Léo Roussel

Léo Roussel (born 31 August 1995) is a French racing driver who competes in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup for Emil Frey Racing.^[1]

Léo Roussel
Nationality	French
Born	(1995-08-31) 31 August 1995 (age 29) Marcoussis, France
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup career
Debut season	2022
Current team	Emil Frey Racing
Racing licence	FIA Silver
Car number	19
Starts	5
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Previous series
2021 2017–2018–19 2015–2017, 2019 2013 2012–2013 2011–2015	GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup FIA World Endurance Championship European Le Mans Series Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Formula Renault Eurocup V de V Challenge Endurance Proto
Championship titles
2017	European Le Mans Series – LMP2
Last updated on: 27 November 2022.

Career

Early career

Roussel began his motorsport career at the age of 7, competing in local karting competitions in his native France.^[2] At the age of 14, in 2009, he scored second-place honors in the Bridgestone Cup and Trophée de France, alongside registering a fourth-place finish in the French Karting F3 Championship.^[3] Roussel attended the 24 Hours of Le Mans often as a child, and uncle Patrice had previously competed at Le Mans and in Grand-Am, leading Roussel to mention that his heart was set on endurance racing rather than the junior formula ladder.^[2] In 2011, he began competing in the V de V Challenge Endurance, driving a Norma M20 F for his uncle's team, Extrême Limite.^[2] Roussel would continue in the series until 2015, taking a win and two podiums throughout his five years of competition in the series.

Junior formulae

In 2012, Roussel embarked upon a dual campaign in the Formula Renault Eurocup and Formula Renault 2.0 Alps series.^[4] He would return to Formula Renault Eurocup in 2013, but it would mark his final season in single-seater competition. Across 41 races in Formula Renault 2.0, Roussel would score just 13 points, all of which were tallied in his lone season in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps series.

Sports car racing

Prototypes

After several years of racing Group CN-level prototypes, Roussel made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2014, driving for Pegasus Racing in the LMP2 class.^[2] Despite suffering a heavy crash in qualifying,^[5] the team finished 10th in class, 20 laps behind the class-winning Jota Sport entry. In 2015, Roussel began competing full-time in the European Le Mans Series with Pegasus Racing.^[6] Roussel returned to the team for the 2016 season, before joining G-Drive Racing for 2017. He and co-driver Memo Rojas would go on to take the LMP2-class championship that season, finishing no lower than fourth and scoring podiums at Silverstone, the Red Bull Ring, Paul Ricard, and Spa, adding a victory at Monza.^[7] Following the European Le Mans Series season, Roussel took part in the final two races of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship, replacing Pierre Thiriet.^[8]

For 2018, Roussel joined CEFC TRSM Racing's Ginetta LMP1 entry into the WEC for the 2018–19 season.^[9][10] With the program's closure before the 2019 season, he returned to the European Le Mans Series, signing with Inter Europol Competition.^[11] However, Roussel broke his back during a practice crash at Monza,^[12] forcing him to miss the remainder of the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

GT

Roussel returned to professional motorsport in 2021, joining Saintéloc Racing in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup alongside co-driver Christopher Haase.^[13] The duo claimed two podiums, at Misano and Valencia,^[14] finishing 11th in the overall standings. For 2022, Roussel stepped up to the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, competing in the Pro class for Emil Frey Racing alongside Giacomo Altoè and Arthur Rougier.^[15][16] The team endured a difficult season, retiring in three of the five races and failing to score championship points.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2011	V de V Challenge Endurance Moderne - Proto	Extreme Limite Aric	1	0	0	?	?	9	40th
2012	Formula Renault 2.0 Alps	ARTA Engineering	13	0	0	0	0	13	21st
	Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup		14	0	0	0	0	0	40th
	V de V Challenge Endurance Moderne - Proto	Extreme Limite Aric	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2013	V de V Challenge Endurance - Proto	Extreme Limite Aric	4	1	0	0	1	47.5	22nd
	Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup	ARTA Engineering	9	0	0	0	0	0	32nd
		Manor MP Motorsport	4	0	0	0	0
2014	V de V Challenge Endurance - Proto	Extreme Limite	7	0	0	0	1	61	14th
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2	Pegasus Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	10th
2015	European Le Mans Series - LMP2	Pegasus Racing	5	0	0	0	0	14	16th
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	9th
	V de V Challenge Endurance - Proto	Extreme Limite	6	0	0	0	0	27.5	26th
2016	European Le Mans Series - LMP2	Pegasus Racing	6	0	0	0	0	0.5	21st
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	DNF
2017	European Le Mans Series - LMP2	G-Drive Racing	6	1	1	3	5	110	1st
	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2		2	0	0	0	0	12	24th
2018	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP1	CEFC TRSM Racing	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	5th
2018–19	FIA World Endurance Championship	CEFC TRSM Racing	1	0	0	0	0	1	38th
2019	European Le Mans Series - LMP2	Inter Europol Competition	1	0	0	0	0	0.5	35th
2021	GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup	Saintéloc Racing	10	0	0	0	2	23.5	11th
2022	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	Emil Frey Racing	5	0	0	0	0	0	NC
	Intercontinental GT Challenge		1	0	0	0	0	1*	19th*

^* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series results

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

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos	Points
2012	ARTA Engineering	MNZ 1 12	MNZ 2 11	PAU 1 9	PAU 2 8	IMO 1 9	IMO 2 22	SPA 1 10	SPA 2 22	RBR 1 Ret	RBR 2 8	MUG 1 23	MUG 2 25	CAT 1 Ret	CAT 2 DNS	21st	13

Complete GT World Challenge Europe results

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Pos.	Points
2022	Emil Frey Racing	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	Pro	IMO Ret	LEC Ret	SPA 6H 22	SPA 12H 15	SPA 24H 14	HOC 14	CAT Ret	NC	0

^* Season still in progress.

GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pos.	Points
2021	Saintéloc Racing	Audi R8 LMS Evo	Pro	MAG 1 Ret	MAG 2 10	ZAN 1 11	ZAN 2 16	MIS 1 3	MIS 2 Ret	BRH 1 10	BRH 2 10	VAL 1 2	VAL 2 10	11th	23.5

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2014	Pegasus Racing	Nicolas Leutwiler Julien Schell	Morgan LMP2	LMP2	336	18th	10th
2015	Pegasus Racing	David Cheng Ho-Pin Tung	Morgan LMP2	LMP2	334	19th	9th
2016	Pegasus Racing	Rémy Striebig Inès Taittinger	Morgan LMP2	LMP2	292	DNF	DNF
2018	CEFC TRSM Racing	Charlie Robertson Michael Simpson	Ginetta G60-LT-P1	LMP1	283	41st	5th

References

1. "Leo Roussel, 2022 – Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS". gt-world-challenge-europe.com. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
2. Fernandez, Mat (25 September 2016). "Leo Roussel: "My Goal is to Remain in LMP2"". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
3. "EARLY CAREER". leo-roussel.com. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
4. "F.Renault 2.0 ALPS synonimous of quality with top team and drivers ready to roll in 2012 season". renaultsportitalia.it. 31 January 2012. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2022. Also confirmed the names of the drivers which will compete with Arta Engineering. Three of them are also Frenchmen: Tristan Papavoine, Leo Roussel and William Vermont...
5. "Massive Shunt For Leo Roussel - Le Mans 2014". us.motorsport.com. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
6. Dagys, John (5 February 2015). "Cheng, Fong Complete Pegasus Lineup". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 10 April 2022. Cheng and Fong will share the wheel of the French squad's Morgan LMP2 EVO Nissan with Leo Roussel in the five-round championship, which kicks off at Silverstone in April.
7. "LÉO ROUSSEL (ORECA): "IT HASN'T SUNK IN YET THAT WE ARE THE ELMS CHAMPIONS."". 24h-lemans.com. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
8. "Léo Roussel to replace Pierre Thiriet at G-Drive Racing". fiawec.com. 26 October 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
9. Dagys, John (5 April 2018). "Stoneman, Roussel Added to Manor Lineup". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
10. Kilbey, Stephen (5 April 2018). "Welcome to the Ginetta Family, Leo Roussel and Dean Stoneman". ginetta.com. Retrieved 10 April 2022.^{[permanent dead link]}
11. Lloyd, Daniel (22 March 2019). "Roussel Added to Inter Europol LMP2 Lineup". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
12. Dagys, John (25 May 2019). "Winslow to Replace Roussel at Inter Europol". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
13. Pettit, Vince (24 March 2021). "Saintéloc Racing confirm two car entry for GT World Challenge Europe". thecheckeredflag.co.uk. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
14. "Podium for Saintéloc Racing and another GT World Challenge Europe title for Team WRT". audi-mediacenter.com. 27 September 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
15. "Léo Roussel (Emil Frey Racing) : "Le monde du GT m'a de suite plu !"" [Léo Roussel (Emil Frey Racing): "I immediately liked the GT world!"]. endurance-info.com (in French). 13 March 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
16. Lloyd, Daniel (28 February 2022). "Emil Frey Enters GT Masters Alongside Endurance Cup". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 11 April 2022. The No. 19 Emil Frey Lamborghini will be shared by Leo Roussel, Arthur Rougier and factory driver Giacomo Altoe in the Pro class of Endurance Cup...

External links

• Léo Roussel at FIA World Endurance Championship

Sporting positions
Preceded by Simon Dolan Giedo van der Garde Harry Tincknell	European Le Mans Series LMP2 Champion 2017 With: Memo Rojas	Succeeded by Andrea Pizzitola Roman Rusinov