Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen

Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen (born 30 September 2008) is a Danish racing driver set to compete for Rinaldi Racing in the LMP3 class of the European Le Mans Series and Le Mans Cup.

Career Pedersen began karting at the age of six, competing until 2022. In his karting career, Pedersen most notably was runner-up in the junior class of the Rotax Max Challenge Germany standings in 2022, and also was third in the Karting Sprint Cup Junior discipline of the FIA Motorsport Games the same year while representing Denmark.

In late 2022, Pedersen made his single-seater debut, racing in the final round of that year's F4 Danish Championship at Jyllands-Ringen for GP Racing, in which he scored a best result of fourth in race one. Returning to the series the following year for BAR, Pedersen began the season by winning twice in the opening round at Padborg Park and winning race two at Anderstorp Raceway to take an early championship lead. After winning race three at Karlskoga a round later, Pedersen scored what turned out to be his final two wins of the season at Ring Djursland, before scoring two podiums in the final two rounds to secure the series title by four points over Magnus Pedersen.

Remaining in Formula 4 for 2024, Pedersen joined Drivex to compete in both the Formula Winter Series and the F4 Spanish Championship. In the former, Pedersen scored his only podium of the season in race three at Jerez by finishing second, and scored four more points finishes to end the winter eighth in points. In the latter, Pedersen scored points twice, taking a best result of eighth in race two at Aragón before leaving the team and the series with three rounds remaining. After leaving Drivex, Pedersen made his prototype debut in the JS P4 class of the Ligier European Series for Team Virage at the season-ending round at Algarve alongside Brandon McCaughan. The pair finished fourth and fifth in the two races. At the same venue, Pedersen partook in the European Le Mans Series rookie tests with DKR Engineering as he tested LMP3 machinery for the first time.

Stepping up to full-time LMP3 competition the following year, Pedersen joined DKR Engineering to race in the European Le Mans Series alongside Antti Rammo and Wyatt Brichacek. In his rookie season in the series, Pedersen scored his maiden podium at the season-ending race at Algarve by finishing third, on his way to a tenth-place points finish. During 2025, Pedersen also made a one-off appearance in the 24 Hours of Le Mans-supporting round of the Le Mans Cup in the LMP3 Pro-Am class for Rinaldi Racing, and partook in the European Le Mans Series rookie tests with R-ace GP in the LMP3 class.

The following year, Pedersen returned to Rinaldi for a dual campaign in the LMP3 classes of the European Le Mans Series and Le Mans Cup.

Karting record Karting career summary

Racing record Racing career summary † As Pedersen was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points. Season still in progress.

Complete F4 Danish Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula Winter Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DC Points2024 Drivex JER1 JER2 JER3 CRT1 CRT2 CRT3 ARA1 ARA2 ARA3 CAT1 CAT2 CAT3 8th 55

Complete F4 Spanish Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Ligier European Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Class Chassis 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Rank Points 2024 Team Virage JS P4 Ligier JS P4 CAT1 CAT2 LEC1 LEC2 LMS SPA1 SPA2 MUG1 MUG2 ALG1 ALG2 13th 22

Complete European Le Mans Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap) Season still in progress.

Complete Le Mans Cup results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Class Chassis 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Rank Points 2025 Rinaldi Racing LMP3 Pro-Am Ligier JS P325 CAT LEC LMS1 LMS2 SPA SIL ALG 28th 4 2026 Rinaldi Racing LMP3 Pro-Am Ligier JS P325 BAR LEC LMS SPA SIL POR2nd*70* Season still in progress.

Complete GT World Challenge Europe results GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Season still in progress.