Norman Nato (born 8 July 1992) is a French professional

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

who is currently driving for Realteam Racing in the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...

. Nato is known for finishing as the runner-up in the 2010 F4 Eurocup 1.6 season and the

2012 Formula Renault 2.0 Alps season The 2012 Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series is the second year of the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps series, and the eleventh season of the former Swiss Formula Renault Championship. The championship began on 24 March at Monza and will finish on 21 Octo ...

, and for winning both in Monaco and Hungary in the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season.

Career

Early career

Karting

Born in

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

, Nato began his karting career at the age of nine and won the Championnat de France "Minimes" and "Cadet" categories in 2004 and 2005 before winning the Copa Campeones Trophy KF2 in 2007. In 2009, Nato won the French KZ2 Championship which he followed with a win at the KZ2 Monaco Kart Cup in 2010.

Formula Renault

Nato made his debut in

single-seater An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...

competition in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

by joining the F4 F4 Eurocup 1.6 series with the Autosport Academy team. The Frenchman won on debut at the

Ciudad del Motor de Aragón Ciudad () is the Spanish word for City Ciudad may also refer to: *La Ciudad (archaeological site), Hohokam ruins in Phoenix, Arizona *La Ciudad, district of Durango City, Mexico *''La ciudad'', novel by Mario Levrero 1970 *La Ciudad ''The City'' ...

and took one further victory at the

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya () is a motorsport race track in Montmeló, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. With long straights and a variety of corners, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is seen as an all-rounder circuit. The track has stands ...

. Nato ended the season with eight podium finishes and 123 points to finish as runner-up to

Stoffel Vandoorne Stoffel Vandoorne (born 26 March 1992) is a Belgian professional racing driver who is currently racing for Dragon Racing in Formula E. He had previously competed in Formula One for McLaren from 2016 to 2018. He is currently a test driver of M ...

. In 2011, Nato graduated to Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with the R-ace GP team. He finished 11th overall after taking two podiums at the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

and the closing race of the season in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, with another five points-scoring finishes. He also partially competed in

Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup The Formula Renault Northern European Cup (formerly Formula Renault 2.0 NEC) was a Formula Renault, Formula Renault 2.0 championship originally held in Northern Europe (Germany, Netherlands and Belgium), but has expanded over the years to the whol ...

with the same team, bringing another podium at Nürburgring. For

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, Nato continued to race in the Eurocup but joined debutants RC Formula. He took one victory at

Spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

alongside three podium finishes at Aragon, the Nürburgring and the

Hungaroring The Hungaroring is a motorsport racetrack in Mogyoród, Pest County, Hungary where the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix is held. In 1986, it became the location of the first Formula One Grand Prix behind the Iron Curtain. Bernie Ecclestone wan ...

to finish fourth overall with 96 points. Nato also raced in Formula Renault 2.0 Alps in 2012 and battled against

Daniil Kvyat Daniil Vyacheslavovich Kvyat ( rus, Дании́л Вячесла́вович Квят, p=dənʲɪˈil vʲɪtɕɪˈslavəvʲɪtɕ ˈkvʲat; born 26 April 1994) is a Russian professional racing driver who competed in Formula One between 2014– ...

for the title. In the final race of the season in Barcelona, he was involved in an accident with Kvyat and finished as the runner-up with a three-point deficit. He ended the season with four wins and four further podium finishes. Nato graduated to the highest tier of the

World Series by Renault The Renault Sport Series (formerly known as World Series by Renault) is a motor racing series. The series latterly consisted of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, and used to contain the Renault Sport Trophy and the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. T ...

in 2013 by joining

DAMS A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, ...

in the

Formula Renault 3.5 Series The World Series Formula V8 3.5, formerly the World Series by Nissan from 1998 to 2004, the Formula Renault 3.5 Series from 2005 to 2015 and the Formula V8 3.5 in 2016 and 2017, was a motor racing series promoted by RPM Racing (1998–2004) and R ...

as a team-mate to

Kevin Magnussen Kevin Jan Magnussen (born 5 October 1992) is a Danish racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Haas F1 Team. He is the son of four-time Le Mans winner and former Formula One driver Jan Magnussen. Kevin Magnussen came up through McLa ...

. He took one pole position and finished 13th in the Drivers' Championship with 33 points. The Frenchman stayed on with the team for the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

season, this time partnering

Carlos Sainz Jr Carlos Sainz Vázquez de Castro (; born 1 September 1994), otherwise known as Carlos Sainz Jr. or simply Carlos Sainz, is a Spanish racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari. He is the son of Carlos Sainz Sr., a ...

