Three Le Mans Winners

Three happy former winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans have a quick reunion in the pits before the start of the 1971 race: Phil Hill, Olivier Gendebien and Paul Frère. Between them they had eight Le Mans wins. Hill won, with Gendebien, in 1958, 1961 and 1962, while Gendebien won his second 24 Hours on his way to four, driving with Frère in 1960. All their wins were with Ferrari Testa Rossas.

All were great endurance drivers but also excelled in other areas as well. Phil Hill is of course best known as the 1961 World Champion for Ferrari. Gendebien began as a really driver whose open road talents were best on display with a third overall finish in the 1957 Mille Miglia where he also won the Grand Prix Nuvolari. Frère was primarily an automotive journalist. However, both Gendebien and Frère achieved participations in Formula 1 with factory-entered Ferraris.

When we finally lost these three great drivers, a close connection to a most important period in racing was gone forever.

Photo by Ami Guichard ©The Klemantaski Collection

P.S. We are at Retromobile, so this was a short one. But hope you enjoy the photo.

Tags: Ami Guichard, auto racing, auto racing photographs, f1 photographs, Ferrari, Formula 1, Grand Prix, grand prix photographs, klemantaski collection, klemcoll, Le Mans, Mille Miglia, motor racing, motor racing photographs, motorsports, motorsports photographs, Olivier Gendebien, Paul Frere, Phil Hill, sports car photographs