Mathias Lauda

Mathias Lauda (born 30 January 1981) is an Austrian racing driver notable for winning the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship for Aston Martin Racing in the LMGTE Am category. He is the son of the late three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda and his first wife, Marlene Knaus. He has a brother, Lukas, who was his manager during his racing career.

Early career

Lauda was born during his father's temporary retirement from F1. Unlike many drivers, who start out in karting, Lauda debuted in 2002 in Formula Nissan 2000, having been forbidden to begin racing by his father until the age of 21. He also drove in two races of German Formula VW and one race of Spanish Formula Three. He moved to World Series Lights in 2003 with the Vergani team, again moving in 2004 to the Euro Formula 3000 Series. Later in 2004, he drove in Formula 3000, completing the full season with the Coloni Motorsport team and finishing 13th in the standings.[citation needed]

The following year, Lauda remained with Coloni alongside former Formula One driver Gianmaria Bruni to drive in the newly-christened GP2 Series, though he would only take a sole points finish — a sixth place in Monaco. He also represented A1 Team Austria in the 2005-06 A1 Grand Prix season.[citation needed]

Touring and sports car career

Lauda decided to turn his attention to touring cars from 2006 onwards, competing in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Persson Motorsport. After a scoreless debut campaign he moved to Mücke Motorsport in 2007, where two top-eight finishes brought him to 15th in the standings. Lauda returned to Persson for the 2008 season, where he took a lone point at the Norisring. After another one-point season in 2009, one which he contested with Mücke, Lauda left the series. He drove in a lone race of the Porsche Supercup in 2010 before embarking on a full-time campaign in 2011 with Konrad Motorsport. He ended the year 12th in the championship.[citation needed]

In 2012, Lauda joined Michael Bartels' Vita4One Racing Team in the FIA GT1 World Championship, where he finished 12th in the standings alongside Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof in a BMW Z4 GT3 (Bartels himself finished third that season). In addition, Lauda came third in the 2012 Spa 24 Hours, again in a Vita4One-entered BMW.[citation needed]

After a year out of racing in 2013, Lauda drove for DF1 Racing in the 2014 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, where he won at Tours Speedway in the series's first oval race held in wet conditions. He then raced alongside Freddie Hunt (son of James Hunt, his father's title rival in the 1976 Formula One season) in the MRF Challenge during the winter, where the Austrian won the final Bahrain race. This ended up being a pathway for his career going forward, as the win attracted the attention of fellow racing driver and friend Pedro Lamy, who got Lauda into contact with Aston Martin Racing, whom he would join in the LMGTE Am class of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship as a silver-ranked driver. Along with Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana, Lauda won three races, including his debut appearance at Silverstone, though a non-score at Le Mans prevented the trio from claiming the title — they ended the season third in points.

For 2016, Lauda remained part of the lineup. This time, the season proved to be patchy, as a total of five wins was cancelled out by three retirements, including another one at Le Mans where Lauda suffered a gearbox failure. The trio once again ended the year in third place overall, with a blown engine at the season finale in Bahrain ending their title hunt. Going into their third season as teammates in 2017, Lauda, Lamy, and Dalla Lana laid the groundwork for another championship challenge with a second place in Silverstone, a dominant victory at Spa and a points finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. More podiums followed in the coming three races, bookended by a win in Austin. The team rounded the year off with successive triumphs in China and Bahrain, thereby clinching the LMGTE Am title. With a win at Spa the team began the 2018–19 "Super Season" well, though this would end up being one of just two podium finishes that season, as Lauda and his teammates finished seventh in the teams' standings.[citation needed]

Racing record

Career summary

† Guest driver ineligible to score points

Complete Nissan World Series Lights results

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

Complete Euro Formula 3000 results

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

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

Complete GP2 Series results

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

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

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

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

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

• † — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winner's race distance.

Complete Porsche Supercup results

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

‡ Not eligible for points for entering as a guest driver.

Complete GT1 World Championship results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

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

Complete European Le Mans Series results

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

† As Lauda was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Whelen Euro Series - Elite 1

• career summary at DriverDB.com

External links

• career summary at DriverDB.com