Three-time Dakar Rally winner Hubert Auriol dies at 68

The Dakar Rally announced that Auriol died on Sunday (January 9). It did not specify a cause but the Frenchman had battled heart disease for many years.

The charismatic Auriol won the race, which was then called the Paris-Dakar Rally, on a motorbike in 1981 and ’83 and then in a car in 1992. Auriol later became director of the race, a position he held for nearly a decade.

In recent years, he had worked as a Paris-based auto racing consultant.

“He inspired generations of riders and drivers and has been an integral part of the rally throughout its history,” the Dakar Rally said.