he started his racing in F2 , driving a Veritas RS at Grand Prix des Frontieres at Chimay and then at Grosser Preis von Deutschland at the Nurburgring. He and Fraikin participated together in the 1952 Liege-Rome-Liege Rally, finishing 22nd with Fraikin’s Jaguar.
In the following year he competed in circuit racing, road racing and rallying and he and Fraikin participated for the first time in the Mille Miglia, though didn’t finish the race. He drove Gery d’Hendecourt’s Ferrari 166 MM at the Coupe de Spa and won the race and there were also drives in a Dyna Panhard at the Spa 24h and in a Jaguar C Type at the Nürburgring 1000km. Together with Fraikin, they finished second in the Liege-Rome-Liege Rally and in 1954, driving a Lancia Aurelia B20 GT, finished second again in the Liege-Rome-Liege Rally.
During 1954, he again raced on circuits, road tracks and rally stages, in cars ranging from Jaguar, Gordini, Alfa Romeo, Plymouth, Ferrari, Lancia, Aston Martin and Fiat and also bought his first Ferrari, a 250 Europe GT.
He then switched to a Mercedes 300 SL in 1955 and in the Mille Miglia he (and cousin cousin Jacques Washer) they finished seventh overall and second in class and Olivier would later win the Liege-Rome-Liege Rally. He took part in his first 24 hours of Le Mans race, racing a Porsche 55/4RS 1500 Spyder with Wolfgang Seidel for the Ecurie Belge team but though they finished fifth overall and second in S1.5 class, everything paled into insignificance after the catastrophic events during the race.
Racing in the Italian Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti, he won with his Mercedes 300 SL, beating Castellotti’s factory entered Ferrari 500 Mondial and it generated enough interest that Enzo Ferrari wanted him to drive for him.
Two weeks later, he was in his first race as a Ferrari factory driver, driving a Ferrari 750 Monza in the 10 hours of Messina, with Umberto Maglioli. Soon after there would a class win and second overall in the Aosta-Gran San Bernardo Hillclimb, driving a Ferrari 500 Mondial, though he crashed during the practice for the RAC Tourist Trophy at Dundrod.
At the start of 1956 he competed in the Argentine GP, where he finished fifth then partnered Phil Hill in the 1000km endurance race, taking second overall and victory in class S+3.0. A third race was the non-championship Buenos Aires Grand Prix at Mendoza, where he finished sixth. Back in Europe, he shared a Ferrari 250 GT with Jacques Wahe and scored two class wins, in the Giro di Sicilia and the Mille Miglia. At the 1000 km of Nurburgring, he shared with Alfonso di Portago though they were disqualified for receiving outside assistance but Olivier jumped into Phil Hill’s car and went on to finish third. Good results continued, with a fourth at the Targa Florio and Supercortemaggiore, plus a class victory at Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti, and there was a second F1 race, at the French GP, in a Lancia-Ferrari D50, though he retired from it due to clutch problems.
At that year’s 24 hours of Le Mans he he shared a Ferrari 625 LM Touring with Maurice Trintignant and they finished third overall. There would be two more podiums, taking third with a Ferrari 250 GT Europa at the Tour de France and third at Liege-Rome-Liege Rally with a Ferrari 250 GT.
There would be no F1 races in 1957 but he continued taking good results in sports car races, winning the Giro di Sicilia, taking third overall and class winner in the Mille Miglia, (in a Ferrari 250 GT LWB Scaglietti with Jacques Washer), was second at the Nurburgring 1000km (with Peter Collins) and won the Reims 12 Hours, in the Ferrari 250 GT he shared with Paul Frere. He retired at Le Mans due to technical problems but more victories would follow in the Tour de France, the Coupes du Salon at Montlhery and the Nassau Tourist Trophy.
1958 saw him finally achieve victory at Le Mans. It was one of the wettest races in Le Mans history, with fifteen hours of rain, and he and Hill’s Ferrari 250 TR crossed the finish line 12 laps ahead of their rivals. Besides Le Mans, Olivier took a number of podiums and wins, finishing second at the Buenos Aires 1000km and in the Sebring 12 Hours, and won the Targa Florio, Reims 12hrs, the Tour de France and Pau 3hr.
Returning to F1, he finished sixth at Belgium, though in Italy and Morocco (at Ain-Diab), he retired due to a suspension failure and then an accident.
1959 started with victory at the Sebring 12 hours (sharing a Ferrari 250 TR with Phil Hill, Dan Gurney and Chuck Daigh) and then victories in the Grand Prix de Paris and the Tour de France. At Le Mans, with four hours to go he and Phil Hill had a four-lap advantage but they were forced to retire when a water leak caused their Ferrari 250 TR to overheat. There were also F1 races in France and Italy, where he finished fourth at Reims then sixth at Monza,
The following year he joined Porsche but though he retired on his debut with a Porsche 718 RSK at the Buenos Aires 1000km, he (with Hans Hermann) took a second victory in the Sebring 12 hours. He and Herrmann would go on to finish third in the Targa Florio then Olivier won the Nurburgring 1000km with Joakim Bonnier.
Rejoining Ferrari for 1960’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, as it was the last round of the Championship he helped the team to take not only the race victory but also the FIA World Sportscar title. He and Paul Frere’s Ferrari 250 TR won with a four-lap advantage over a North American Racing Team Ferrari. Later in the year he and Lucien Bianchi took victory in the 1000 km of Paris. There were races F1 with the Yeoman Credit Racing Team and at Belgium, he achieved third place in a Cooper T51-Climax, behind Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren, though France, was even better as he finished second behind Jack Brabham. He competed in three more races, at Silverstone, Portugal (Boavista) and USA (Riverside) and finished all races and and was sixth in the championship at the end of the season.
He scored his third consecutive victory in 1961’s Sebring 12 hours (in a Ferrari 250 TRI with Phil Hill), went on to win the Targa Florio in a Ferrari Dino 246 SP with Wolfgang von Trips and returned to Le Mans to take victory (back with Phil Hill, in a Ferrari 250 TRI). The year also saw him race for three different teams in F1 though at Monaco he failed to qualify Equipe Nationale Belge’s Maserati-powered Emeryson. He finished fourth in Belgium in a yellow Ferrari 156 and at the US GP at Watkins Glen he drove the UDT-Laystall Racing Team Lotus Climax (he was classified 11th after he handed the car to teammate Masten Gregory, whose car stopped after 23 laps).
Olivier had decided that 1962 would be his last competitive year and it started with a class victory and second place overall at the Sebring 12 hours, sharing a NART Ferrari with Phil Hill. This was followed by wins in the Targa Florio (joining Willy Mairesse and Ricardo Rodriguez in their car after his was destroyed during practice) and then he and Phil Hill won the Nurburgring 1000 kms.
In June that final year, he and Phil Hill achieved their third Le Mans victory and became one of the most successful pairs in motorsport history. That fourth victory put Gendebien on the top of the Le Mans winners’ list because no one before had won four times and his record was only beaten in 1981 when Jacky Ickx won for the fifth time.
Immediately after this Le Mans victory, Olivier announced his retirement, later stating “I have always raced purely for the sport, for the beauty of the sport. Racing didn’t amuse so much anymore. There seemed only two choices, one to die and the other to lose. I decided on a third one, to stay alive.”
In 1998, Belgian King Albert II awarded him the Belgian Order of the Crown but not long after that Olivier passed away at his home in Les Baux-de-Provence in southern France.
Olivier Gendebien – The ultimate sportscar driver – from 
Oliver Gendebien from Autosport 6 july 1962
