Tristan Vautier

Tristan Vautier (born 22 August 1989) is a French professional racing driver who is currently competing in the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship for the Vanwall Racing Team.

Tristan Vautier
Vautier at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2015
Nationality	French
Born	(1989-08-22) 22 August 1989 Saint-Martin-d'Hères, Isère, France
IndyCar Series career
32 races run over 4 years
Team(s)	No. 51 (Dale Coyne Racing)
Best finish	20th (2013)
First race	2013 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg)
Last race	2024 Detroit Grand Prix (Detroit)
Wins Podiums Poles 0 0 0
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Debut season	2022
Current team	Vanwall Racing Team
Car number	4
Former teams	ARC Bratislava
Starts	5
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	21st in 2023
Previous series
2012 2010–2011 2009 2009 2008 2007–09 2007 2006	Firestone Indy Lights Star Mazda Championship FIA Formula Two Formula Palmer Audi Formula Renault 2.0 WEC Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Formula Renault 2.0 France Formula Renault Campus
Championship titles
2018 2012 2011	Intercontinental GT Challenge Firestone Indy Lights Star Mazda Championship
Awards
2013	IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year

Racing career

Formula Renault

Born in Saint-Martin-d'Hères, Isère, Vautier began his career in the French Formula Renault Campus series in 2006, where he finished runner-up. He moved up to the main Championnat de France Formula Renault 2.0 series in 2007, finishing fourth, also competing in some events in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, scoring a 2nd and 3rd in Zolder. In 2008 the French series was replaced by the West European Cup, in which Vautier finished sixth.

Formula Palmer Audi

Vautier moved to the Formula Palmer Audi series in 2009, where he finished fourth with six victories.

FIA Formula Two Championship

Vautier made his FIA Formula Two Championship debut at Circuit de Catalunya, in place of Edoardo Piscopo. Vautier excelled in the pre-race tests and in the first race, where he finished third behind Andy Soucek and Mikhail Aleshin. He also finished in the points in the second race, finishing sixth. Those two results were enough to place him thirteenth overall in the championship standings.

Star Mazda

2010 saw Vautier move to the American Star Mazda Championship driving for Andersen Racing. Vautier won the season-opener at Sebring Raceway and then in June at New Jersey Motorsports Park. However, several mechanical issues saw him achieve only fifth in the final standings despite being the only driver other than champion Conor Daly to win more than one race. He returned to the series in 2011, this time driving for JDC MotorSports. He won four races and finished every race in the top five, winning the championship over Connor De Phillippi by 25 points. With the title he won a scholarship to move to Firestone Indy Lights in 2012 through the Road to Indy program.

Indy Lights

Vautier signed with Sam Schmidt Motorsports to race in Firestone Indy Lights in 2012. He won the pole in his first race on the Streets of St. Petersburg and took a flag-to-flag victory, duplicating his Star Mazda feat from two years before by winning on debut. Another win on the Milwaukee Mile came in the midst of a remarkable run of 20 consecutive Top 5 finishes (including the final 2 Star Mazda events of 2010, and his championship season of 2011) in his Road to Indy career. The streak ended at Toronto when a first-lap collision put him out of the race for the first time in an open-wheel car in nearly two years.

Vautier clinched the 2012 Firestone Indy Lights championship by eight points over Esteban Guerrieri. Winning a partial scholarship to compete in the IndyCar Series in 2013 through the Road to Indy program.

IndyCar

Vautier signed to compete in the 2013 IndyCar Series season for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. He is the first driver to be champion of two rungs of the Road to Indy ladder and move onto the IndyCar Series. Vautier finished 20th in points with a best finish of tenth in the second race of the season at Barber Motorsports Park. Vautier qualified in the Firestone Fast-Six on his debut race in St Petersburg, and 3rd for the following round in Barber. He won rookie of the year honours. He finished sixteenth in his first Indianapolis 500 race.

The Frenchman returned to IndyCar in 2015 as a part-time driver for Dale Coyne Racing. He qualified James Davison's car for the Indianapolis 500, then raced in place of Carlos Huertas. A week later, he finished fourth in Detroit for the second race, starting last on the grid after qualifying was cancelled. His showing got Dale Coyne to keep him in the car for the remainder of the season, and he backed his strong Detroit result with a 6th place in Mid-Ohio.

Vautier returned to IndyCar in 2024, making a start at Detroit driving the No. 51 Honda for Dale Coyne.

Sports car racing

Vautier debuted Sports Car racing while still racing open wheels, in the 2009 French GT Championship, and won on his debut race in Nogaro, teaming-up with French driver Jean-Charles Levy.

In 2014, Vautier was hired by the Mazda factory team to race at the four endurance races of the 2014 United SportsCar Championship in a LMP2 diesel prototype. At the 2015 24 Hours of Daytona he joined JDC/Miller, resulting third in the Prototype Challenge class.

