Olivier Gendebien, the professional Ferrari enthusiast

This article on Olivier Gendebien comes from Collector AUTOhebdo dedicated to adventure Ferrari Asked 24 Hours of Le Mans, available on newsstands and on our online store. 

Despite thirteen international victories, Olivier Gendebien never really called himself a professional driver, but rather an amateur. However, reading his record and his status as an official driver of Scuderia Ferrari, this contradictory statement does not fail to amaze. Even today, Gendebien admits that he was never really interested in cars, but rather in sport in general. It is certainly all these reasons which have made Olivier Gendebien a driver with a sometimes contested reputation and talent, linked to a certain lack of popularity. Criticisms which are unfounded when we analyze his track record which is magnificent. Let’s agree! It is true that his automotive career was very brief since it did not even last ten years.

As a child and adolescent, contrary to the traditional cliché of the future automobile champion who steals his father's or brother's car, young Olivier is not very attracted to this world. His family is wealthy. After the war, in 1948, he directed town planning work in Stanleyville in the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) where he met a super-addicted coffee planter named Charles Fraikin. The latter cherishes the project of running the famous rally Liège-Rome-Liège in 1952, four years later!

In the meantime, the two men hit it off and decide to compete in this rally together. Deal. Four years later, the two Belgians found themselves behind the wheel of a large 3.4 liter Jaguar. In driving a car, Ol