A member of the French Resistance during World War II, Henri Oreiller was a man with a high level of sportsmanship and fair play, and an articulate and clownish presence. A native of Paris, the son of Léon and Marguerite Oreiller, of Italian origins, he grew up in Val d’Isère. Henri Oreiller joined the great French ski team that dominated the Olympic games in the years after the war.
In 1961 Oreiller won the Rallye Lyon-Charbonnières with his friend Fernand Masoero in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ, and purchased a Ferrari 250GT SWB in which he scored outright wins in the Coupe de Paris, and in the Coupe du Salon, both held at Linas-Montlhéry. The following year in his Ferrari he won once again the Rallye Lyon-Charbonnières, co-driven by Jean Charron, and the Grand Prix International d'Albi, setting also the fastest lap of the race. Paired with Roger Delageneste he was 3rd in class, 10th place overall, in the 1000 Km of the Nürburgring, then a round of the 1962 World Sportscar Championship, also finishing 5th in the Trophée d'Auvergne, at Clermond-Ferrand. On 23 June of that year he had his debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a works driver for team Abarth. He drove an Abarth-Simca 1300 Bialbero with Tommy Spychiger, but the duo retired during 5th hour due to ignition problem.
His last top-level result was an impressive second place overall in the Tour de France Automobile, on 23 September 1962, sharing a Ferrari 250 GTO with Jo Schlesser, close behind the winners André Simon-Maurice Dupeyron in a Ferrari 250GT SWB.
Two weeks later, on Sunday, 07 October 1962, after setting the best lap of the race at the wheel of the same Ferrari 250 GTO #3, reg. plate number MO80576, Henri Oreiller had a huge accident on 15th lap of the Coupe du Salon held on the 3.360-kilometer variant named "Premier Circuit" with chicane at Linas-Montlhéry. The ex-Olympic skiing champion who had won the race the year before, was taken to Hôpital Cochin of Paris, where he died several hours later that same day. He was 37-years-old.
Two more weeks later, the 1962 racing season at Linas-Montlhéry would be closed with yet another tragic accident, which claimed the life of Paul Armagnac. The memory of the two drivers is kept side by side at the racing circuit in Nogaro, in Southern France: whilst the track has been named "Circuit Automobile Paul Armagnac Nogaro", the first turn is called "Courbe Henri Oreiller".
R.I.P
In 1961 Oreiller won the Rallye Lyon-Charbonnières with his friend Fernand Masoero in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ, and purchased a Ferrari 250GT SWB in which he scored outright wins in the Coupe de Paris, and in the Coupe du Salon, both held at Linas-Montlhéry. The following year in his Ferrari he won once again the Rallye Lyon-Charbonnières, co-driven by Jean Charron, and the Grand Prix International d'Albi, setting also the fastest lap of the race. Paired with Roger Delageneste he was 3rd in class, 10th place overall, in the 1000 Km of the Nürburgring, then a round of the 1962 World Sportscar Championship, also finishing 5th in the Trophée d'Auvergne, at Clermond-Ferrand. On 23 June of that year he had his debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a works driver for team Abarth. He drove an Abarth-Simca 1300 Bialbero with Tommy Spychiger, but the duo retired during 5th hour due to ignition problem.
His last top-level result was an impressive second place overall in the Tour de France Automobile, on 23 September 1962, sharing a Ferrari 250 GTO with Jo Schlesser, close behind the winners André Simon-Maurice Dupeyron in a Ferrari 250GT SWB.
Two weeks later, on Sunday, 07 October 1962, after setting the best lap of the race at the wheel of the same Ferrari 250 GTO #3, reg. plate number MO80576, Henri Oreiller had a huge accident on 15th lap of the Coupe du Salon held on the 3.360-kilometer variant named "Premier Circuit" with chicane at Linas-Montlhéry. The ex-Olympic skiing champion who had won the race the year before, was taken to Hôpital Cochin of Paris, where he died several hours later that same day. He was 37-years-old.
Two more weeks later, the 1962 racing season at Linas-Montlhéry would be closed with yet another tragic accident, which claimed the life of Paul Armagnac. The memory of the two drivers is kept side by side at the racing circuit in Nogaro, in Southern France: whilst the track has been named "Circuit Automobile Paul Armagnac Nogaro", the first turn is called "Courbe Henri Oreiller".
R.I.P
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