Soheil Ayari

Soheil Ayari (born 5 April 1970) is a French-Iranian race car driver born in Aix-les-Bains, Savoie, from an Iranian father and a French mother. He won the French Formula Ford championship of 1994, Formula Three championship of 1996 and the Macau Grand Prix of 1997. From 1997 until 2000, he competed in Formula 3000 where he won two races before moving on to the French Supertouring Championship in 2001 where he became champion in 2002, 2004 and 2005.

In 2006 and 2007, Ayari drove in GT Championship, in GT1 for Team Oreca (on a Saleen S7-R). He became French champion in 2006 & 2007 and won the European Le Mans séries championship in 2007 with Stephane Ortelli. In 2008 & 2009, he drove a Corvette GT 1 in French GT 3 championship before joining the Audi ORECA Team in 2010. In 2011, he raced and won two championships : ILMC LMP2 (Signatech Nissan) and International Open GT with JMB Ferrari F458 GT2. Ayari driving the Oreca 01 during the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ayari is also a famous 24 Hours of Le Mans driver with eleven starts in GT 1, LMP1 & LMP2. Best results over all were fourth in 2004 ((Pescarolo)) & 2010 (ORECA 01)), fifth in 2009 ((ORECA)) and second LMP2 (Signatech Nissan) in 2011.

In 2014, Ayari was in the European Le Mans Series, and in 2015, was in the French GT Championship in which he remained in 2016. In 2017, he switched to the GT4 European Southern Cup and in 2018, moved into French GT's again. Ayari also works as a journalist specialising in track tests and races in historic events.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

American open–wheel racing results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Indy Lights

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Viper Team Oreca Tommy Archer Marc Duez Chrysler Viper GTS-R GT2 76 DNF DNF Viper Team Oreca David Donohue Jean-Philippe Belloc Chrysler Viper GTS-R GTS 271 DNF DNF Pescarolo Sport Éric Hélary Nicolas Minassian Courage C60-Peugeot LMP900 352 9th 7th Pescarolo Sport Érik Comas Benoît Tréluyer Pescarolo C60-Judd LMP1 361 4th 4th Pescarolo Sport Éric Hélary Sébastien Loeb Pescarolo C60 Hybrid-Judd LMP1 288 DNF DNF Team Oreca Stéphane Ortelli Nicolas Lapierre Saleen S7-R GT1 318 16th 9th Team Oreca-Matmut Loïc Duval Laurent Groppi Courage-Oreca LC70-Judd LMP1 357 8th 8th Team Oreca-Matmut AIM Olivier Panis Nicolas Lapierre Oreca 01-AIM LMP1 370 5th 5th AIM Team Oreca-Matmut Didier André Andy Meyrick Oreca 01-AIM LMP1 369 4th 4th Signatech Nissan Franck Mailleux Lucas Ordoñez Oreca 03-Nissan LMP2 320 9th 2nd PeCom Racing Luís Pérez Companc Pierre Kaffer Oreca 03-Nissan LMP2 352 9th 3rd Team Sofrev ASP Anthony Pons Fabien Barthez Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 GTEAm 325 29th 9th

Complete World Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2005 Peugeot Sport Denmark Peugeot 407 ITA1 ITA2 FRA1 FRA2 GBR1 GBR2 SMR1 SMR2 MEX1 MEX2 BEL1 BEL2 GER1 GER2 TUR1 TUR2 ESP1 ESP2 MAC1 MAC2 NC 0center|small|Sources: