Thomas Erdos

Tommy Erdos
Born	(1963-10-30) October 30, 1963 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Occupation	Professional racing driver
Years active	1988–present
Known for	Le Mans Series champion, LMP2 category winner at 24 Hours of Le Mans

Thomas "Tommy" Erdos (born 30 October 1963) is a Brazilian professional race car driver. He has claimed the Le Mans Series championship twice and triumphed in the LMP2 category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Throughout his career, Erdos has predominantly competed across Great Britain and Europe, currently living in Buckinghamshire, England.

Early career

Erdos launched his racing journey in single-seater competitions in 1988 by participating in the British Formula First Championship, where he finished second overall with five victories and eleven podium finishes. The following year, he advanced to the Formula Ford 2000 Championship, securing third place in the standings with three wins to his name. In 1990, he captured the British Formula Renault title, achieving four wins and nine podiums. During that same year, while undergoing testing for Formula Three, Erdos endured a severe accident that sidelined him for an entire year. At that point, he was based in Brant Broughton and competed for Fortec Motorsport.

After recovering, Erdos returned to racing with strong showings in Formula Renault during 1992 and 1994, alongside a period spent competing in Formula 3. Between 1993 and 1995, he also served as an instructor at the Jim Russell Racing School.

GT and Le Mans Part 1

Erdos transitioned into GT racing in 1995, piloting a Marcos LM600 for Team Marcos. That season, he achieved four class victories plus one overall win and made his debut at the Le Mans 24 Hour race, which unfortunately ended prematurely due to retirement. In 1996, racing for Marcos Racing International within the BPR Global Endurance GT series, he secured third place in the GT2 category but again faced retirement at Le Mans. The following year, he competed in a Ford Saleen Mustang GT2 with Cirtek Motorsport before switching to AJL Racing’s Jaguar XJ220 GT1. This switch yielded four podium finishes and participation in the FIA GT Championship with Cirtek Motorsport; however, his Le Mans outing that year concluded early as well.

From 1998 through 2000, Erdos drove a range of GT vehicles including the TVR Cerbera GT2, Porsche 911 GT2, and Marcos LM600 with NCK Racing. In 1999’s Le Mans race, he finished 22nd overall driving a Chrysler Viper GTS-R that was hampered by mechanical difficulties. The subsequent year saw him claim second place at the ALMS Nürburgring round behind the wheel of a Viper for Chamberlain Motorsport.

BTCC

In 2001, Erdos entered the British Touring Car Championship mid-season with ABG Motorsport, taking over from Kurt Luby in a Lexus IS200. Despite participating in only twelve of twenty-six rounds, he impressed by challenging manufacturer-backed teams and ultimately finishing seventh in the championship standings. A planned return to BTCC competition in 2007 with Xero Competition was canceled due to financial constraints.

GT and Le Mans Part 2

In January 2002, Erdos competed at the Daytona 24 Hours driving a new Saleen S7R for Graham Nash Motorsport (GNM). Although leading early on, alternator problems forced their withdrawal. That same year, alongside Ian McKellar Jnr, he won the British GT Championship piloting the Saleen S7R with backing from AD Group companies among others. He also took part in Le Mans with teammates Pedro Chaves and Gavin Pickering in this car.

The following year began again at Daytona before Erdos contested the FIA GT Championship with GNM’s Saleen S7R alongside Mike Newton. At Le Mans under Ray Mallock Ltd (RML), their team retired because of gearbox failure. Additionally, Erdos competed at the 1000 km Bugatti event driving an MG EX257 but retired due to mechanical issues.

In 2004, Erdos remained active driving RML-entered cars—the MG EX257 in the Le Mans Endurance Series (LMES) and sharing a Saleen S7R with Newton in FIA GT. He finished fifth overall in LMES’s LMP1 class and sixth within FIA GT’s GT category. Their Le Mans campaign ended prematurely because of engine failure.

The 2005 season started with a fourth-place finish in the Daytona DP class for Erdos. Returning to Le Mans that year, he shared an MG powered by a Judd V8 engine with Newton and Warren Hughes. Despite overheating problems early on, they recovered to claim victory in their class. In the Le Mans Series (LMS), a crash on the starting grid caused significant damage; however, swift repairs enabled them to rejoin and climb back through the field but ultimately missed out on winning the P2 championship by just one point.

For Le Mans in 2006, the MG was fitted with AER engines; Erdos teamed up again with Newton and Andy Wallace to secure another class win while finishing eighth overall after a consistent race. Unfortunately, an engine failure late in LMS’s final round cost them another title despite dominating much of that season.

The following year’s Le Mans proved difficult after an accident during Wallace’s stint resulted in retirement. Nevertheless, Erdos succeeded in capturing the LMS P2 class championship that season.

Complete British GT Championship results

(key) (Events shown in bold denote pole position) (Events in italics signify fastest lap)

... [table continues with consistent concise formatting for following years and teams] ...

Year	Team	Vehicle	Category	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final Position	Points
1995	Marcos Cars	Marcos LM600	GT2	SIL 1	DON 1	DON 2	SIL 1	SIL 2	THR 1 Retired	OUL 1 2nd	BRH 1 2nd	BRH 2 1st	SNE 1 Did Not Start	SNE 2 Did Not Start	SIL 1 4th			11th place	23 points
1996	Marcos Racing International	Marcos LM600	GT2	SIL 1 1st	DON 1	BRH 1	DON 1	THR 1 1st	SNE 1	OUL 1	SIL 1							12th place	46 points
		Marcos LM500	GT3	SIL 1	DON 1	BRH 1	DON 1	THR 1	SNE 1	OUL 1 5th	SIL 1 17th							12th place	26 points

† — Drivers who failed to finish but completed more than 90% of the race distance were still classified.

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Bold races indicate pole position – awarding one point each) (Italic races denote fastest lap – awarding one point each) (* indicates driver led the feature race for at least one lap – awarding one point)

Year	Team	Vehicle	Category	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
2001	ABG Motorsport	Lexus IS200	T	BRH 1	BRH 2	THR 1	THR 2	OUL 1	OUL 2	SIL 1]	SIL 2]	MON < br >1]	MON < br >2]	DON < br >1]	DON < br >2] <style = "background: #DFFFDF;">KNO < br >1< br >< small >ovr:8 < br >cls:4</ small > <style = "background: #EFCFFF;">KNO < br >2< br >< small >Ret</ small > <style = "background: #DFFFDF;">SNE < br >1< br >< small >ovr:11 < br >cls:4</ small > <style = "background: #DFFFDF;">SNE < br >2< br >< small >ovr:5 < br >cls:5</ small > <style = "background: #DFFFDF;">CRO < br >1< br >< small >ovr:8 < br >cls:4</ small > <style = "background: #DFFFDF;">CRO < br >2< br >< small >ovr:4 < br >cls:4</ small >					7th place	72 points
	nowrap | Total Motorsport																			<style = "background: #DFFFDF;">OUL < br >1< br >< small >ovr:11 < br >cls:6</ small > <style = "background: #DFFFDF;">OUL < br >2< br >< small >ovr:6* < br >cls:6</ small > <style = "background: #DFFFDF;">SIL < br >1< br >< small >ovr:14 < br >cls:7</ small > <style = "background: #DFFFDF;">SIL < br >2< br >< small >ovr:6 < br >cls:6</ small > <style = "background: #DFFFDF;">DON < br >1< br >< small >ovr:14 < br >cls:8</ small > <style = "background: #DFFFDF;">DON < br >2< br >< small >ovr:4 < br >cls:4</ small >

24 Hours of Le Mans Performance

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Vehicle	Category	Completed Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1995	Template:Country data GBRTemplate:Namespace detect showall Team Marcos	Template:Country data NLDTemplate:Namespace detect showall Cor Euser Template:Country data GBRTemplate:Namespace detect showall Chris Hodgetts	Marcos Mantara LM600	GT2	133	DNF	DNF

|- ! 1996

|align="left"| Team Marcos
|align="left"| Cor Euser
 Pascal Dro 
|align="left"|Marcos Mantara LM600
|GT2 
|40 
|DNF 
|DNF 

|- !1997

|align="left"| Newcastle United Lister
|align="left"| Julian Bailey
Mark Skaife
|align="left"|Lister Storm GTL 
|GT1 
|77 
|DNF 
|DNF 

|- !1999

|align="left" nowrap | Chamberlain Engineering 
|align="left" nowrap | Christian Vann 
 Christian Gläsel 
|align="left" |Chrysler Viper GTS-R 
|GTS 
|270 
|22nd 
|9th 

|- !2003

|align="left" | Graham Nash Motorsport 
 Ray Mallock Ltd.
|align="left" |Mike Newton 
Pedro Chaves
|align="left" |Saleen S7-R 
|GTS 
|292 
|28th 
|6th 

|- !2004

|align="left" nowrap >Ray Mallock Ltd.  
|align="left" nowrap >Mike Newton (racing driver) 
 Nathan Kinch  
|align="left" nowrap >MG-Lola EX257-Advanced Engine Research#AER Engines and Cars - MG-Lola EX257 and EX264/265 - LMP2, LMP675 and LMP1 Cars with AER Engines - RML Group Limited - Ray Mallock Ltd.AER  
|- !2005 24 Hours of Le Mans#2005 Ray Mallock Ltd. #2005   
|- !2006   
|- !2007   
|- !2008   
|- !2009   
|- !2010   
|- !2011   

|}

External links

• Official website