Nicolas Minassian (born 28 February 1973) is a French professional racing driver of

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

descent. After finishing 2nd place in the 1993

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before moving on to hig ...

Eurocup,

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

-born Minassian graduated to the

French Formula Three Championship The French Formula Three Championship was a motor racing series for Formula Three cars held in France between 1964 and 2002. The series was merged with the German Formula Three Championship in 2003 to form the Formula 3 Euro Series The Formula ...

where he finished runner-up to countryman

Laurent Redon Laurent Redon (born 5 August 1973) is a former race car driver from Loire, France. Redon began his professional racing career in the French Formula Three Championship, winning it in 1995. He then moved to International Formula 3000 where he finish ...

at his second attempt in 1995. He then moved to the British series for another two years in a successful partnership with

Promatecme OAK Racing is an endurance racing team specialising in sports prototypes based in Le Mans, France. In 2013 it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in LMP2 class and the 2013 FIA WEC World Champion drivers and teams on LMP2 class. In 2012 the team cont ...

and

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...

UK that yielded a 4th place in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

and 2nd place the following year. He graduated to

Formula 3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines. Formula 3000 championships ...

with West Competition for

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, but failed to impress whilst his teammate

Nick Heidfeld Nick Lars Heidfeld (born 10 May 1977) is a German professional racing driver. Despite scoring regular podium finishes in with Williams Grand Prix Engineering, Williams, and in and with BMW in Formula One, BMW Sauber, Heidfeld never won a rac ...

mounted a strong challenge for overall honours. The following year, he moved to Kid Jensen Racing where he enjoyed more success, including an emphatic lights-to-flag triumph at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

. He signed for the illustrious

Super Nova Racing Super Nova Racing was a British racing team that has competed in Formula 3000/ GP2 and the A1 Grand Prix series. Super Nova first entered racing in 1991. Super Nova was a new incarnation of the pre-existing David Sears Motorsport, sponsored by ...

team in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

where he came a strong 2nd in the championship. Unable to secure a

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

drive, Minassian drove in 2001 for

Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization with teams competing in the NTT IndyCar Series, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, FIA World Endurance Championship ...

with F3000 title adversary

Bruno Junqueira Bruno Junqueira (born November 4, 1976) is a Brazilian race car driver who most recently competed in the IRL IndyCar Series. He is a former Formula 3000 champion and three-time runner-up in the Champ Car World Series. Racing career Early c ...

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

and competed in the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

before being released by the team. In 2002 Minassian won the

ASCAR Racing Series ASCAR (Anglo-American Stock Car Racing), was a stock car racing series that raced at circuits around the United Kingdom and Europe from 2001 until 2008. The series went through many guises during its seven year period and was known as the ASCAR M ...

oval racing series for

RML Group Ray Mallock Ltd., also known as RML Group, is a motorsports and high performance engineering company, based in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom. Early history Ray Mallock began building racing cars, alongside his brother Richar ...

before returning to endurance racing including 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 racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

for such teams as

Creation Autosportif Creation Autosportif, Ltd. was a sports car racing team based in Oxford, England. It was founded in 2003 by Ian Bickerton and Mike Jankowski and has raced in the FIA GT Championship, FFSA GT Championship, American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Enduran ...

and

Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo Sport was a motorsport team based in Le Mans, France and founded in February 2000 by French racing driver Henri Pescarolo and his friend and partner, French publisher François Granet. They raced in the Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours o ...

. In 2007 he became a factory driver for the

Peugeot 908 HDi FAP The Peugeot 908 HDi FAP is a sports prototype racing car built by the French automobile manufacturer Peugeot to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, starting in 2007 and eventually winning in 2009. This effort, in development sin ...

diesel

Le Mans prototype A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were create ...

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 ...

. In 2008 he drove the Peugeot 908 diesel

in the European

. He competed in the

with the Peugeot 908.

Outside racing

In 2019 Nicolas Minassian founded a management company together with his former team-mate

Jamie Campbell-Walter Jamie Campbell-Walter is a British professional racing driver. He was born in Oban, Scotland on 16 December 1972. He won the FIA GT Championship in 2000 and took a World Endurance Championship title in 2013 as an Aston Martin Racing factory dr ...

and María Catarineu, Bullet Sports Management, which represents drivers including FIA WEC and

ELMS Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of Nor ...

driver Ferdinand Habsburg,

and FRECA driver

Franco Colapinto Franco Alejandro Colapinto (born 27 May 2003) is an Argentine-Italian racing driver who is due to compete in FIA Formula 3 for MP Motorsport. He is the 2019 F4 Spanish champion and a race winner in the European Le Mans Series. He is a member of ...

, FRECA driver Oliver Goethe,

GT World Challenge Europe GT World Challenge Europe (known as the Blancpain GT Series between 2014 and 2019) is a sports car racing series organised by SRO Motorsports Group. It features grand tourer racing cars modified from production road cars complying with the FIA's GT ...

driver Benjamin Goethe, and

drivers

Rui Andrade Rui Andrade may refer to: * Rui Andrade (footballer) * Rui Andrade (racing driver) {{hndis, Andrade, Rui ...

and

Diego Menchaca Diego Menchaca González-Quintanilla (born 20 October 1994 in Mexico City) is a Mexican racing driver. Career Karting Menchaca began karting in 2006 at the age of eight, competing in championships across Mexico and the United States. Lower F ...

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete International Formula 3000 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 (map ...

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

American Open-Wheel

(

)

CART

IRL IndyCar Series

Indy 500 results

Complete V8 Supercar results

+ Not Eligible for points ;Bathurst 1000 results

Complete American Le Mans Series results

Complete Le Mans Series results

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(

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

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minassian, Nicolas 1973 births Living people Sportspeople from Marseille French racing drivers Champ Car drivers IndyCar Series drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers French Formula Three Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers French people of Armenian descent International Formula 3000 drivers American Le Mans Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Supercars Championship drivers TC 2000 Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers ASCAR drivers 24H Series drivers Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Peugeot Sport drivers Sébastien Loeb Racing drivers SMP Racing drivers West Competition drivers Oreca drivers Pescarolo Sport drivers AF Corse drivers Super Nova Racing drivers DragonSpeed drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers OAK Racing drivers G-Drive Racing drivers