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Paul Frere dies

Race driver and journalist Paul Frere has died at the age of 91. Born in Le Havre, France, on 30 January 1917, Frere was generally accepted as being Belgian. Frere started his racing career on two wheels aged 29 after the end of the Second World War. Two years later, he switched to four wheels, and in 1952, landed his first race in Formula One.

Over the next five years, he started in another ten F1 Grands Prix notching up one podium and eleven championship points. Frere also competed in a number of non-championship F1 races.

Frere spent much of his racing career with sportscars he made his racing debut with an MG at Spa 2 24 hours and in 1954, he split his time between Formula 1 and Le Mans where he raced in an Aston Martin with Gordini. In 1960, he raced at the 24 Hours of Le Bans with fellow Belgian Olivier Genedebien, a race which the pair eventually won.

Despite his successes in motor sport, Frere never intended to become a full time racing driver. Instead, he decided to pursue a career as an international motoring journalist. Sadly, it is this career which is thought to have contributed to his death just weeks before his 90th birthday whilst working on a piece for Road & Track magazine, of which he was still editor, Frere was involved in a car accident near the Nurburgring. The accident put him in intensive car for a fortnight with a broken pelvis, broken ribs and punctured lungs. Despite recovering from his injuries, his health was never the same again and he eventually passed away on 24 February 2008.

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