René Binder

René Binder (born 1 January 1992) is an Austrian racing driver who currently competes in the European Le Mans Series with Proton Competition. He is the nephew of former Formula One driver Hans Binder, and his father, Franz, was also a racing driver.

Early career

Binder was born in Innsbruck. He began his racing career in karting in 2002, remaining in the category until 2008. During this time, he finished third in the German Junior Kart Championship in 2007 and was runner-up in the German Challenger Kart Championship in 2008.

In 2009, Binder began his formula racing career by competing in the ADAC Formel Masters series for the Abt Sportsline team. Whilst his teammate Daniel Abt won the championship, the Austrian finished the season in seventh position with three podium finishes. Binder then moved up to the German Formula Three Championship: in 2010, he drove for Motopark Academy and finished in twelfth place in the championship, with a best result of third position; 2011 saw him move to the Jo Zeller Racing team, for whom he improved to eighth place despite missing a round of the championship; and for the 2012 season, he drove for the Van Amersfoort Racing team. In 2011, he also competed in one round of the FIA Formula Two Championship, held at the Austrian Red Bull Ring.

Binder made his GP2 Series début in the tenth round of the 2012 season, held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. He replaced Giancarlo Serenelli in the Lazarus team, where he partnered Sergio Canamasas. He did not score any championship points. The following year, Binder would remain at Lazarus for a full-time assault at GP2. Taking three points finishes, including a season-best sixth at Monte Carlo, the Austrian would end up 23rd in the standings.

A switch to Arden International was in order for the 2014 season, where Binder teamed up with Brazilian André Negrão. However, whilst his teammate turned out to score points regularly during the second half of the year, Binder would regress, only amassing three points on his way to 25th in the championship.

For the 2015 season, Binder partnered Ferrari Academy driver Raffaele Marciello at Trident Racing. Following a scoreless opening half of the season and after missing the round at Spa due to a streptococcus infection, Binder moved to MP Motorsport. Despite taking a pair of points finishes during his first round with the team, Binder would finish the season 22nd overall.

Binder made a change of career trajectory in 2016, moving to the Charouz Racing System-run Lotus team in the rebranded Formula V8 3.5 Series. Even though Binder was beaten in the standings by fellow Lotus driver Roy Nissany, his results progressed, as five podiums throughout the campaign earned him seventh place in the drivers' standings. Remaining with Lotus in 2017, he secured his first podium at Spa-Francorchamps and subsequently won both races at Monza, taking his first victories since 2012. Thus, Binder temporarily took the championship lead, although he would soon fall down to sixth overall following the middle portion of the season. He made up ground in Austin, winning his third race after taking pole position. He won the very last race of the year in Bahrain and finished fourth in the championship, level on points with Nissany but ahead of him in terms of wins. However, Binder would once again be beaten by his Lotus teammate, this time via eventual champion Pietro Fittipaldi.

At the end of 2017, Binder took part in a private test with the Renault Sport F1 Team, driving a rebadged Lotus E20 at the Circuit Paul Ricard.

IndyCar and endurance racing

2018 In 2018, Binder signed a contract with Juncos Racing to run the No. 32 car in six races of the IndyCar Series. With two top-twenty race finishes, Binder ended up 28th in the standings. During the same year, he would take his first step into endurance racing, driving an LMP1 car for ByKolles Racing at the 6 Hours of Silverstone. However, the Austrian failed to see the checkered flag, as he spun out during full-course yellow conditions.

2019 2019 saw Binder undertake a fully-fledged assault at the sportscar scene, as he partnered Will Stevens and Julien Canal at Panis Barthez Competition in the LMP2 class of the European Le Mans Series. In addition, he would join Juncos Racing's new project in the DPi category for the Michelin Endurance Cup rounds of the IMSA calendar.

2020 For the following year, Binder switched to Inter Europol Competition for another season in the ELMS, teaming up with Matevos Isaakyan and Jakub Śmiechowski. With a pair of top-ten results, the outfit finished twelfth in the teams' standings.

2021 At the start of 2021, Binder partook in the Asian Le Mans Series alongside Yifei Ye and Ferdinand Habsburg with Algarve Pro-run G-Drive Racing. The campaign began strongly, as a fortunately timed pit stop under full-course yellow conditions granted the team victory at the season opener in Dubai. Another win followed the next day, as Binder took the lead during his opening stint before handing the car to his teammates. Despite a clean sweep by title rivals Jota at Yas Marina, second and fourth-placed finishes were enough for Binder, Ye and Habsburg to claim the title.

In the ELMS, Binder moved teams once again, this time entering as part of the Duqueine Team. He, Tristan Gommendy, and Memo Rojas ran in the upper midfield for the majority of the season, with a highlight coming at Spa-Francorchamps, where the team finished second. Fifth place overall would end up being Duqueine's final result.

2022 Originally slated to join G-Drive alongside Daniil Kvyat and James Allen in the FIA World Endurance Championship for the 2022 season, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent withdrawal of the team forced Binder and Allen to enter the series under the Algarve Pro Racing banner, driving alongside bronze-rated Steven Thomas in the LMP2 Pro-Am category. The year turned out to yield success, as the trio took a class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans along with another class win during the subsequent round at Monza. Algarve Pro ended up second in the Pro-Am classification, 23 points behind AF Corse.

2023 Following a driver ranking upgrade from silver to gold in 2023, Binder returned to the European Le Mans Series with Duqueine, this time teamed up with Neel Jani and Nico Pino. The team began the season with a class win at Barcelona, missing out on overall victory to the Pro-Am Racing Team Turkey entry of Louis Delétraz. A second place overall in Le Castellet followed, however this would be Duqueine's final podium of the year, with them missing out on a spot in the championship's top three by season's end. The closest they came was at the Portimão season finale, where Binder charged from sixth to second during a weather-affected middle stint, before teammate Jani was involved in an incident later on.