The Frenchman has completed the 24 Hours of Spa five times for team Akka-ASP, in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018, finishing 2nd overall in 2016 on an AMG-Factory backed car alongside Rosenqvist and Van der Zande. He ended the 2016 season by winning the Blancpain GT Sprint final race in Barcelona, teamed-up with Rosenqvist.

He returned to full-time racing in the US in 2017 with Mercedes-AMG customer Team SunEnergy1 racing, teaming-up with Team owner Kenny Habul, and Boris Said. Vautier set Sebring's GTD track record on his way to pole position for the 12-Hour race, before finishing on the podium after a late comeback in the closing stages. He also returned to the Blanpain GT Series with Team Akka-ASP, teaming-up with Mercedes driver Dani Juncadella and open wheel ace Felix Serralles, closing the season by a win in Barcelona just as he did in 2016.

2017 also marks his return to IndyCar for a one-off, subbing for injured Sebastien Bourdais in Texas. Vautier went on to qualify 5th in the Dale Coyne Racing entry, and led 15 laps in the race before being caught in a multi-car incident.

In 2018, Vautier raced in prototypes alongside of his GT duties as Mercedes-AMG Factory driver, joining American Matt McMurry behind the wheel of the No. 90 Cadillac DPi-V.R. in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, driving for Spirit of Daytona Racing at four races, where he scored Pole Position for the 12 Hours of Sebring. At 2018 Petit Le Mans he finished fourth overall for Action Express Racing, partnering with Filipe Albuquerque and Christian Fittipaldi.

His GT Racing campaign for Mercedes-AMG saw him clinch the Intercontinental GT Challenge during the title-deciding race in WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, scoring a 2nd place in the Bathurst 12 Hours and a win in the Suzuka 10 Hours.

He also debuted on the Nordschleife, finishing in the Top-10 in the 24 Hours of Nurburgring for Team Landgraff.

Vautier competing at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In 2019, Vautier joined JDC-Miller MotorSports to drive a Cadillac DPi at the IMSA WeatherTech Championship together with Mikhail Goikhberg, where he scored two 5th place finishes. He continued racing in GT3 as a Mercedes Factory driver for Team Strakka in the InterContinental GT and Team GetSpeed in the VLN Series and Nurburgring 24 Hours.

The next season he had multiple co-drivers, but scored four top 5s.

Vautier won the 2021 12 Hours of Sebring with JDC, together with Loïc Duval and Sébastien Bourdais.

In 2022 Vautier scored pole and finished 3rd in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona teaming with Loïc Duval, Richard Westbrook and Ben Keating. He finished 2nd in the Sebring 12 Hours teaming with Westbrook and Duval.

The Frenchman represented ARC Bratislava in LMP2 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, leading the pro-am class for most of the race before being taken out of contention by a radiator failure.

In 2023 Vautier competed in the European Le Mans Series with Algarve Pro Racing, later also making his Hypercar debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship, having been called up by Vanwall to replace Jacques Villeneuve. Despite Vanwall's exit from WEC after a year, Vautier remained involved in LMH as Cadillac Racing's reserve driver for the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Racing record

American open–wheel racing results

(key)

Star Mazda Championship

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Rank	Points
2010	Andersen Racing	SEB 1	STP 9	LAG 15	IND 6	IOW 8	NJ1 6	NJ2 1	ACC1 23	ACC2 2	TRO 11	ROA 13	MOS 4	ATL 5	5th	400
2011	JDC MotorSports	STP 3	BAR 1	IND 4	MIL 4	IOW 4	MOS 5	TRO1 1	TRO2 3	SON 1	BAL 1	LAG 5			1st	426

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2012	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	STP 1	ALA 2	LBH 3	INDY 3	DET 5	MIL 1	IOW 4	TOR 11	EDM 6	TRO 1	BAL 1	FON 4	1st	461

IndyCar Series

(key)

Year	Team	Chassis	No.	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points	Ref
2013	Schmidt Peterson Hamilton HP Motorsports	Dallara DW12	55	Honda	STP 21	ALA 10	LBH 17	SAO 16	INDY 16	DET 11	DET 14	TXS 18	MIL 21	IOW 13	POC 19	TOR 19	TOR 16	MDO 21	SNM 12	BAL 11	HOU 22	HOU 11	FON 21	20th	266
2015	Dale Coyne Racing		18		STP	NLA	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY 28														22nd	175
			19								DET 17	DET 4	TXS 20	TOR 17	FON 17	MIL 16	IOW 12	MDO 6	POC 21	SNM 23
2017			18		STP	LBH	ALA	PHX	IMS	INDY	DET	DET	TXS 16	ROA	IOW	TOR	MDO	POC	GTW	WGL	SNM			36th	15
2024	Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing		51		STP	THE	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY	DET 18	ROA	LAG	MDO	IOW	IOW	TOR	GTW	POR	MIL	MIL	NSH		38th	12

