Thomas Laurent

Thomas Laurent (Born 5 April 1998)[1] is a French racing driver who currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for French team Signatech Alpine Matmut and in the European Le Mans Series with Graff Racing. He finished second in the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans and third in the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Thomas Laurent
NationalityFrench
Born (1998-04-05) 5 April 1998
La Roche-sur-Yon (France)
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Debut season2017
Current teamSignatech Alpine Elf
Car number36
Former teamsJackie Chan DC Racing, Rebellion Racing
Starts24
Wins3
Poles0
Fastest laps0
Best finish2nd (LMP2) 3rd (LMP1) in 2017, 2018-19
Previous series
2015-18
2016
2016
Asian Le Mans Series
European Le Mans Series
Porsche Carrera Cup France
Championship titles
2017-18Asian Le Mans Series

Career

2015

Born in Le Roche sur Yon, Laurent stepped out of karting aged 17 in late 2015. He competed in 3 of the 4 rounds 2015-16 Asian Le Mans Series with Jackie Chan DC Racing alongside Ho-Pin Tung and David Cheng. They won all three races, but Laurent was only ranked second in the championship as Tung and Cheng won the opening round without him, leaving Laurent with a 25-point deficit.

2016

Laurent raced in the 2016 European Le Mans Championship in LMP3 for YMR in a Ligier JS P3 alongside Alexandre Cougnaud and Yann Ehrlacher. He finished 8th in the championship despite three retirements, and took a dominant win in the final round at Estoril.[2] He also entered the Road To Le Mans race that year for DC racing, alongside Cougnaud. Laurent took over the car in the lead and pulled away to win the race.[3]

Laurent returned to the Asian Le Mans Series for the 2016-17 season. He raced in LMP2, again for DC Racing alongside Tung and Gustavo Menezes. He missed the first round (which Tung and Menezes won in his absence) before they came second and first at Fuji and Buriram respectively. This left the #35 car with an 18 point lead coming into the final round. However they retired after a first corner accident, and lost the title. Laurent placed seventh in the drivers title.[4]

2017

In 2017 it was announced that Laurent would race in the World Endurance Championship in the LMP2 class. He is driving for Jackie Chan DC Racing in a Jota Sport run Oreca 07 alongside Tung and Oliver Jarvis.[5]

After winning on his debut at Silverstone and finishing third at Spa, Laurent had an impressive run at Le Mans. After helping his team get into the LMP2 lead, Laurent inherited the overall lead due to problems with LMP1 cars. In the end he won Le Mans in the LMP2 class, finishing second on the overall podium. He added to his win count with a dominant victory at the Nurburgring, but then finished ninth in class in Mexico due to a clutch issue. More successful races followed at the Circuit Of The Americas and Fuji with fourth and third placed finishes respectively.

It was announced that Laurent was awarded an opportunity to drive a Toyota LMP1 car in the Bahrain Post-season test.[6]

2018

Laurent has a contract dispute with DC Racing, because he signed with Rebellion Racing.[7] Despite this he with Harrison Newey and Stéphane Richelmi took the 2017–18 Asian Le Mans Series title in the LMP2 category.[8] He got a green light to race for Rebellion in 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship, competing behind the wheel of Rebellion R13 car with Mathias Beche and Gustavo Menezes.[9] He finished his first LMP1 race on podium behind two hybrid Toyotas.[10]He will join the Signatech Alpine team in the upcoming season.

Racing record

Complete European Le Mans Series results

Year Team Class Car Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rank Points
2016 M.Racing - YMR LMP3 Ligier JS P3 Nissan VK50VE 5.0 L V8 SIL
Ret
IMO
5
RBR
10
LEC
Ret
SPA
Ret
EST
1
8th 36
2020 Graff LMP2 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 LEC
9
SPA
2
LEC
3
MNZ
9
ALG
7
6th 43

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rank Points
2017 Jackie Chan DC Racing LMP2 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 SIL
1
SPA
3
LMS
1
NÜR
1
MEX
9
COA
4
FUJ
3
SHA
4
BHR
2
2nd 175
2018–19 Rebellion Racing LMP1 Rebellion R13 Gibson GL458 4.5 L V8 SPA
3
LMS
3
SIL
1
FUJ
Ret
SHA
5
SEB
7
SPA
2
LMS
5
3rd 114
2019–20 Signatech Alpine Elf LMP2 Alpine A470 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 SIL
2
FUJ
6
SHA
4
BHR
4
COA
6
SPA
Ret
LMS
3
BHR
5
8th 109

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2017 Jackie Chan DC Racing Ho-Pin Tung
Oliver Jarvis
Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 366 2nd 1st
2018 Rebellion Racing Mathias Beche
Gustavo Menezes
Rebellion R13-Gibson LMP1 376 3rd 3rd
2019 Rebellion Racing Nathanaël Berthon
Gustavo Menezes
Rebellion R13-Gibson LMP1 370 5th 5th
2020 Signatech Alpine Elf André Negrão
Pierre Ragues
Alpine A470-Gibson LMP2 367 8th 4th

References

  1. "Thomas Laurent: Racedriver biography - career and success". www.speedsport-magazine.com. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  2. "G-Drive Wins Estoril; Steals LMP2 Title from TDS – Sportscar365". Retrieved 2017-11-06.
  3. "DC Racing Duo Win Road To Le Mans Race – dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  4. "Algarve Pro Wins 4H Sepang, Asian LMS Title as DC Racing Retires – Sportscar365". Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  5. lm@endurance-info.com. "Jackie Chan DC Racing Driver Line-Up Announced | Endurance info English spoken". www.endurance-info.com. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  6. "Laurent To Test With Toyota At Bahrain – dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  7. Dagys, John. "DC Racing Disputing Laurent's Rebellion Contract". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  8. Kilshaw, Jake (4 February 2018). "DC Racing Sweeps Asian LMS Season; Wins Title at Sepang". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  9. Dagys, John (5 February 2018). "ORECA-Built Rebellion R13 Gibson Confirmed". Sportscar365. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  10. Dagys, John (5 May 2018). "Alonso Holds Off Conway for Toyota 1-2 at Spa". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Andrea Roda
Asian Le Mans Series
LMP2 Champion

2017–18
With: Harrison Newey & Stéphane Richelmi
Succeeded by
Paul di Resta
Phil Hanson
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