Laurent Aïello

Laurent Aïello
Laurent Aïello
Born	May 23, 1969 (age 57); France
Occupation	Racing driver
Years active	1988–2005
Known for	Victories at 24 Hours of Le Mans (1998), British Touring Car Championship (1999), Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (2002)

Laurent Aïello (born 23 May 1969) is a retired French racing driver renowned for his victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1998, the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) in 1999, and the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) in 2002.

His professional tenure lasted from 1988 until 2005, during which he competed in International Formula 3000, the French Supertouring Championship (CFS), Italian Super Touring Championship (ISTC), and the Super Tourenwagen Cup (STW). He claimed the CFS crown in 1994 and secured the STW title in 1997.

Early career

Between 1983 and 1985, Aïello dominated by winning the French Karting Championship three years in a row. His initial foray into car racing began in 1988 with the Volant Avia, advancing to professional status in 1989 by participating in 11 rounds of the French Formula 3 series for Daniel Gache Racing, where he earned one podium finish. The following year, he triumphed at the Monaco Grand Prix Formula Three support race, secured fourth place at the Macau GP driving for Bowman Racing, and finished fifth overall in French F3 with Graff Racing, achieving four wins out of eleven events. In 1991 and 1992, he progressed to International Formula 3000 with teams DAMS and Pacific Racing, ending both seasons ranked fifteenth. His notable accomplishment during this period was winning the 1992 French Formula 3 championship.

1993-1996

Aïello moved into touring car competition in 1993, finishing second in the French Supertouring Championship (CFS) while racing for non-factory outfit Oreca. That same year, he also took part in the Italian Super Touring Championship, concluding the season seventeenth overall. His breakthrough came in 1994 when he captured the French Supertouring title with five victories behind the wheel of a factory-supported Peugeot 405 MI-16. Capitalizing on Peugeot’s association with Jordan Grand Prix, he tested a Jordan 194 Formula One car at Estoril, recording the tenth fastest lap time. After a less dominant year in 1995, finishing third overall with one win, Aïello transitioned to Germany’s Super Tourenwagen Cup (STW) in 1996, piloting Peugeot’s new 406. He ended that campaign third in the standings with three race wins. Additionally, he claimed victory in a round of the Porsche Carrera Cup France during this period.

1997-1999

In 1997, Aïello clinched the STW championship by securing eleven wins and finishing a commanding 52 points ahead of BMW competitor Joachim Winkelhock. His final STW season came in 1998 when he amassed six victories but narrowly missed out on defending his title, finishing second behind Venezuelan driver Johnny Cecotto by just three points. That same year marked his victorious debut at the endurance classic, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving a Porsche 911 GT1.

The following year, Aïello joined the works Nissan squad competing in the BTCC with their Primera, taking over from Anthony Reid. He declined an opportunity to race for Renault due to limitations imposed by WilliamsF1—Renault’s managing entity—on participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In his sole BTCC season, Aïello excelled by capturing ten wins and securing the championship title with a sixteen-point margin over teammate David Leslie. Nissan also achieved both Manufacturer's and Team's championships that year. His outstanding performance earned him the National Racing Driver of the Year accolade at the Autosport Awards. Additionally, he competed for Audi at the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans driving their Audi R8R, finishing third within his class.

2000-2002

Following Nissan's exit from the BTCC in 1999 and the Honda opportunity going to Tom Kristensen, Aïello transitioned to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters with Abt Sportsline, driving the Audi TT-R. The 2000 season proved difficult, as he failed to achieve any wins and his highest placement was fifth, with the Audi TT trailing behind rivals such as the Mercedes-Benz CLK and Opel Astra. Additionally, he secured second place at his third appearance in the 24 Hours of Le Mans representing Audi.

In 2001, after extensive vehicle enhancements, Aïello earned Audi's inaugural DTM victory during the sprint race at the Nürburgring, followed by three further wins throughout that year. He also repeated his runner-up finish at Le Mans with Audi.

The 2002 campaign was a landmark year: Aïello clinched the DTM championship by a margin of six points ahead of defending champion Bernd Schneider, amassing 12 wins in total. Although originally planned to compete in the 2002 Le Mans for Audi, he was ultimately substituted by Christian Pescatori.

2003-2005

The partnership between Abt Sportsline and Aïello saw a decline in 2003, managing only a single race victory. Upon moving to Opel for the 2004 and 2005 seasons, the newly introduced Vectra GTS did not yield any wins. At age 36, Aïello retired following a ninth-place finish in his final race at Hockenheim. During his concluding season, he experimented with a "breathable overall" during the Nürburgring event.

In a 2005 Motorsport Magazine survey, Aiello was ranked as the 13th greatest touring car driver in history.

Personal life

Aïello is married to Géraldine and they have two children named Marie and Tom. His hobbies include riding jetskis and DJing.

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races shown in bold denote pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Points
1991	DAMS	Lola T91/50	Mugen	VAL Ret	PAU DNS	JER 7	MUG Ret	PER Ret	HOC 7	BRH 9	SPA 3	BUG Ret	NOG Ret	15th	4
1992	Pacific Racing	Reynard 92D	Mugen	SIL Ret	PAU Ret	CAT 15	PER 11	HOC 10	NÜR 5	SPA 6	ALB 15	NOG 7	MAG Ret	15th	3

Full 24 Hours of Le Mans Results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Vehicle	Category	Completed Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
Template:24hLM	Germany Porsche AG	Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall Allan McNish Template:Country data MCO Template:Namespace detect showall Stephane Ortelli	Porsche 911 GT1-98	GT1	351	1st	1st
Template:24hLM	Germany Audi Sport Team Joest	Template:Country data ITA Template:Namespace detect showall Michele Alboreto Template:Country data ITA Template:Namespace detect showall Rinaldo Capello	Audi R8R	LMP	346	4th	3rd
Template:24hLM	Germany Audi Sport Team Joest	Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall Allan McNish Template:Country data MCO Template:Namespace detect showall Stephane Ortelli	Audi R8	LMP900	367	2nd	2nd
Template:24hLM	Germany "Audi Sport North America"	Template:Country data ITA Template:Namespace detect showall Rinaldo Capello Template:Country data ITA Template:Namespace detect showall Christian Pescatori	Audi R8	LMP900	320	2nd	2nd

Complete Super Tourenwagen Cup Results

(key) (Races highlighted in bold denote pole position; races in italics signify fastest lap)

1998 Super Tourenwagen Cup ! nowrap | Peugeot Esso ! nowrap | Peugeot 406 | style = " background : # DFFF DF ; " > Hockenheimring (HOC) Race 1 4 | style = " background : # DF DF DF ; " > Hockenheimring (HOC) Race 2 2 | style = " background : # DFFF DF ; " > Nürburgring (NÜR) Race 1 4 | style = " background : # FF DF 9F ; " > Nürburgring (NÜR) Race 2 3 | style = " background : # FF DF 9F ; " > Sachsenring (SAC) Race 1 3 | style = " background : # DFFF DF ; " > Sachsenring (SAC) Race 2 5 | style = " background : # DFFF DF ; " > Norisring (NOR) Race 1 6 | style = " background : # FFFF BF ; " > Norisring (NOR) Race 2 1 | style = " background : # DFFF DF ; " > Regio-Ring (REG) Race 1 12 | style = " background : # DFFF DF ; " > Regio-Ring (REG) Race 2 10 | style = " background : # FFFF BF ; " > Wunstorf (WUN) Race 1 1 | style = " background : # EFCFFF ; " > Wunstorf (WUN) Race 2 Ret | style = " background : # FF DF 9F ; " > Zweibrücken (ZWE) Race 1 3 | style = " background : # DFFF DF ; " > Zweibrücken (ZWE) Race 2 5 | style = " background : # FFFF BF ; " > Salzburgring (SAL) Race 1 1 | style = " background : # FFFF BF ; " > Salzburgring (SAL) Race 2 1 | style = " background : # FFFF BF ; " > Motorsport Arena Oschersleben (OSC) Race 1 1 | style = " background : # FFFF BF ; " > Motorsport Arena Oschersleben (OSC) Race 2 1 | style = " background : # FF DF 9F ; " > Nürburgring (NÜR) Race 1 3 | style = " background : # DFFF DF ; " > Nürburgring (NÜR) Race 2 6 ! style= "background: #DFDFDF;" !592

