Gary Ayles

Gary Ayles (born September 25, 1964) is a race car driver born in the United Kingdom.

Ayles raced in the British F3 championship in the late 1980s before making the switch to touring car racing. He competed in the British Touring Car Championship in 1991 driving for Toyota alongside Andy Rouse, and filled in for one race in 1992. He was offered a drive with the factory Peugeot team in the Superturismo series as teammate to Fabrizio Giovanardi. In his three years with the team he finished runner up in the championship in 1992 to the Italian and scored several wins during his time in the series against such names as Gabriele Tarquini, Roberto Ravaglia and Emanuele Pirro.[1] For 1995, he drove for the factory-backed Ferrari Club Italia team in the 1995 BPR Global GT Series, driving a Ferrari F40.[2]

Ayles returned to the BTCC in 1996, again driving for Andy Rouse in a Nissan, but did not enjoy the same success.[3] In 1997 he raced a McLaren F1 GTR in the 1997 FIA GT Championship for Parabolica Motorsport. The team achieved a brace of top six finishes against the factory teams, regularly the top privateers. This car is replicated within the video game Project CARS 3. The year also included a one-off outing at Silverstone in the 1997 British GT Championship, where he took the overall victory.[4] He has entered the Le Mans 24hr four times with a best finish of 9th in the LMGT1 class and 18th overall at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans driving a Ferrari F40.[5]

Ayles became a team owner in 2000, when he established GA Motorsport, which has entered cars in the BTCC since 2000, racing as Team Sureterm for much of 2004.[6] At the beginning of 2005, Ayles sold his share in the team to Mike Thompson, which Thompson since rebranded as Quest Racing. After planning to enter a new team in 2006, he formed the A-Tech team, which entered the BTCC for 2007, with a pair of Alfa Romeos for David Pinkney and Richard Marsh. Currently (2011) he is involved with Lotus UK's GT4 race programme with the Evora.[7]

He co-owns a heritage vehicle shipping and delivery company, Bespoke Handling.

Racing record

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position - 1 point awarded all in 1996 only) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap - 1 point awarded 1988–1989 in class)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 DC Pts Class
1988 ICS plc Ford Sierra RS500 A SIL
OUL
THR
DON
10‡
THR
SIL
SIL
BRH
SNE
BRH
BIR
DON
SIL
62nd 0 25th
1989 Arquati Racing Team Ford Sierra RS500 A OUL
SIL
THR
DON
Ret‡
THR
SIL
SIL
BRH
SNE
BRH
BIR
DON
SIL
NC 0 NC
1991 Kaliber ICS Team Toyota Toyota Carina SIL
9
SNE
DSQ
DON
4
THR
Ret
SIL
81
BRH
Ret
SIL
Ret
DON
1

Ret
DON
2

DNS
OUL
Ret
BRH
1

3
BRH
2

DNS
DON
14
THR
Ret
SIL
10
14th 19
1992 Peugeot Italia Team Peugeot 405 Mi16 SIL
THR
OUL
SNE
BRH
DON
1

DON
2

SIL
KNO
1

KNO
2

PEM
BRH
1

BRH
2

DON
7
SIL
19th 4
1996 Rouse Sport Nissan Primera eGT DON
1

Ret
DON
2

11
BRH
1

11
BRH
2

13
THR
1

DNS
THR
2

DNS
SIL
1

15
SIL
2

12
OUL
1

12
OUL
2

12
SNE
1

10
SNE
2

14
BRH
1

Ret
BRH
2

10
SIL
1

13
SIL
2

15
KNO
1

Ret
KNO
2

DNS
OUL
1

OUL
2

THR
1

11
THR
2

13
DON
1

11
DON
2

Ret
BRH
1

DNS
BRH
2

12
21st 2
  1. ^ – Race was stopped due of heavy rain. No points were awarded.

‡ Endurance driver.

References


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