Michael Wainwright (racing driver)

Michael Wainwright
Mike Wainwright as COO of Trafigura
NationalityUnited Kingdom British
Born (1973-07-25) 25 July 1973 (age 51)
Worcester, United Kingdom
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Debut season2016
Current teamGR Racing
Racing licence FIA Bronze
Car number86
Former teamsGulf Racing
Starts44 (44 entries)
Wins0
Podiums2
Poles0
Fastest laps0
Best finish7th in 2016, 2017, 2018–19

Michael Stuart Wainwright[1] (born 25 July 1973) is a British racing driver and oil businessman who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for GR Racing.[2]

He made his professional career at oil trading company Trafigura from 1996 to 2023. Being the protégé of the company's founder Claude Dauphin,[3] he ultimately served as COO of the group based in Geneva. He is listed among the 300 wealthiest individuals of Switzerland, with an estimated fortune of 300-400 millions swiss francs.[4] In 2022, following a very profitable year on the oil market following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he acquired a property in Geneva for 49.5 million swiss francs.[5]

In December 2023, Wainwright was charged by the Swiss Federal Criminal Court and the US Department of Justice over allegations of bribing public officials in Angola and Brazil, together with two other individuals.

Racing record

Career summary

Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2010 24H Series - A2 Team First 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
French GT Championship Team First 4 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
FIA GT3 European Championship Gulf Team First 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup - LMGTE Am Gulf AMR Middle East 5 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Am 1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF
American Le Mans Series - GT 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
24 Hours of Dubai - A6 Gulf Team First 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 14th
2012 Blancpain Endurance Series - Pro-Am Gulf Racing UK 5 0 0 0 0 0 NC
Blancpain Endurance Series - Pro 1 0 0 0 0 1 27th
24 Hours of Dubai - A6 Gulf Racing 1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF
2013 Blancpain Endurance Series - Pro-Am Gulf Racing UK 4 0 0 0 0 0 NC
Gulf 12 Hours - GT3 Pro-Am Gulf Racing 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 5th
2014 European Le Mans Series - LMGTE Gulf Racing UK 5 0 0 0 0 28 11th
2015 European Le Mans Series - LMGTE Gulf Racing UK[6] 5 1 0 0 2 56 4th
2016 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Am Gulf Racing[7] 9 0 0 0 0 106 7th
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Am 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 5th
2017 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Am Gulf Racing[8] 7 0 0 0 1 67 7th
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Am 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 10th
2018 European Le Mans Series - LMGTE Gulf Racing UK[9] 2 0 0 0 0 10 12th
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Am Gulf Racing 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 10th
2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Am Gulf Racing UK[10] 8 0 0 0 0 79 7th
2019 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Am Gulf Racing 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 8th
2019–20 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Am Gulf Racing 8 0 0 0 1 85 9th
2020 European Le Mans Series - GTE Gulf Racing UK 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Am 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 5th
2021 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Am GR Racing[11] 6 0 0 0 0 23 15th
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Am 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 14th
2022 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Am GR Racing[12][13] 5 0 0 0 0 50 10th
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Am 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 4th
2023 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Am GR Racing[14] 7 0 0 0 2 64 6th
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Am 1 0 0 0 1 N/A 3rd
2023–24 Asian Le Mans Series - GT GR Racing 4 0 0 0 0 6 25th
2024 European Le Mans Series - GT3 GR Racing[15] 6 0 0 0 2 64 5th
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGT3 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 12th

† As Wainwright was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
* Season still in progress.

Complete European Le Mans Series results

Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rank Points
2014 Gulf Racing UK GTE Porsche 911 GT3 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SIL
9 		IMO
8 		RBR
9 		11th 28
Porsche 911 RSR LEC
6 		EST
4
2015 Gulf Racing UK GTE Porsche 911 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SIL
1 		IMO
8 		RBR
7 		LEC
7 		EST
3 		4th 56
2018 Gulf Racing LMGTE Porsche 911 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 LEC
Ret 		MNZ RBR SIL
5 		SPA ALG 7th 10
2020 Gulf Racing UK LMGTE Porsche 911 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 LEC SPA LEC MNZ ALG
Ret 		NC 0
2024 GR Racing LMGT3 Ferrari 296 GT3 Ferrari F163 3.0 L Turbo V6 CAT
2 		LEC
5 		IMO
7 		SPA
2 		MUG
8 		ALG
6 		5th 64
Source:[16]

