Before motorsport brought him fame, De Courcelles served as a fighter pilot during the First World War. He earned multiple citations for his service and was awarded the Médaille militaire, one of France's highest military decorations, recognising extraordinary gallantry on the battlefield. This decorated wartime record was a common background among the adventurous gentleman racers who populated the top levels of European motorsport in the 1920s.
De Courcelles began his racing career in cyclecars, lightweight and inexpensive machines that dominated the entry level of Grand Prix competition in the early 1920s. He competed in Grands Prix with these vehicles before attracting the attention of the Lorraine-Dietrich factory, which recruited him to contest the new 24-hour endurance race at Le Mans — a race first held in 1923 and quickly established as one of the most demanding tests in motorsport.
De Courcelles and Rossignol entered together in the inaugural 1923 24 Hours of Le Mans and returned for the 1924 edition, the two men building a strong partnership at the wheel of Lorraine-Dietrich machinery across both races. Their persistence was rewarded in 1925 when they finally secured the outright victory, bringing Lorraine-Dietrich its first Le Mans triumph in what was still only the third running of the event.
The 1926 race saw the team restructure its driver pairings. De Courcelles was partnered with Marcel Mongin, while Rossignol drove with a new co-driver, Robert Bloch. Rossignol and Bloch went on to win the race for a second consecutive year, while De Courcelles and Mongin finished in second place — a strong result that nonetheless demonstrated the depth of Lorraine-Dietrich's challenge.
On 2 July 1927, De Courcelles was killed in a racing accident at the Circuit de Montlhéry during a Formule Libre race that was being held as a supporting event to the Grand Prix de l'ACF. The accident occurred less than two years after his Le Mans triumph and robbed French motorsport of one of its most experienced and celebrated campaigners. He was 38 years old.
De Courcelles stands as one of the pioneers of Le Mans history, competing from the race's very first edition and ultimately triumphing in 1925. His partnership with Rossignol across three consecutive Le Mans campaigns illustrated the durability and consistency that endurance racing demanded, and his Lorraine-Dietrich victory helped establish the race's international prestige during its formative years. The arc of his life — from decorated wartime aviator to Le Mans winner to fatal racing accident — embodied the risk and romance that defined the sport in the 1920s.
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