Paul Frère

Paul Frère in 2003
Born	(1917-01-30)30 January 1917 Le Havre, France
Died	23 February 2008(2008-02-23) (aged 91) Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Belgian
Active years	1952–1956
Teams	HWM,Gordini,Ferrari
Entries	11
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	1
Careerpoints	11
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1952 Belgian Grand Prix
Last entry	1956 Belgian Grand Prix

Paul Frère (French pronunciation:[pɔlfʁɛʁ]; 30 January 1917 – 23 February 2008) was aracing driver andjournalist from Belgium. He participated in eleven World ChampionshipFormula One Grands Prix debuting on 22 June 1952 and achieving one podium finish with a total of eleven championship points. He drove in several non-Championship Formula One races, winning the1952 Grand Prix des Frontières and1960 VI South African Grand Prix.

He also won the1960 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving forFerrari with fellow Belgian teammateOlivier Gendebien.

Frère was born atLe Havre in 1917.

He drove for the Ferrari works team, withPeter Collins.^[1]

After retiring from active racing in 1960, he worked as an automotive journalist based in Europe (he was the European Editor forRoad & Track magazine). He had numerous acquaintances amongst vehicle design engineers, especially in Japan atHonda andMazda and also worked as a consultant to automobile manufacturers. He also had the opportunity to test numerous road and racing cars as a journalist, one of the highlights being theAudi R8 which he tested and demonstrated during a break in the proceedings of the Test Day of the2003 24 Hours of Le Mans. At the time he was 86 years old, making him the oldest racing driver to drive a then-current sportscar.^[2]

Frère, along withPiero Taruffi andDenis Jenkinson, was one of the first writers to treat motor racing as a skill that could be analyzed, explained, and taught. His 1963 book,Sports Car and Competition Driving is still a standard reference in the field. It influenced the development of competition driving schools, such as those founded byJim Russell,Bob Bondurant and many others.

Frère was an expert on Porsche cars, in particular thePorsche 911, writing the definitive book on this series,The Porsche 911 Story. He maintained a close relationship with Porsche over the years. He was also considered an advisor and expert on the 911 by Alois Ruf, a respected Porsche tuner and manufacturer as head ofRuf Automobile, who consulted Frère during the development of Ruf's RGT8 Model.^[3]

In 1967, Frère had a cameo appearance inThe Departure, a Belgian film about a car-obsessed young man trying to get possession of a Porsche 911 for a race.

Only weeks before his 90th birthday in January 2007, he was badly injured in an accident near theNürburgring and was hospitalized for 14 days in intensive care.^{[citation needed]}

Frère died on 23 February 2008 inSaint-Paul-de-Vence (France). Turn 15 at theCircuit de Spa-Francorchamps, formerly the first part of theStavelot corner, has been renamed in his honour.^[4]

Frère was also a successful rower winning three Belgian championships. In 1946 and 1947 he won the national title in a coxless four. In 1946, he also won it with the coxed four.

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1953	Porsche KG	Richard von Frankenberg	Porsche 550 Coupé	S1.5	247	15th	1st
1954	Aston Martin Lagonda	Carroll Shelby	Aston Martin DB3S	S3.0	74	DNF (Front axle)
1955	Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd	Peter Collins	Aston Martin DB3S	S3.0	302	2nd	1st
1956	Jaguar Cars Ltd.	Desmond Titterington	Jaguar D-Type	S5.0	2	DNF (Accident)
1957	Equipe Nationale Belge	Freddy Rousselle	Jaguar D-Type	S5.0	310	4th	4th
1958	Porsche KG	Edgar Barth	Porsche 718 RSK	S1.5	290	4th	1st
1959	David Brown Racing Dept	Maurice Trintignant	Aston Martin DBR1/300	S3.0	322	2nd	2nd
1960	Scuderia Ferrari	Olivier Gendebien	Ferrari 250 TR59/60	S3.0	314	1st	1st
Sources:[6][7]

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1957	Renault Company	Jean Lucas	Renault Dauphine	T1.0	134	NC
Source:[8]

• 1917 births
• 2008 deaths
• Sportspeople from Le Havre
• Belgian racing drivers
• Belgian Formula One drivers
• Hersham and Walton Motors Formula One drivers
• Gordini Formula One drivers
• Ferrari Formula One drivers
• Motoring journalists
• 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
• 24 Hours of Le Mans winning drivers
• World Sportscar Championship drivers
• 24 Hours of Spa drivers
• Ecurie Nationale Belge Formula One drivers
• 12 Hours of Reims drivers
• Porsche Motorsports drivers

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2020
• Pages with French IPA
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from March 2017