Julien Canal (born 15 July 1982 in

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...

) is a French racing driver who currently competes in the

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

with Panis Racing. In 2010 he made his debut at the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose w ...

and won his class in , and .

Career

Single-seaters

After competing in

karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

, where he finished third in the French Championship Elite in 2000, Canal stepped up to single-seaters in 2003. He raced in French Formula Renault for four seasons, scoring his first podium in his final season in 2006 and finishing sixth overall. He also raced in the

Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Formula Renault Eurocup was a Formula Renault motor racing championship. Eurocup raced only on European circuits. It served as a support series to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series as part of the World Series by Renault from 2005 to 2015. Renault Sp ...

series in each of those four seasons.

GT racing

Canal switched to GT racing in 2007 when he started racing in the

Porsche Carrera Cup France Porsche Carrera Cup France is a one make motor racing championship held in France. The cars are Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (Type 991.2) with 4.0 liters, flat-6 naturally aspirated engines that produce and 480 N·m. Champions References External lin ...

. He finished ninth, tenth and eighth in the three seasons he contested, scoring one podium finish and two pole positions. In 2010 he took part in the

FFSA GT Championship The FFSA GT Championship (''Championnat de France FFSA GT'') is a French Grand Touring-style sports car racing series that began in 1997. It is the main event of the ''Championnat de France des Circuits'' (formerly called ''Super Série FFSA'' and ...

. He joined the

Larbre Compétition Larbre Compétition is a French auto racing team founded in 1988 by Jack Leconte. Based at the Circuit du Val de Vienne in Le Vigeant, Larbre has had considerable success in the Porsche Carrera Cup, French GT Championship, and international ...

team to race their

Saleen S7 Saleen Automotive, Inc., commonly known as Saleen (/səˈliːn/), is an American manufacturer of specialty high-performance sports cars and high-performance automotive parts. Saleen is headquartered in Corona, California, US. On June 26, 2013 Sal ...

-R in the opening round of the

2007 Le Mans Series season The 2007 Le Mans Series was the fourth season of ACO's Le Mans Series. It was a series for Le Mans prototype and Grand Touring style cars broken into four classes: LMP1, LMP2, GT1, and GT2. It began on 15 April and ended on 10 November after six r ...

Circuit Paul Ricard The Circuit Paul Ricard () is a French motorsport race track built in 1969 at Le Castellet, Var, near Marseille, with finance from pastis magnate Paul Ricard. Ricard wanted to experience the challenge of building a racetrack. The circuit ha ...

, where they were the only team entered in the GT1 class. He returned to the team for the

2007 24 Hours of Le Mans The 75th 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''75e 24 Heures du Mans'') was a 24-hour Endurance racing (motorsport), automobile endurance race for Le Mans Prototype and Grand tourer, Grand Touring cars, which took place at the Circuit de la Sarthe, n ...

, where they won the GT1 class in 13th overall. In 2011 Larbre entered the new GTE-Am class in a

Chevrolet Corvette C6.R The Chevrolet Corvette C6.R is a grand tourer racing car built by Pratt & Miller and Chevrolet for competition in endurance racing. It is a replacement for the Corvette C5-R racing car, applying the body style of the new C6 generation Chevr ...

, with Canal again winning the class at Le Mans with the team. They repeated the feat in 2012.

Personal

Canal operated a

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold ...

restaurant in his hometown

. As per 2022, Canal has opened 3 McDonald's restaurants in cities outside Le Mans

Racing record

Complete European Le Mans Series results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (ma ...

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

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

^† There was no LMGTE Am drivers championship that year, the result indicates standings in overall standings.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^* Season still in progress.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Canal, Julien 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Le Mans French racing drivers FIA GT Championship drivers European Le Mans Series drivers American Le Mans Series drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers French Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers German Formula Renault 2.0 drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Rebellion Racing drivers Larbre Compétition drivers Greaves Motorsport drivers G-Drive Racing drivers OAK Racing drivers Manor Motorsport drivers Tech 1 Racing drivers Graff Racing drivers