Gary Ayles (born September 25, 1964) is a

Racecar 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 ...

driver born in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Ayles raced in the British F3 championship in the late 1980s before making the switch to touring car racing. He competed in the

British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...

in 1991 driving for

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

alongside Andy Rouse, and filled in for one race in 1992. He was offered a drive with the factory

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

team in the Superturismo series as teammate to

Fabrizio Giovanardi Fabrizio Giovanardi (born 14 December 1966 in Sassuolo) is an Italian racing driver. During his career he has won ten touring car titles, including European and British crowns making him the most successful touring car driver worldwide. He has ...

. In his three years with the team he finished runner up in the championship in 1992 to the Italian and scored several wins during his time in the series against such names as

Gabriele Tarquini Gabriele Tarquini (born 2 March 1962) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 78 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on May 3, 1987. He scored a single championship point, and holds the record for the most failed attempts to qualify. He h ...

Roberto Ravaglia Roberto Ravaglia (born 26 May 1957 in Venice, Italy) is a former auto racing driver, who currently runs ROAL Motorsport, who operate a Chevrolet operation in the World Touring Car Championship. Before retiring in 1997, he was one of the most s ...

and

Emanuele Pirro Emanuele Pirro (born 12 January 1962) is an Italian racing driver who has raced in Formula One, touring cars and in endurance races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans which he has won a total of five times. Two times Italian Karting Champion (19 ...

. For 1995, he drove for the factory-backed Ferrari Club Italia team in the

1995 BPR Global GT Series The 1995 BPR Kärcher Global Endurance GT was the second season of BPR Global GT Series The BPR Global GT Series (sometimes referred to as the BPR Global GT Endurance Series or simply abbreviated as BPR.) was a grand tourer-based sports car racing ...

, driving a Ferrari F40. Ayles returned to the BTCC in 1996, again driving for Andy Rouse in a Nissan, but did not enjoy the same success. In 1997 he raced a

McLaren F1 GTR The McLaren F1 GTR is the racing variant of the McLaren F1 sports car first produced in 1995 for grand touring style racing, such as the BPR Global GT Series, FIA GT Championship, JGTC, and British GT Championship. It was powered by the nat ...

in the 1997 FIA GT Championship for Parabolica Motorsport. The team achieved a brace of top six finishes against the factory teams, regularly the top privateers. This car is replicated within the video game Project CARS 3. The year also included a one-off outing at Silverstone in the 1997

British GT Championship The British GT Championship is a sports car racing series based predominantly in the United Kingdom. The series was originally created by the British Racing Drivers' Club in 1993 and, for its first two seasons, was known as the National Sports GT ...

, where he took the overall victory. He has entered the Le Mans 24hr four times with a best finish of 9th in the LMGT1 class and 18th overall at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans driving a Ferrari F40. Ayles became a team owner in 2000, when he established GA Motorsport, which has entered cars in the BTCC since 2000, racing as Team Sureterm for much of 2004. At the beginning of 2005, Ayles sold his share in the team to Mike Thompson, which Thompson since rebranded as

Quest Racing Quest Racing is a UK auto racing team headed by Mike Thompson, the squad having been rebranded from its former guise as GA Motorsports when Thompson bought the controlling stake from original founder Gary Ayles. In mid-2006 the team began running ...

. After planning to enter a new team in 2006, he formed the

A-Tech Gary Ayles (born September 25, 1964) is a Racecar driver born in the United Kingdom. Ayles raced in the British F3 championship in the late 1980s before making the switch to touring car racing. He competed in the British Touring Car Championship ...

team, which entered the BTCC for 2007, with a pair of

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." "A ...

s for

David Pinkney David Pinkney is a British businessman and auto racing driver. He competed in the British Touring Car Championship on and off between 1989 and 2011. Racing career James Weaver talked David into racing and he started out in the Uniroyal Saloon ...

and Richard Marsh. Currently (2011) he is involved with Lotus UK's GT4 race programme with the Evora. He co-owns a heritage vehicle shipping and delivery company, Bespoke Handling.

Racing record

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position - 1 point awarded all in 1996 only) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap - 1 point awarded 1988–1989 in class) # – Race was stopped due of heavy rain. No points were awarded. ‡ Endurance driver.

Complete Italian Touring Car Championship results

References

External links

Profile on Historic Racing
British Touring Car Championship drivers British racing drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers British Formula 3000 Championship drivers 1965 births Living people {{UK-autoracing-bio-stub