Laurent Aïello

Laurent Aïello
Nationality
BTCC record
Teams	Nissan
Drivers championships	1
Wins	10
Podium finishes	15
Poles	10
Fastest laps	5
Debut season	1999
First win	1999
Best championship position	1st
Final season (1999) position	1st (244 points)

Laurent Aïello (born 23 May 1969 in Fontenay-aux-Roses) is a French race car driver, most notable for winning the British Touring Car Championship in 1999, and the DTM series in 2002.

Early career [edit]

Aïello won the French Karting Championship for years in a row, in 1983, 1984, and 1985.^[1] In 1990 Aïello won the Monaco Grand Prix Formula Three support race.^[2] His two seasons in International Formula 3000 were not successful, however: he finished 15th overall in both seasons.^[3]

Touring cars [edit]

In 1992 he switched to touring car racing in the French Supertouring Championship, finishing runner up in both the 1992 and 1993 seasons, whilst driving for the non-works teams of de Chaunac and Oreca respectively.^[4] His first title was the 1994 French Supertouring Championship, where he won 5 races driving for the works Peugeot team in their 405 MI-16 model.^[1] After a less-successful 1995 season, where he finished third overall, and won just one race, he made the switch to the Super Tourenwagen Cup in Germany for 1996, still driving for Peugeot, but in their new 406 model, following their withdrawal from the CFS.^[4]

He finished third overall in this first season, with 3 wins,^[5] and then took the title the following season, with 11 wins, finishing 52 points ahead of BMW's Markus Winkelhock.^[6] 1998 would be his third and final season in the STW, with 6 wins only being enough for a second place, with the Venezuelan driver Johnny Cecotto beating him by just 3 points.^[7]

For 1999, Aïello switched to the British Touring Car Championship, driving for the works Nissan team in their Primera model, replacing the outgoing Anthony Reid, whom had moved to Ford.^[8] The season would prove to be highly successful, with Aiello taking the title in his one and only season in the series,^[9] with 10 wins helping him finish 16 points ahead of team-mate David Leslie, and Nissan taking a comfortable Manufacturer's and Team's championship victory.^[10][11] His performances in the BTCC saw him win the National Racing Driver of the Year award in the Autosport Awards.^[12] Following Nissan's withdrawal from the series at the end of the season, a potential drive for Honda fell through (that spot being taken by Tom Kristensen),^[13] he made the switch to the new Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series, driving for the Abt Sportsline team in their Audi TT-Rs, a move that surprised some.^[14]

The first season was unsuccessful, with no victories, as the Audi TT proved to be uncompetitive against the faster Mercedes-Benz CLK and Opel Astra rivals, its best finish being Aiello's fifth place at the second Oschersleben sprint race.^[15] Following heavy development on the car, 2001 would prove to be more successful: Aiello was the first member of the Abt team to win in the series, at the Nurburgring sprint race.^[16] He would take 3 more victories that season, all 3 at the Nurburgring.^[17] 2002 would be a far more successful year - Aiello would fend off reigning champion Bernd Schneider to take the title by 6 points,^[18] winning 12 races in the process.^[19] Abt Sportsline, and Aiello, would be much less successful in 2003, winning just one race,^[20] and after switching to Opel^[21] for the 2004 and 2005 seasons,^[22] without any further victories (the firm's new Vectra GTS proved to be unsuccessful), Aiello announced his retirement from racing at the end of the season, aged 36,^[23] finishing ninth in his final race at Hockenheim.^[24]

Endurance racing [edit]

In 1998 he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in a Porsche 911 GT1, his first attempt at the endurance race.^[25] Over the next three years, he would drive as part of Audi's program, at first in the Audi R8R, and then the R8, finishing third in class in 1999,^[26] and second in both 2000^[27] and 2001.^[28] Although initially signed to drive once more for Audi in 2002,^[29] he would not appear, being replaced instead by Christian Pescatori.^[30]

Personal life [edit]

Aiello is married to Geraldine, and has two children: a daughter named Marie, and a son named Tom. He has a passion for jetskis,^[31] and enjoys DJing.^[32]

Racing record [edit]

Complete International Formula 3000 results [edit]

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

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results [edit]

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1998	GT1	26	M	Porsche 911 GT1-98 Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6	Porsche AG	Allan McNish Stephane Ortelli	351	1st	1st
1999	LMP	7	M	Audi R8R Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	Audi Sport Team Joest	Michele Alboreto Rinaldo Capello	346	4th	3rd
2000	LMP900	9	M	Audi R8 Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	Audi Sport Team Joest	Allan McNish Stephane Ortelli	367	2nd	2nd
2001	LMP900	2	M	Audi R8 Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	Audi Sport North America	Rinaldo Capello Christian Pescatori	320	2nd	2nd

Complete British Touring Car Championship results [edit]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded all races) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) (* signifies that driver lead feature race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded)

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results [edit]

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

¹ – A non-championship one-off race was held in 2004, in Shanghai, China.

References [edit]

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Laurent Aïello

• Laurent Aïello at Driver Database