Julián Leal
Julián Leal | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 11, 1990 Bucaramanga, Colombia |
| Occupation | Professional racing driver (retired) |
| Years active | 2006–2016 |
Ómar Julián Leal Covelli, commonly referred to as Julián Leal, (born May 11, 1990, in Bucaramanga) is a retired Colombian professional race car driver. During his career, he also competed under an Italian racing licence in the GP2 Series.
Formula Renault 2.0
Leal launched his racing journey in 2006 by entering the Formula Renault 2.0 PanamGP championship. Over seven events, he secured two podium finishes and concluded the season ranked ninth overall. The following year, he participated in two additional races.
Euroseries 3000
In 2007, Leal relocated to Europe to compete in the Euroseries 3000 with the Italian squad Durango. He ended the Euroseries season in ninth place and simultaneously took part in the Italian Formula 3000 championship, finishing eleventh.
Continuing with Durango in 2008, Leal improved significantly, achieving sixth place in the Euroseries standings and earning four podiums across fifteen races. That September, he claimed the Italian Formula 3000 title at Misano, narrowly surpassing rivals Fabio Onidi and Nicolas Prost by just one point.
Formula Renault 3.5 Series
At the close of 2008, Leal tested with both Draco Racing and Prema Powerteam in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series at Circuit Paul Ricard and Circuit de Valencia. By December, he had signed with Prema for the forthcoming 2009 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season. Although he achieved a podium finish at the Hungaroring, his overall position was twentieth.
During the off-season, Leal conducted further testing with Prema and Mofaz Racing at Circuit de Catalunya. In December 2009, he secured a seat with Draco Racing for the 2010 season, teaming up with Nathanaël Berthon. He again ended up twentieth overall, with his best race result being fourth place at Brno.
Auto GP
In March 2010, Leal joined the Italian outfit Trident Racing to compete in the inaugural 2010 Auto GP season. He finished seventh in the championship standings, highlighted by a win from pole position during the penultimate round at Circuito de Navarra.
GP2 Series
Leal’s initial experience with a GP2 Series vehicle came during testing at Yas Marina Circuit in November 2010. By January 2011, he had signed with Rapax Team for the 2011 GP2 Asia Series season, partnering with teammate Fabio Leimer. Originally contracted only for the Asia series, he extended his deal to participate in the main 2011 GP2 championship, concluding the season in twenty-seventh place.
He later switched to Trident Racing for the non-championship finale at Yas Marina and remained with them throughout the 2012 season, driving alongside Stéphane Richelmi. During this period, Leal scored his first GP2 points and finished twenty-first overall.
For the 2013 season, Leal moved to Racing Engineering, reuniting with former champion teammate Fabio Leimer. That year, he accumulated 62 points and achieved two sprint race podiums, finishing twelfth in the standings. In 2014, he joined British team Carlin Motorsport, racing alongside Felipe Nasr. He secured podium finishes in both races of the opening round and ended the year tenth with a total of 68 points.
Leal continued his association with Carlin into the 2015 GP2 Series season.
Career summary
Full Euroseries 3000/Auto GP standings
(Template:Motorsport driver results legend) (Races highlighted in bold denote pole position; those in italics signify fastest lap)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Championship Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 Euroseries 3000 season | Durango (racing team) | "VAL FEA"(10) |
"VAL SPR"(10) |
"HUN FEA"(10) |
"HUN SPR"(9) |
"MAG FEA"(8) |
"MAG SPR"(10) |
"MUG FEA"(11) |
"MUG SPR"(6) |
"NÜR FEA"(Ret) |
"NÜR SPR"(7) |
"SPA FEA"(7) |
"SPA SPR"(Ret) |
"MNZ FEA"(5) |
