Matt McMurry

Matthew Merrill McMurry (born November 24, 1997) is an American racing driver.

In 2014, McMurry became the first junior development driver for Dyson Racing and a few months later at the age of 16 years and 202 days old became the youngest driver to participate in and finish the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He is a second generation driver and son of Chris McMurry, LMP2 class winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2005. He is an alumnus of The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at University of California, Irvine.

Career

McMurry has been racing cars since the age of 14, competing in Formula Skip Barber, U.S. F2000 Championship, Formula Bondurant, Prototype Lites and the European Le Mans Series. Through the age of 16, he has total 71 car races with an 8% winning, 21% podium position and 10% fastest lap rate. Prior to racing cars, he raced in karting from the age of five to 12, mostly locally in Arizona.

24 Hours of Le Mans

After back-to-back fourth-place finishes in the 2014 European Le Mans Series at Silverstone and Imola, McMurry was asked to join American Chris Dyson and Englishman Tom Kimber-Smith for the 82nd 24 Hours of Le Mans in the No. 42 LMP2 class entry by Greaves Motorsport from Peterborough, England.

The entry qualified 19th overall and tenth in class. When McMurry was handed the car by Kimber-Smith at about the 43 minute mark in the race, he became the youngest driver to ever participate in the race, breaking the record held by Mexican Ricardo Rodriguez and set 55 years earlier in 1959. Rodriguez was 17 years and 126 days old at the time.

After a 60+ minute pit stop during the 20th hour, the team finished the race 25th overall and 11th in class, having run over 2,600 miles. McMurry broke the record for youngest to finish the race, a mark previously set by American Gunnar Jeannette in 2000 at the age of 18 years and 44 days old.

Racing record

IMSA Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Rank Points 2013 Performance Tech SEB SEB LGA LGA MOH MOH MOS MOS ROA ROA COA COA ATL ATL 14th 48 2014 JDC MotorSports SEB SEB KAN KAN WGL WGL MOS MOS ROA ROA VIR VIR ATL ATL 6th 121 2015 JDC MotorSports SEB SEB NOL NOL WGL WGL MOS MOS ROA ROA VIR VIR ATL ATL 3rd 179

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2014 Caterham Racing Tom Kimber-Smith Chris Dyson Zytek Z11SN-Nissan LMP2 329 25th 11th 2017 Algarve Pro Racing Mark Patterson Vincent Capillaire Ligier JS P217-Gibson LMP2 330 32nd 15th 2020 Algarve Pro Racing John Falb Simon Trummer Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 365 11th 7thSource:

European Le Mans Series

Asian Le Mans Series Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 Rank Points 2016-17 Algarve Pro Racing LMP2 Ligier JS P2Judd HK 3.6 L V8 ZHU FUJ CHA SEP 9th 36

Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 Rank Points 2019 Jenson Team Rocket RJN Honda NSX GT3 Silver MNZ SIL LEC SPA CAT 8th 44