In July of the same year, Binder, Jani, and Pino entered into the 24 Hours of Le Mans under the Duqueine banner, taking third overall despite suffering a broken suspension on the final corner of the final lap. Binder took part in the WEC rookie test at the end of the season, driving a Porsche 963 with Proton Competition. He returned to the team in December, as he partnered GT star Julien Andlauer and bronze driver Giorgio Roda in the Asian Le Mans Series. The trio scored three podiums in a campaign which went into early 2024, leaving Proton second in the standings.

2024

Binder remained at Proton for the 2024 ELMS season, being part of the team's Pro-Am lineup alongside Bent Viscaal and Giorgio Roda. After a fifth place in class at Barcelona, the trio managed to score a second place at Le Castellet.

Personal life Binder married a woman named Melanie in November 2017.

Racing record

Racing career summary

Complete ADAC Formel Masters 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 13 14 15 16 Pos Points 2009 Team Abt Sportsline OSC11 OSC12 ASS1 ASS2 NÜR11 NÜR12 HOC1 HOC2 LAU1 LAU2 NÜR21 NÜR22 SAC1 SAC2 OSC21 OSC22 7th 90

Complete German Formula Three Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 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 27 DC Points 2010 Motopark Academy OSC11 OSC12 SAC1 SAC2 HOC1 HOC2 ASS11 ASS12 NÜR11 NÜR12 ASS21 ASS22 LAU1 LAU2 NÜR21 NÜR22 OSC21 OSC22 12th 12 2011 Jo Zeller Racing OSC1 OSC2 SPA1 SPA2 SAC1 SAC2 ASS11 ASS12 ZOL1 ZOL2 RBR1 RBR2 LAU1 LAU2 ASS21 ASS22 HOC1 HOC2 8th 26 2012 Van Amersfoort Racing ZAN1 ZAN2 ZAN3 SAC1 SAC2 SAC3 OSC1 OSC2 OSC2 SPA1 SPA2 SPA3 ASS1 ASS2 ASS3 RBR1 RBR2 RBR3 LAU1 LAU2 LAU3 NÜR1 NÜR2 NÜR3 HOC1 HOC2 HOC3 6th 191

Complete FIA Formula Two Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Pos Points 2011 SIL1 SIL2 MAG1 MAG2 SPA1 SPA2 NÜR1 NÜR2 BRH1 BRH2 RBR1 RBR2 MON1 MON2 CAT1 CAT2 28th 0

Complete GP2 Series/FIA Formula 2 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete World Series Formula V8 3.5 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 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Points 2015 Pons Racing ALC1 ALC2 MON1 SPA1 SPA2 HUN1 HUN2 RBR1 RBR2 SIL1 SIL2 NÜR1 NÜR2 BUG1 BUG2 JER1 JER2 22nd 4 2016 Lotus ALC1 ALC2 HUN1 HUN2 SPA1 SPA2 LEC1 LEC2 SIL1 SIL2 RBR1 RBR2 MNZ1 MNZ2 JER1 JER2 CAT1 CAT2 7th 161 2017 Lotus SIL1 SIL2 SPA1 SPA2 MNZ1 MNZ2 JER1 JER2 ALC1 ALC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 MEX1 MEX2 COA1 COA2 BHR1 BHR2 4th 201

American open-wheel racing results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

IndyCar Series (key) Year Team No. Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rank Points Ref 2018 Juncos Racing 32 Dallara DW12 Chevrolet STP22 PHX LBH ALA16 IMS INDY DET21 DET22 TXS ROA IOW TOR17 MDO21 POC GTW POR SNM 28th 61

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Class Make Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Rank Points 2019 Juncos Racing DPi Cadillac DPi-V.R Cadillac 5.5 L V8 DAY SEB LBH MDO DET WGL MOS ELK LGA PET 18th 88

Complete European Le Mans Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rank Points 2019 Panis Barthez Competition LMP2 Ligier JS P217 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 LEC MNZ CAT SIL SPA ALG 18th 19.5 2020 Inter Europol Competition LMP2 Ligier JS P217 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 LEC SPA LEC MNZ ALG 16th 15.5 2021 Duqueine Team LMP2 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 CAT RBR LEC MNZ SPA ALG 7th 52 2023 Duqueine Team LMP2 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 CAT LEC ARA SPA POR ALG 4th 79 2024 Proton Competition LMP2 Pro-Am Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 CAT LEC IMO SPA MUG ALG 3rd 95 2025 Proton Competition LMP2 Pro-Am Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 CAT LEC IMO SPA SIL ALG 6th 662026 Proton Competition LMP2 Pro-Am Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 CAT LEC IMO SPA SIL ALG 12th* 2*

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2019 Panis Barthez Competition Julien Canal Will Stevens Ligier JS P217-Gibson LMP2 362 13th 8th 2020 Inter Europol Competition Jakub Śmiechowski Matevos Isaakyan Ligier JS P217-Gibson LMP2 325 42nd 17th 2021 Duqueine Team Tristan Gommendy Memo Rojas Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 357 14th 9th 2022 Algarve Pro Racing James Allen Steven Thomas Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 363 19th 15th 2023 Duqueine Team Neel Jani Nico Pino Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 327 11th 3rd 2024 DKR Engineering Laurents Hörr Alexander Mattschull Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 195 21st 7th LMP2 Pro-Am 3rd 2025 Proton Competition Giorgio Roda Bent Viscaal Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 365 23rd 6th LMP2 Pro-Am 3rd

Complete Asian Le Mans Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)