He committed suicide (overdose of sleeping pills) in a hotel room in Ostend after a crash at the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans forced an end to his career.

Revson looked into his car and saw Mairesse's "furrowed" face, beetled brows, and eyes which were almost tilted and their colour changed.

[5] Mairesse and Mike Parkes of England finished second to Phil Hill and Olivier Gendebien at the 1961 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Driving a Ferrari 250 TR/61, Mairesse and Parkes also eclipsed the previous Le Mans record, covering 2,758.66 miles.

[6] In the 1963 12 Hours of Sebring Mairesse and Nino Vacarella placed second after Ludovico Scarfiotti and John Surtees.

Scarfiotti and Lorenzo Bandini won on the French circuit where Christian Heins had a fatal accident.

[8] A young German Red Cross worker was killed in August 1963 when the wheel of a Ferrari driven by Mairesse came off as his car overturned.

Guenther Schneider, 19, was hit by a flying wheel during the running of the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring and died.

Run at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Phil Hill was victorious, with Richie Ginther second, and Mairesse third, a lap down.

[17] During the event Mairesse and the Lotus of Trevor Taylor dueled for more than an hour, passing and repassing a number of times each lap.

[18] In a race in which only twelve of twenty-one starters finished, Mairesse came in fourth in the 1962 Italian Grand Prix.