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2013	Dallara	Honda	28	16	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
2015	Dallara	Honda	32	28	Dale Coyne Racing

Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pos.	Points
2016	AKKA ASP	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Pro	MIS QR 7	MIS CR 32	BRH QR 9	BRH CR 9	NÜR QR 27	NÜR CR 10	HUN QR 2	HUN CR 4	CAT QR 3	CAT CR 1	7th	51
2017	AKKA ASP	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Pro-Am	MIS QR	MIS CR	BRH QR	BRH CR	ZOL QR	ZOL CR	HUN QR	HUN CR	NÜR QR 27	NÜR CR 24	7th	18
2018	SunEnergy1 Racing	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Pro-Am	ZOL 1	ZOL 2	BRH 1	BRH 2	MIS 1	MIS 2	HUN 1 15	HUN 2 DNS	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	5th	16.5
2022	AKKodis ASP Team	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	Pro	BRH 1	BRH 2	MAG 1	MAG 2	ZAN 1	ZAN 2	MIS 1	MIS 2	VAL 1 13	VAL 2 12	NC	0

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2018	Scott Taylor Motorsport Team SunEnergy1 Racing	Kenny Habul Raffaele Marciello Jamie Whincup	Mercedes-AMG GT3	APP	271	2nd	2nd

Complete InterContinental GT Results

2018 Champion

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship

Year	Team	No.	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points	Ref
2014	SpeedSource	07	P	Mazda Prototype	Mazda 2.2 L SKYACTIV-D (SH-VPTS) I4 Turbo (diesel)	DAY 13	SEB 16	LBH	LGA	DET	WGL 9	MOS	IMS	ELK	COA	PET 11		30th	59
2015	JDC-Miller MotorSports	85	PC	Oreca FLM09	Chevrolet LS3 6.2 L V8	DAY 3†	SEB	LGA	DET	WGL	MOS	LIM	ELK	COA	PET			36th	1
2016	Stevenson Motorsports	9	GTD	Audi R8 LMS	Audi 5.2 L V10	DAY 7	SEB	LGA	DET	WGL	MOS	LIM	ELK	VIR	COA	PET		47th	25
2017	SunEnergy1 Racing	75	GTD	Mercedes-AMG GT3	Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8	DAY 18	SEB 3	LBH 15	COA 3	DET 15	WGL 15	MOS 13	LIM 16	ELK 12	VIR 16	LGA 12	PET 16	19th	224
2018	Spirit of Daytona Racing	90	P	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5 L V8	DAY 20	SEB 12	LBH	MDO	DET 13	WGL 11	MOS	ELK	LGA				24th	96
	Mustang Sampling Racing	5													PET 4
2019	JDC-Miller MotorSports	85	DPi	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5L V8	DAY 5	SEB 7	LBH 9	MDO 10	DET 5	WGL 10	MOS 9	ELK 8	LGA 8	PET 9			11th	230
2020	JDC-Miller MotorSports	85	DPi	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5 L V8	DAY 5	DAY 7	SEB 8	ELK 7		MDO 8							9th	226
		5								ATL 4		PET 4	LGA 7	SEB 5
2021	JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing	5	DPi	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5 L V8	DAY 7	SEB 1	MDO 4	DET 5	WGL 7	WGL 4	ELK 6	LGA 6	LBH 3	PET 7			6th	2933
2022	JDC-Miller MotorSports	5	DPi	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5 L V8	DAY 3	SEB 2	LBH 3	LGA 4	MDO 6	DET 5	WGL 7	MOS 5	ELK 5	PET 7			6th	2979
Source:

^† Vautier did not complete sufficient laps in order to score full points.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Rank	Points
2022	ARC Bratislava	LMP2	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	SEB	SPA	LMS 12	MNZ	FUJ	BHR		27th	0
2023	Floyd Vanwall Racing Team	Hypercar	Vanwall Vandervell 680	Gibson GL458 4.5 L V8	SEB	ALG	SPA	LMS Ret	MNZ 12	FUJ 11	BHR 12	21st	0
Source:

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2022	ARC Bratislava	Miro Konôpka Bent Viscaal	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	360	26th	21st
2023	Floyd Vanwall Racing Team	Tom Dillmann Esteban Guerrieri	Vanwall Vandervell 680-Gibson	Hypercar	165	DNF	DNF
Sources:

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
2023	Algarve Pro Racing	LMP2 Pro-Am	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	CAT 8	LEC 8	ARA 4	SPA 6	ALG 7	ALG 8	9th	38
2024	Team Virage	LMP2 Pro-Am	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	CAT	LEC	IMO	SPA 7	MUG 6	ALG 6	12th	22
Source:

External links

• Official website
• Tristan Vautier career summary at DriverDB.com