. Nato took two victories which included a Grand Slam performance at the prestigious

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

race in which he won from pole position and set the fastest lap. He finished seventh in the standings with 89 points.

GP2 Series

On 29 January 2015, it was confirmed that

Arden International Arden International is a multiple formula racing team created and run by Christian Horner and Garry Horner. It currently runs teams in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and F4 British Championship, and formerly ran in the FIA Formula 2 Championship ...

had signed Nato as its number one driver in the

GP2 Series The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Eccle ...

. He finished 18th overall with 20 points. Nato joined

Racing Engineering Racing Engineering is a Spanish racing team founded in 1999 by Alfonso de Orléans-Borbón that currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. The team's headquarters are located in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near Jerez, where all car prepar ...

for the 2016 GP2 Series and won the opening race of the season in Barcelona. He finished on the podium again in Monaco, Hungary and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, and took one further victory at Monza to finish fifth in the Drivers' Championship with 136 points. In

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, Nato returned to Arden to start his third season in the

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, ...

feeder series, now renamed as Formula 2. He took one win after beating eventual champion

Charles Leclerc Charles Marc Hervé Perceval Leclerc (; born 16 October 1997) is a Monégasque racing driver, currently racing in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari. He won the GP3 Series championship in 2016 and the FIA Formula 2 Championship in . Leclerc ...

at the

Baku City Circuit The Baku City Circuit ( az, Bakı Şəhər Halqası) is a motor racing street circuit located in Baku, Azerbaijan constructed near Baku Boulevard. A lap of the circuit is , making it the third-longest circuit on the Formula One calendar (after C ...

and recorded two further podiums, finishing as the runner-up in the

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

and

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 ...

Feature Races. Nato finished ninth overall, accumulating 91 points.

European Le Mans Series

For the

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

season, Nato made a switch to sportscar racing by joining 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 Racing Engineering in the LMP2 class. He won the opening race of the season at Le Castellet alongside team-mates Paul Petit and

Olivier Pla Olivier Pla (born 22 October 1981) is a French racing driver currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Glickenhaus Racing. His younger brother Jim is also a racing driver Career French Formula Campus and Formula Three Bor ...

. Nato took one further podium at the

Red Bull Ring The Red Bull Ring is a motorsport race track in Spielberg, Styria, Austria. The race circuit was founded as Österreichring (translation: Austrian Circuit) and hosted the Austrian Grand Prix for 18 consecutive years, from to . It was later sh ...

to finish third in the championship standings with 66 points. Alongside his ELMS campaign, Nato contested his first

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 ...

in which he finished in 10th place with

SMP Racing SMP Racing is the motor sport endurance racing team and also motorsport management created in 2013 by Boris Rotenberg, founder of the SMP Bank of Russia. Description The goal of SMP Racing is to train and unveil new talents. The team's training ...

. He also raced at the 2018 Petit Le Mans in the

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

, finishing in 11th place with Tequila Patron ESM. For

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, the Frenchman joined reigning ELMS champions G-Drive Racing and contested the opening two races of the season, taking fourth place at Le Castellet and winning at

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

World Endurance Championship

Nato made his debut in the

in 2019 in which he raced at the 6 Hours of Spa with LMP2 team

TDS Racing TDS Racing (Top Drive Services, also known as Pouchelon Racing) is a French racing team, currently competing in the European Le Mans Series, FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. History Eurocup Mégane Trophy (2005-201 ...

, taking fourth in class. For the 2019–20 season, Nato joined LMP1 team

Rebellion Racing Rebellion Racing is a Swiss racing team that competes in endurance racing. The team competed in the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup season and won the LMP1 teams' title in the 2011 Le Mans Series season. The team started as an association ...

. The Frenchman took his first FIA World Endurance Championship victory at the

4 Hours of Shanghai The 4 Hours of Shanghai (previously 6 Hours of Shanghai) is a sports car race that is held at the Shanghai International Circuit in Jiading District of Shanghai in the People's Republic of China. It was created for the FIA World Endurance Champion ...

and also won the 2020 Lone Star Le Mans at the

Circuit of the Americas Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Austin, Texas, in the United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand ...

. Nato took second place at the 88th running of the

. He ended the campaign in third place in the Drivers' Championship alongside team-mates

Gustavo Menezes Gustavo Menezes (born 19 September 1994) is an American racing driver, currently racing for Peugeot Sport in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Career Karting Menezes began karting in 2002, but took his first championship in 2005 in the IKF ...

and

Bruno Senna Bruno Senna Lalli (, born 15 October 1983) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. He is the nephew of the late Ayrton Senna, three-time Formula One world champion. He is also the first man to win a race in every WEC class, and was the 2017 W ...