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Position	Points
1996	Peugeot Esso	Peugeot 406	ZOL 1 20	ZOL 2 Ret	ASS 1 2	ASS 2 1	HOC 1 Ret	HOC 2 DNS	SAC 1 9	SAC 2 6	WUN 1 9	WUN 2 2	ZWE 1 1	ZWE 2 1	SAL 1 7	SAL 2 4	AVU 1 14	AVU 2 12	NÜR 1 2	NÜR 2 2			3rd	422
1997	Peugeot Esso	Peugeot 406	HOC 1 1	HOC 2 1	ZOL 1 3	ZOL 2 3	NÜR 1 1	NÜR 2 1	style="background:#DFDFDF;"> SAC 1 < br > 2	style = " background : # DF DF DF ; " > SAC < br > 2 < br > 2	style = " background : # DF DF DF ; " > NOR < br > 1 < br > 2	style = " background : # EFCFFF ; " > NOR < br > 2 < br > Ret	style = " background : # FFFF BF ; " > WUN < br > 1 < br > 1	style = " background : # FFFF BF ; " > WUN < br > 2 < br > 1	style = " background : # FFFF BF ; " > ZWE < br > 1 < br > 1	style = " background : # DFFF DF ; " > ZWE < br > 2 < br > 4	style = " background : # FFFF BF ; " > SAL < br > 1 < br > 1	style = " background : # FFFF BF ; " > SAL < br > 2 < br > 1	style = " background : # DF DF DF ; " > REG < br > 1 < br > 2	style = " background : # DFFF DF ; " > REG < br > 2 < br > 20	style = " background : # FFFF BF ; " > NÜR < br > 1 < br > 1 \| style = " background : # FFFF BF ; " \| 1st \| 696

Full British Touring Car Championship results

(legend) (Entries in bold denote pole position – 1 point granted per race) (Entries in italics represent fastest lap) (* indicates the driver led the feature race for a minimum of one lap – 1 point awarded)

Year	Team	Vehicle	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	Final Position	Points
1999	Vodafone Nissan Racing	Nissan Primera GT	DON 1 11	DON 2 Ret	SIL 1 1	SIL 2 6	THR 1 1	THR 2 1*	BRH 1 3	BRH 2 1*	OUL 1 1	OUL 2 1*	DON 1 Ret	DON 2 2*	CRO 1 5	CRO 2 3	SNE 1 Ret	SNE 2 7	THR 1 1	THR 2 5*	KNO 1 1	[[Knockhill Racing Circuit	KNO 2]] DSQ	[[Brands Hatch	BRH 1]] 2	[[Brands Hatch	BRH 2]] 1*	[[Oulton Park	OUL 1]] 1	[[Oulton Park	OUL 2]] 2	[[Silverstone Circuit	SIL 1]] 9	[[Silverstone Circuit	SIL 2]] Ret	1st	244

Full Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

(legend) (Entries in bold denote pole position) (Entries in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Vehicle	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	20	Pos.
2000	Abt Sportsline	Abt-Audi TT-R	HOC 1 15	HOC 2 DNS	OSC 1	OSC 2	NOR 1 Ret	NOR 2 DNS	SAC 1 12	SAC 2 14	NÜR 1 11	NÜR 2 14	OSC 1 5	OSC 2 11	NÜR 1 9	NÜR 2 7	16th	14
get	nowrap \| Abt Sportsline	nowrap \| get	<style> .background-qualifier { background-color: #CFCFFF; } .background-race { background-color: #DFFFDF; } .background-win { background-color: #FFFFBF; } .background-second { background-color: #DFDFDF; } </style> get HOC QR '8' get HOC CR '7' get NÜR QR '1' get NÜR CR '1' get OSC QR '2' get OSC CR '5'										5th	75
get	nowrap \| Abt Sportsline	nowrap \| get	<style> .background-second { background-color: #DFDFDF; } .background-win { background-color: #FFFFBF; } .background-disqualified { background-color: black; color: white; } .background-qualifier { background-color: #DFFFDF; } </style> get HOC QR '2' get HOC CR '1' get ZOL QR '1' get ZOL CR '1' get DON QR '18' DSQ 'DSQ' get SAC QR '1' get SAC CR '1'							Champion (1st)	70
get	nowrap \| Abt Sportsline	nowrap \| get	<style> .background-third { background-color: #FFDF9F; } </style> get HOC '3' get ADR '3' get NÜR '3'									6th	41
get	nowrap \| Opel Performance Center (Team Phoenix)	nowrap \| Opel Vectra GTS V8 (2004)									10th	12
get	nowrap \| Opel Performance Center (Team Phoenix)	nowrap \| Opel Vectra GTS V8 (2005)									11th	12
Template:Center Template:Small Sources: Motorsport results database

¹ – One-off non-championship event held in Shanghai, China, in the year 2004.

† — Retired but classified for completing more than ninety percent of the race distance.

External links