Olivier Gendebien
Name: Olivier Gendebien
Nationality: Belgium
Date of birth: January 12, 1924 - Brussels
Best remembered as a sports car ace of international repute, winning Le Mans for Ferrari on four occasions (1958, 1960, 1961 and 1962), this former wartime resistance fighter came from an aristocratic background. It was during a four-year spell in the Belgian Congo, clearing virgin forest for what would become the residential area of Stanleyville, that he met a friend who introduced him to the ways of motor sport as a rally navigator. Gendebien's handful of Ferrari Formula 1 outings were regarded as a reward for his prowess at the wheel of the Scuderia's sportscars. In 1958 and 1961 his works Ferrari ran at Spa carrying the Belgian national yellow racing livery under the Equipe Nationale Belge banner. At the end of 1962 he retired from racing.
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