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 8 9 Rank Points
2016 Gulf Racing LMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SIL
Ret 		SPA
5 		LMS
3 		NÜR
5 		MEX
4 		COA
4 		FUJ
4 		SHA
6 		BHR
4 		7th 106
2017 Gulf Racing LMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SIL
4 		SPA
Ret 		LMS
5 		NÜR
5 		MEX
3 		COA
Ret 		FUJ
4 		SHA
2 		BHR
5 		6th 97
2018–19 Gulf Racing UK LMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SPA
7 		LMS
6 		SIL
6 		FUJ
4 		SHA
9 		SEB
4 		SPA
7 		LMS
4 		7th 79
2019–20 Gulf Racing LMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SIL
4 		FUJ
8 		SHA
9 		BHR
3 		COA
6 		SPA
10 		LMS
5 		BHR
5 		9th 85
2021 GR Racing LMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSR-19 Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6 SPA
Ret 		ALG
8 		MNZ
8 		LMS
9 		BHR
6 		BHR
9 		15th 23
2022 GR Racing LMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSR-19 Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6 SEB SPA
6 		LMS
3 		MNZ
12 		FUJ
12 		BHR
6 		10th 50
2023 GR Racing LMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSR-19 Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6 SEB
7 		PRT
11 		SPA
12 		LMS
3 		MNZ
3 		FUJ
8 		BHR
8 		6th 64
Sources:[16][2]

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2011 United Arab Emirates Gulf AMR Middle East France Fabien Giroix
Germany Roald Goethe 		Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 GTE
Am 		141 DNF DNF
2016 United Kingdom Gulf Racing United Kingdom Ben Barker
United Kingdom Adam Carroll 		Porsche 911 RSR GTE
Am 		328 33rd 5th
2017 United Kingdom Gulf Racing UK United Kingdom Ben Barker
Australia Nick Foster 		Porsche 911 RSR GTE
Am 		328 38th 10th
2018 United Kingdom Gulf Racing United Kingdom Ben Barker
Australia Alex Davison 		Porsche 911 RSR GTE
Am 		283 40th 10th
2019 United Kingdom Gulf Racing United Kingdom Ben Barker
Austria Thomas Preining 		Porsche 911 RSR GTE
Am 		331 38th 8th
2020 United Kingdom Gulf Racing United Kingdom Ben Barker
United Kingdom Andrew Watson 		Porsche 911 RSR GTE
Am 		337 29th 5th
2021 United Kingdom GR Racing United Kingdom Ben Barker
United Kingdom Tom Gamble 		Porsche 911 RSR-19 GTE
Am 		322 43rd 14th
2022 United Kingdom GR Racing United Kingdom Ben Barker
Italy Riccardo Pera 		Porsche 911 RSR-19 GTE
Am 		340 37th 4th
2023 United Kingdom GR Racing United Kingdom Ben Barker
Italy Riccardo Pera 		Porsche 911 RSR-19 GTE
Am 		312 29th 3rd
2024 United Kingdom GR Racing[17] Italy Riccardo Pera
Brazil Daniel Serra 		Ferrari 296 GT3 LMGT3 278 39th 12th
Sources:[18][16]

References

  1. ^ "Michael Stuart WAINWRIGHT". Companies House. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Michael Wainwright". FIA World Endurance Championship. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
  3. ^ "Bribery Case Snares Man Who Held Trafigura's Secrets and Purse Strings". Bloomberg.com. 2023-12-07. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
  4. ^ "300 plus riches – Michael Wainwright". Bilan (in French). 2023-11-23. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  5. ^ "A Genève, un pétrolier s'offre une villa à 50 millions - Le Temps" (in French). 2022-11-14. ISSN 1423-3967. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  6. ^ "2015 EUROPEAN LE MANS SERIES — FULL SEASON ENTRY LIST" (PDF). European Le Mans Series. 5 February 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-02-06. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  7. ^ Dagys, John (16 February 2016). "Carroll, Barker Complete Gulf Racing UK Lineup". Sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media, LLC. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  8. ^ "2017 FIA World Endurance Championship - Provisional Season Entry List" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  9. ^ "Four WEC Guest Entries Make It 45 Cars For ELMS At Paul Ricard". dailysportscar.com. Dailysportscar. 4 April 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  10. ^ Lloyd, Daniel (19 March 2018). "Davison Completes Gulf Racing Lineup". Sportscar365. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  11. ^ Lloyd, Daniel (21 January 2021). "WEC Reveals 33-Car Season Entry for 2021". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  12. ^ Plümer, Jonas (9 February 2022). "FIA WEC: GR Racing präsentiert 2022er Aufgebot". GT-Place.com (in German). Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  13. ^ "Looped crew at GR Racing". endurance-info.com (in French). 8 February 2022. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  14. ^ Goodwin, Graham (11 January 2023). "FIA WEC Reveal 38 Car Full Season Entry – 13 Hypercars For Breakthrough Season". Dailysportscar. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  15. ^ Wainwright, Mike (11 January 2023). "Mike Wainwright: Asian Le Mans Series GT". Driver DB. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  16. ^ a b c "Michael Wainwright Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  17. ^ "Le Mans 24 Hours: Ferrari survives late drama to score back-to-back wins". AutoSport. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  18. ^ "Michael Wainwright". Automobile Club de l'Ouest. Retrieved 26 June 2024.