SEBRING, Fla. – Sports car ace Bob Wollek, a winner of the world's premier endurance races at Dayton and Le Mans, died Friday after being struck by a car while riding his bicycle near Sebring International Raceway.

The 58-year-old Frenchman was to compete Saturday in the 12 Hours of Sebring sports car endurance race, an event he won in 1985. On Wednesday, Wolleck, Michael Peterson and Johnny Mowlem had qualified their Porsche 911 GT3 RS to start 19th in Saturday's race.

Wollek was riding west on Highway 98 when he was struck from behind by a van driven by 82-year-old John Rashley of Okeechobee, Fla., at approximately 4:30 p.m., the Florida Highway Patrol reported. Wollek was transported to Highlands Regional Medical Center in Sebring, where he was pronounced dead.

The police report said Wollek had been riding close to the edge of the pavement marking and the van, traveling in the same direction behind other traffic, hit the back of the bicycle.

Born in Strasbourg, France, "Brilliant Bob" had won just about all the major endurance events in the world sports-car racing -- and all in Porsches. Having raced for more than 25 years, Wollek's titles included two class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, four overall wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona, and a class win and an overall victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring.

"We are deeply saddened by this terrible news," said Scott Atherton, president and COO of the Panoz Motor Sports Group, which includes the American Le Mans Series and Sebring International Raceway. "He has been an icon in sports car racing for two decades, and his accomplishments behind the wheel are legendary. It is a very sad day for motorsports."

Wollek won the world Porsche Cup a record seven times. During the nine-year period between 1982 and 1991, Wollek was a four-time overall winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona in a factory Porsche 962.

In 2000, he won five American Le Mans Series events. This year, he competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona, where he co-drove in a Lola/Porsche which did not finish the event.

Wollek also finished fourth this year in the ALMS race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.