"MNZ SPR"(4) |
"CAT FEA"(7) |
"CAT SPR"(6) |
10th | 14 |
| 2008 Euroseries 3000 season | Durango (racing team) | "VAL FEA"(5) |
"VAL SPR"(6) |
"SPA FEA"(9) |
"SPA SPR"(C) |
"VAL FEA"(5) |
"VAL SPR"(2) |
"MUG FEA"(4) |
"MUG SPR"(3) |
"MIS FEA"(3) |
"MIS SPR"(2) |
"JER FEA"(Ret) |
"JER SPR"(7) |
"CAT FEA"(Ret) |
"CAT SPR"(4) |
"MAG FEA"(Ret) |
"MAG SPR"(9) |
6th | 38 |
| 2010 Auto GP season | Trident Racing"| | "BRN 1" Template:Small (10) |
"BRN 2" Template:Small (4) |
"IMO 1" Template:Small (Ret) |
"IMO 2" Template:Small (8) |
"SPA 1" Template:Small (7) |
"SPA 2" Template:Small (Ret) |
"MAG 1" Template:Small (9) |
"MAG 2" Template:Small (7) |
'NAV 1' Template:Small (1) |
'NAV 2' Template:Small (Ret) |
'MNZ 1' Template:Small (8) |
'MNZ 2' Template:Small (4) |
colspan=4| | !9th | !21 |
Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series standings
(key) (Pole positions are shown in bold; fastest laps are marked in italics)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Final Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Prema Powerteam | CAT 1 15 |
CAT 2 19† |
SPA 1 19 |
SPA 2 18 |
MON 1 14 |
HUN 1 22 |
HUN 2 3 |
SIL 1 17 |
SIL 2 16 |
BUG 1 Ret |
BUG 2 20 |
ALG 1 18 |
ALG 2 17 |
NÜR 1 17 |
NÜR 2 14 |
ALC 1 21 |
ALC 2 22† |
20th | 11 |
| 2010 | International Draco Racing | ALC < br >1 < br / > Ret | ALC < br >2 < br / > Ret | SPA < br >1 < br / > 11 | SPA < br >2 < br / > 12 | MON < br >1 < br / > 16 | BRN < br >1 < br / > 4 | BRN < br >2 < br / > 13 | MAG < br >1 < br / > Ret | MAG < br >2 < br / > 19 | HUN < br >1 < br / > Ret | HUN < br >2 < br / > 16 | HOC < br >1 < br / > 13 | HOC < br >2 < br / > 9 | SIL < br >1 < br / > Ret | SIL < br >2 < br / > 10 | CAT < br >1 < br / > Ret | CAT < br >2 < br / > Ret | 20th | 11 |
† Indicates driver did not finish but was classified, having completed more than 90% of the race distance.
Full GP2 Series Results
(legend) (Races highlighted in bold denote pole positions) (Races shown in italics represent fastest laps)
| Season | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Final Position | Total Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Rapax | IST FEA 19th |
IST SPR Retired |
CAT FEA 17th |
CAT SPR 14th |
MON FEA Retired |
MON SPR Retired |
VAL FEA 11th |
VAL SPR 9th |
SIL FEA 22nd |
SIL SPR 21st |
NÜR FEA 14th |
NÜR SPR 9th |
HUN FEA 20th |
HUN SPR Retired |
SPA FEA Retired |
SPA SPR Retired |
MNZ FEA 16th |
MNZ SPR Retired |
27th | 0 | ||||||
| 2012 | Trident Racing | SEP FEA 15th |
SEP SPR 15th |
BHR1 FEA 12th |
BHR1 SPR 17th |
BHR2 FEA 15th |
BHR2 SPR 14th |
CAT FEA 24th |
getext-style background #cfcfff for most remaining races except:
style background #efcfff for Monaco SPR (Ret) style background #dfffdf for Valencia SPR (8), Spa FEA (7), Monza FEA & SPR (10,8) |
21st !9 | |||||||||||||||||
|- ... [Subsequent seasons from 2013 to 2015 continue with a similar format, condensed accordingly]
Full GP2 Asia Series standings
(key) (Bold font denotes pole position) (Italic font signifies fastest lap)
| Season | Team | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Final Position | Total Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Rapax | YMC FEA Retired |
YMC SPR 17th |
IMO FEA 17th |
IMO SPR 18th |
26th overall | 0 points |
Full GP2 Final championship results
(key) (Bold indicates pole position) (Italics indicate fastest lap)
| Season | Team | Race 1 | Race 2 | Championship Position | Points Scored |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Trident Racing | YMC FEA 16th |
YMC SPR 21st |
22nd place | 0 points |
Complete European Le Mans Series results
| Year | Team | Category | Car Model | Power Unit | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Round 6 | Final Standing | Championship Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | SMP Racing | LMP2 class | BR Engineering BR01 | Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 engine | SIL 2nd |
IMO 4th |
RBR 4th |
LEC 2nd |
SPA | EST | 6th overall | 60 points |