Festival automobile international 2012 - Photocall - Hubert Auriol - 010

Hubert Auriol (; 7 June 1952 – 10 January 2021) was a French professional

off-road Off-roading is the activity of driving or riding in a vehicle on unpaved surfaces such as sand, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, and other natural terrain. Types of off-roading range in intensity, from leisure drives with unmodified vehicl ...

motorcyclist and auto racer competing in

rally raid Rally raid, also known as cross-country rallying, is a form of long distance off-road racing that takes place over several days. The length of the event can be as short as 2–3 days for a cross-country baja to as long as 15 days with marathon ra ...

events. After retiring as a competitor, he served as the director of The Paris-Dakar rally. Auriol is notable for being the first competitor to win the Dakar rally on motorcycles and in automobiles. In 2012, Auriol was named an

FIM FIM may refer to: Organizations and companies * Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation * Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States * Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media * ...

Legend for his motorcycling achievements.

Career

Auriol was born in

Addis Abeba Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

, and began competing in

motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competi ...

and

enduro Enduro is a form of motorcycle sport run on extended cross-country, off-road courses. Enduro consists of many different obstacles and challenges. The main type of enduro event, and the format to which the World Enduro Championship is run, is a ...

events in 1973. From 1979 to 1994, he took part in The Paris-Dakar rally, taking part in the first nine events on a motorcycle and the remaining seven in a car. On motorcycles, he won the event in 1981 and 1983 on a BMW R80G/S entered by BMW France, finishing in second in 1984. He broke both ankles on the penultimate day of the 1987 edition, while he was in the lead. He wrote a book with the French journalist

Jean-Michel Caradec'h Jean-Michel Caradec'h (22 March 1950 – 17 November 2022)''Annie_Girardot''._''La_mémoire_de_ma_mère''_Giulia_Salvatori._Éditions_Michel_Lafon.html" ;"title="Annie Girardot''. ''La mémoire de ma mère''">Annie Girardot">''Annie Girardot ...

, "Paris Dakar. Une histoire d'hommes" about this story. Auriol then switched to the automobile class in 1988, first racing a

factory-backed In motorsports, a factory-backed racing team or driver is one sponsored by a vehicle manufacturer in official competitions. As motorsport competition is an expensive endeavor, some degree of factory support is desired and often necessary for suc ...

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

Pajero Proto T3, but after losing the event to

Ari Vatanen Ari Pieti Uolevi Vatanen (; born 27 April 1952) is a Finnish rally driver turned politician and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1999 to 2009. Vatanen won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Rally ...

in 1990, switched to the

Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...

team, winning in 1992 with a ZX Rallye Raid, co-driven by Philippe Monnet. In 1994, Auriol joined Dakar organizer ASO and became race director of the event he won three times, starting in the 1995 edition. He headed the event until the 2004 edition, when he was replaced by Patrick Zaniroli. In 2008 he founded the

Africa Eco Race Africa Eco Race is an annual rally raid, organised in France and run in North and West Africa, launched after the cancellation of 2008 Dakar Rally, and the subsequent moving of the rally to South America. The rally claims to have innovated to gi ...

. Hubert Auriol lived in

Suresnes Suresnes () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. Located in Hauts-de-Seine, from the centre of Paris, it had a population of 49,145 as of 2016. The nearest communes are Nanterre, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmaison, Saint-Cloud an ...

with his wife and three children. He was not related to former World Rally Champion

Didier Auriol Didier Auriol (born 18 August 1958) is a French former rally driver. Born in Montpellier, and initially an ambulance driver, he competed in the World Rally Championship throughout the 1990s. He became World Rally Champion in 1994, the first driv ...

Death

Auriol, who had been suffering from cardiovascular disease for a long time, was hospitalized in serious condition after being infected by

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in Paris in November 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic in France The COVID-19 pandemic in France has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have reached France on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case in both Europe and France was identified in Bordeaux. Th ...

. While undergoing treatment for COVID-19, he died on 10 January 2021, at the age of 68, following a cardiac arrest.Hubert Auriol zmarł na koronawirusa. COVID-19 pokonał twardziela z Dakaru
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Auriol, Hubert 1952 births 2021 deaths Sportspeople from Addis Ababa Enduro riders French rally drivers Off-road racing drivers Dakar Rally drivers Dakar Rally winning drivers Off-road motorcycle racers Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in France