, finishing on the podium on six occasions in seven entries. For 2021, Nato joined Realteam Racing to compete in LMP2, partnering Loic Duval and team owner Esteban Garcia.

Formula E

ROKiT Venturi Racing (2018–2021)

=Reserve driver (2018–2020)

= In 2018, Nato was named as

Venturi Racing Venturi Racing (formerly Venturi Formula E Team) is a Monegasque motor racing team controlled by Scott Swid (Chairman and principal owner) and José M Aznar Botella. The team competes in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Venturi Racing ...

's reserve driver in

Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, who is ...

. The Frenchman took part in the series' official Rookie Test in

Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...

and set the 10th-fastest time. He continued in the role into the 2019–20 season, and again took part in Formula E's official rookie test, taking sixth position.

=2020–21 season

= In 2020, Nato was promoted to a full-time race seat with Venturi as a team-mate to

Edoardo Mortara Edoardo "Edo" Mortara (born 12 January 1987) is a Swiss-Italian- French professional racing driver for Maserati MSG Racing. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, he holds triple nationality from all three countries. He is a former Formula Three Eurose ...

, replacing 11-time Formula One race winner

Felipe Massa Felipe Massa (, born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver. He competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between 2002 and 2017, where he scored 11 Grand Prix victories, 41 podiums and finished as championship runner-up in 2008 by one poin ...

. After making his debut at the 2021 Diriyah ePrix, Nato finished on the podium in only his fourth race start by taking third in Race 2 in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, however, was disqualified after overconsuming energy. Two weekends later, the Frenchman again finished inside the top three by taking second place in Race 2 of the Valencia ePrix, but after receiving a five-second time penalty, was demoted to fifth. After missing out on silverware twice, Nato finally finished on the podium by concluding his season with a dominant victory in Berlin, taking Venturi's third win in Formula E. With this result, and outside of Formula E's inaugural campaign, Nato became only the third driver to win a race in their rookie season. The Frenchman finished in 18th position in the Drivers' Championship with 54 points, becoming Venturi's most successful rookie driver in history. Nato was replaced by

Lucas di Grassi Lucas Tucci di Grassi (born 11 August 1984) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competes in the FIA Formula E World Championship for Mahindra Racing. He became the FIA Formula E Champion in 2016–2017, achieved three overall podium ...

on 15 September 2021 for

Season 8 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In tempera ...

Jaguar TCS Racing (2022)

=2021–22 season

= After failing to secure a full-time drive, Nato joined

Jaguar Racing Jaguar Racing is the name given to Jaguar Land Rover's racing interests. It currently competes in Formula E under the name Jaguar TCS Racing as a result of the partnership with Tata Consultancy Services. It was previously a Formula One construc ...

as the team's reserve driver, partnering former Venturi driver

Tom Dillmann Tom Dillmann (born 6 April 1989 in Mulhouse) is a French racing driver, formerly competing for Nio Formula E Team, in Formula E. He is probably best known for winning the German Formula Three Championship in the 2010 season and the Formula V8 ...

. Nato stepped up to a race seat for the final weekend of the campaign in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, deputising for

Sam Bird Sam Jamie Bird (born 9 January 1987) is a British professional racing driver who currently drives for Jaguar TCS Racing in the FIA Formula E World Championship. Career Formula BMW Bird made his name in single seater racing in the Formula B ...

who sustained a fracture in his left hand during the previous race weekend in London.

Nissan Formula E Team (2023–)

=2022–23 season

= Nato returned secured a full-time seat in Formula E for the 2022–23 season at

Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

, partnering

Sacha Fenestraz Sacha Fenestraz Jules (born 28 July 1999) is a French-Argentine racing driver currently competing in the Super Formula Championship with Kondō Racing. He is the 2017 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 champion. Currently, he drives for the Nissan For ...

Racing record

Career summary

Complete F4 Eurocup 1.6 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)

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results

(

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

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series results

(

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

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(

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

Complete GP2 Series results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

Complete European Le Mans Series results

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

(

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

Complete Formula E results

(

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

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nato, Norman 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Cannes French racing drivers French F4 Championship drivers Formula Renault 2.0 NEC drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Formula Renault 2.0 Alps drivers World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers GP2 Series drivers FIA Formula 2 Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers European Le Mans Series drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Formula E drivers Auto Sport Academy drivers R-ace GP drivers RC Formula drivers DAMS drivers Arden International drivers Racing Engineering drivers G-Drive Racing drivers W Racing Team drivers Rebellion Racing drivers Venturi Grand Prix drivers TDS Racing drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers SMP Racing drivers Extreme Speed Motorsports drivers Karting World Championship drivers Jaguar Racing drivers Nismo drivers Audi Sport drivers