On Saturday 7 November 2026, Stéphane Ortelli will open Les 2 Tours d’Horloge at the wheel of an Alpine A441 that once belonged to his father, Jean Ortelli. The 1998 Le Mans 24 Hours winner has known the cockpit since childhood, yet has never driven the car: “I often sat in it as a kid, but always with it standing still!” This will be, he says, “the very first time” he has driven it. A moment eagerly awaited.
The 1974 European champion
The A441 Stéphane Ortelli will take out on track is chassis 441-0, in which Alain Serpaggi won the 1974 European 2-litre Sports Car Championship, a season in which the A441 won all seven rounds. Later sold to privateers, the car went on to compete in hillclimbs in the hands of Jimmy Mieusset and then Jean Ortelli. It now belongs to Jean-Charles Rédélé, son of Alpine’s founder, who bought it from the Ortelli family and had it restored. Alain Serpaggi himself handled the set-up work in 2012, as Jean-Charles Rédélé recalls.“Dad had promised to let the Rédélé family have his car, and he kept his word shortly before he passed away.”
The A441 will not be alone on track. An A442 B and an A443 will join it to mark 50 years since the Renault Alpine A442 made its Le Mans debut, the latter driven by Victor Jabouille, son of Jean-Pierre. Alain Serpaggi, meanwhile, will be at the wheel of an Alpine M65.
Le Castellet, the circuit of all his firsts
Stéphane Ortelli was born in Hyères on 30 March 1970, just 20 days before the very first race at Circuit Paul Ricard. It was there that he discovered motor racing: his first French Grand Prix as a boy, smuggled into the paddock by his father in the boot of a Peugeot 504, then karting, the Volant Elf-Winfield in 1989 and his first steps in Formula Renault.
It was also at Le Castellet that he contested his very first 24-hour race: Les 2 Tours d'Horloge in 1994, in an Alpine M63 shared with Hubert Maechler, Mauro Bianchi and Philippe Bianchi, father of Jules Bianchi. "A fabulous baptism of fire!"
Le Mans winner with Porsche, then Spa
The following year, Ortelli made his Le Mans 24 Hours debut. In 1997 he shared a Porsche 911 GT1 with Allan McNish, and a year later Porsche brought the pair together in its works team, alongside Laurent Aïello, in the #26 911 GT1-98. The rest is history: up against the works Mercedes, BMWs, Toyotas and Nissans, the trio won after 351 laps, just one lap clear of the sister Porsche. Ortelli was 28. He would go on to contest 14 Le Mans 24 Hours in all, up to 2011, including second place in 2000 in an Audi R8, once again alongside Laurent Aïello and Allan McNish.
His GT career has been every bit as rich. He won the Spa 24 Hours in 2003 with Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb, and the FIA GT Series title in 2013 with Laurens Vanthoor. On Saturday, on the circuit where he grew up, he will finally take the wheel of his father's Alpine: a "family reunion" he will be sharing with everyone.
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