Michael Wainwright (racing driver)

Michael Wainwright
Mike Wainwright as COO of Trafigura
NationalityUnited Kingdom British
Born (1973-07-25) 25 July 1973
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]

Wainwright 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. In January 2025, he was sentenced to 32 months in prison on charges of bribery, with 20 months being suspended.[6]

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 ChampionshipGulf Team First 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup - LMGTE AmGulf AMR Middle East5 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Am1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF
American Le Mans Series - GT1 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-AmGulf Racing UK5 0 0 0 0 0 NC
Blancpain Endurance Series - Pro1 0 0 0 0 1 27th
24 Hours of Dubai - A6 Gulf Racing1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF
2013 Blancpain Endurance Series - Pro-AmGulf Racing UK4 0 0 0 0 0 NC
Gulf 12 Hours - GT3 Pro-Am Gulf Racing1 0 0 0 0 N/A 5th
2014 European Le Mans Series - LMGTEGulf Racing UK5 0 0 0 0 28 11th
2015 European Le Mans Series - LMGTEGulf Racing UK[7]5 1 0 0 2 56 4th
2016 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE AmGulf Racing[8]9 0 0 0 0 106 7th
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Am1 0 0 0 0 N/A 5th
2017 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE AmGulf Racing[9]7 0 0 0 1 67 7th
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Am1 0 0 0 0 N/A 10th
2018 European Le Mans Series - LMGTEGulf Racing UK[10]2 0 0 0 0 10 12th
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE AmGulf Racing1 0 0 0 0 N/A 10th
2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE AmGulf Racing UK[11]8 0 0 0 0 79 7th
2019 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE AmGulf Racing1 0 0 0 0 N/A 8th
2019–20 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE AmGulf Racing8 0 0 0 1 85 9th
2020 European Le Mans Series - GTEGulf Racing UK1 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Am1 0 0 0 0 N/A 5th
2021 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE AmGR Racing[12]6 0 0 0 0 23 15th
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Am1 0 0 0 0 N/A 14th
2022 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE AmGR Racing[13][14]5 0 0 0 0 50 10th
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Am1 0 0 0 0 N/A 4th
2023 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE AmGR Racing[15]7 0 0 0 2 64 6th
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Am1 0 0 0 1 N/A 3rd
2023–24 Asian Le Mans Series - GTGR Racing4 0 0 0 0 6 25th
2024 European Le Mans Series - GT3GR Racing[16]6 0 0 0 2 64 5th
24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGT31 0 0 0 0 N/A 12th
2025 European Le Mans Series - LMGT3GR Racing

† 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
2014Gulf Racing UKGTE Porsche 911 GT3 RSRPorsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SIL9IMO8RBR911th 28
Porsche 911 RSRLEC6EST4
2015Gulf Racing UKGTE Porsche 911 RSRPorsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SIL1IMO8RBR7LEC7EST34th 56
2018Gulf RacingLMGTE Porsche 911 RSRPorsche 4.0 L Flat-6 LECRetMNZRBRSIL5SPAALG7th 10
2020Gulf Racing UKLMGTE Porsche 911 RSRPorsche 4.0 L Flat-6 LECSPALECMNZALGRetNC 0
2024GR RacingLMGT3 Ferrari 296 GT3Ferrari F163 3.0 L Turbo V6 CAT2LEC5IMO7SPA2MUG8ALG65th 64
Source:[17]

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
2016Gulf RacingLMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSRPorsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SILRetSPA5LMS3NÜR5MEX4COA4FUJ4SHA6BHR47th 106
2017Gulf RacingLMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSRPorsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SIL4SPARetLMS5NÜR5MEX3COARetFUJ4SHA2BHR56th 97
2018–19Gulf Racing UKLMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSRPorsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SPA7LMS6SIL6FUJ4SHA9SEB4SPA7LMS47th 79
2019–20Gulf RacingLMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSRPorsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SIL4FUJ8SHA9BHR3COA6SPA10LMS5BHR59th 85
2021GR RacingLMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSR-19Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6 SPARetALG8MNZ8LMS9BHR6BHR915th 23
2022GR RacingLMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSR-19Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6 SEBSPA6LMS3MNZ12FUJ12BHR610th 50
2023GR RacingLMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSR-19Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6 SEB7PRT11SPA12LMS3MNZ3FUJ8BHR86th 64
Sources:[17][2]

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos.ClassPos.
2011United Arab EmiratesGulf AMR Middle EastFranceFabien GiroixGermany Roald Goethe Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2GTEAm 141 DNF DNF
2016United KingdomGulf RacingUnited KingdomBen BarkerUnited KingdomAdam CarrollPorsche 911 RSRGTEAm 328 33rd 5th
2017United KingdomGulf Racing UKUnited KingdomBen BarkerAustralia Nick Foster Porsche 911 RSRGTEAm 328 38th 10th
2018United KingdomGulf RacingUnited KingdomBen BarkerAustraliaAlex DavisonPorsche 911 RSRGTEAm 283 40th 10th
2019United KingdomGulf RacingUnited KingdomBen BarkerAustriaThomas PreiningPorsche 911 RSRGTEAm 331 38th 8th
2020United KingdomGulf RacingUnited KingdomBen BarkerUnited KingdomAndrew WatsonPorsche 911 RSRGTEAm 337 29th 5th
2021United KingdomGR RacingUnited KingdomBen BarkerUnited KingdomTom GamblePorsche 911 RSR-19GTEAm 322 43rd 14th
2022United KingdomGR RacingUnited KingdomBen BarkerItalyRiccardo PeraPorsche 911 RSR-19GTEAm 340 37th 4th
2023United KingdomGR RacingUnited KingdomBen BarkerItalyRiccardo PeraPorsche 911 RSR-19GTEAm 312 29th 3rd
2024United KingdomGR Racing[18]ItalyRiccardo PeraBrazilDaniel SerraFerrari 296 GT3LMGT3 278 39th 12th
Sources:[19][17]

References

  1. ^"Michael Stuart WAINWRIGHT". Companies House. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  2. ^ ab"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. ^Miller, Hugo; Hunter, Archie; Farchy, Jack (31 January 2025). "Trafigura and Ex-COO Convicted of Bribery by Swiss Court". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2025-01-31.
  7. ^"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.
  8. ^Dagys, John (16 February 2016). "Carroll, Barker Complete Gulf Racing UK Lineup". Sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media, LLC. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  9. ^"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.
  10. ^"Four WEC Guest Entries Make It 45 Cars For ELMS At Paul Ricard". dailysportscar.com. Dailysportscar. 4 April 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  11. ^Lloyd, Daniel (19 March 2018). "Davison Completes Gulf Racing Lineup". Sportscar365. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  12. ^Lloyd, Daniel (21 January 2021). "WEC Reveals 33-Car Season Entry for 2021". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  13. ^Plümer, Jonas (9 February 2022). "FIA WEC: GR Racing präsentiert 2022er Aufgebot". GT-Place.com (in German). Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  14. ^"Looped crew at GR Racing". endurance-info.com (in French). 8 February 2022. Retrieved 2023-01-10.
  15. ^Goodwin, Graham (11 January 2023). "FIA WEC Reveal 38 Car Full Season Entry – 13 Hypercars For Breakthrough Season". Dailysportscar. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  16. ^Wainwright, Mike (11 January 2023). "Mike Wainwright: Asian Le Mans Series GT". Driver DB. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
  17. ^ abc"Michael Wainwright Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  18. ^"Le Mans 24 Hours: Ferrari survives late drama to score back-to-back wins". AutoSport. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  19. ^"Michael Wainwright". Automobile Club de l'Ouest. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
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