Louis Delétraz

Louis Charles Hubert Delétraz (born 22 April 1997) is a Swiss racing driver currently competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing and in the European Le Mans Series for AO by TF.

Additionally, Delétraz won the Formula Renault Northern European Cup in 2015, as well as being the defending two-time European Le Mans Series champion. He is the son of former Formula One and Le Mans 24 Hours driver Jean-Denis Delétraz.

Early career

Karting

Delétraz began karting in his native Switzerland 2008, winning the Vega Trofeo Super Mini class the following year. Third-place finishes followed in the KF3 Bridgestone Cup Switzerland and Vega Trofeo Junior categories in 2010 before winning the latter championship in 2011.

Formula BMW Talent Cup

Delétraz began his single-seater career in September 2012, racing in the Grand Final of the Formula BMW Talent Cup season, held at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben in Germany. He started each of the three races from Pole position, winning the second race of the event. In the final race of the weekend, Delétraz collided with fellow Swiss driver Ralph Boschung with both drivers retiring from the race. He was subsequently excluded from the event following an incident in the pit lane after the race.

Formula Renault 2.0

2013

Delétraz graduated to Formula Renault for 2013, racing in the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC championship with Josef Kaufmann Racing. He finished the season in 19th place in the championship, with a best race result of fifth coming in the second race of the Silverstone meeting.

2014

Delétraz continued with the team for a second FR2.0 NEC season in 2014. After winning the opening race of the season at Monza, he took a further four podium positions to finish runner-up in the championship, sixteen points behind Fortec Motorsports Ben Barnicoat. During the year, Delétraz also made his debut in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championship, taking part in the rounds at Spa-Francorchamps, Nürburgring and Paul Ricard as a guest driver.

2015

In 2015, Delétraz stayed with Josef Kaufmann Racing for a third season, racing a dual campaign in both Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 NEC. He won the Formula Renault NEC while he finished in the top3 in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0.

In April 2015, Delétraz was announced as one of the four drivers selected to join the BMW Motorsport Junior Programme for 2015. As part of the initiative, he is due to contest three races of the Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring series (VLN) for the manufacturer.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series/Formula V8 3.5

Delétraz made his debut in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series at the fifth round of the 2015 season at the Red Bull Ring, driving for the returning Comtec Racing team. He graduated to the series full time with Fortec in 2016, finishing runner-up in the standings.

GP2 Series

On 18 November 2016, it was announced that Delétraz would make his debut in the final round of the 2016 season with Carlin. He finished 26th in the overall standings with no points.

FIA Formula 2 Championship

2017

In December 2016, after partaking in post-season testing with them, Delétraz signed to race full-time with Racing Engineering in alongside Gustav Malja. After a poor first half of the season, scoring only 1 point, he switched to Rapax, replacing Nyck de Vries who in turn took his place at Racing Engineering.

2018

Delétraz switched teams for the 2018 season, moving to Charouz Racing System to partner former Ferrari Driver Academy member Antonio Fuoco. Having scored second places during the sprint races in Monaco and Le Castellet respectively, the Swiss driver ended up tenth in the championship.

2019

In 2019 Delétraz moved to reigning teams champion Carlin with Honda junior driver Nobuharu Matsushita. He finished the season eighth in the standings with a best result of 2nd in both the Monaco and Silverstone sprint races.

2020

For 2020, Delétraz returned to Charouz alongside Pedro Piquet. Having scored five podiums, Delétraz ended his final season in the category eighth overall.

Formula One

In February 2016, Delétraz was confirmed as a member of Renault's young driver program.

In November 2018 it was announced that Delétraz would make his Formula One test debut with Haas F1 Team at the end-of-year Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi. He completed 117 laps in the second day of the 2 day test.

In May 2019 it was announced that Delétraz would join Haas F1 Team as simulator driver for the remainder of the 2019 season. Delétraz continued as reserve and development driver for 2020. However, following Romain Grosjean's crash at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, the team preferred to bring in its other development driver, Pietro Fittipaldi. The Swiss driver criticized this decision on social media. Haas team principal Guenther Steiner brushed off these criticisms, saying Fittipaldi deserved the seat, as he had more Formula One mileage than Delétraz. Louis Delétraz did not continue as a development driver with Haas for 2021.

Sportscar career

2020: Endurance debut

Delétraz competed in the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual and won it with Rebellion Williams eSports, driving the Oreca 07 in the LMP category alongside Raffaele Marciello, Nikodem Wisniewski and Jakub Brzezinski. In the same year, Deletraz also competed in the 2020 with the Swiss outift, Rebellion Racing, in the LMP1 category alongside Nathanaël Berthon and Romain Dumas. The team finished the race in P4.

2021: ELMS glory

In 2021, it was announced that Delétraz would be competing with Team WRT in the European Le Mans Series in the LMP2 category alongside Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye. With three wins and a P2 finish, they clinched the 2021 European Le Mans Series championship in the LMP2 category. Alongside this, Delétraz competed in the 2021 8 Hours of Portimão in the FIA World Endurance Championship, finishing in P6. Additionally, Delétraz competed in the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans with his European Le Mans series teammates. After leading the race with one lap to go, the car, with Yifei Ye behind the wheel, stopped down the hill past the Dunlop Bridge because of a broken throttle sensor creating an electrical short circuit that temporarily turned the engine's electronic control unit off. Because of this, the team had to retire the car.

2022: Successful ELMS title defence

In 2022, it was announced that Delétraz would be competing with the Prema Orlen Team in the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship and Prema Racing in the 2022 European Le Mans Series both on a full season basis. In the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship, Delétraz finished in P5 in the LMP2 championship with a P2 finish in the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans. In the 2022 European Le Mans Series however, Delétraz and his teammate, Ferdinand Habsburg clinched the LMP2 Driver's championship with 4 wins and a P3 finish in Spa. Alongside this, he also competed in the 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship with Tower Motorsport in the LMP2 class. With two wins in Laguna Seca and Petit Le Mans and three podium finishes, Delétraz finished the season in 7th place (having missed a round) with points counting towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, not the overall LMP2 championship.

2023: WEC Title

In 2023, it was announced that Delétraz would be joining the Wayne Taylor Racing squad, driving the Acura ARX-06 GTP entry alongside Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor. He serves as a third driver, competing in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup in Daytona, Sebring and Petit Le Mans. In the opening race at the 24 Hours of Daytona, Delétraz and his team finished in second, ending up 4.190 seconds behind the Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura entry. The team would end up missing out on the title owing to contact between Albuquerque and championship rival Pipo Derani in the final race at Road Atlanta, an event where Delétraz qualified the #10 Acura on pole position, thereby scoring his first ever pole in endurance racing.

For his European season, the Swiss driver would contest a campaign for Team WRT in the LMP2 category of the FIA World Endurance Championship, whilst also joining Racing Team Turkey in an attempt to defend his European Le Mans Series title for the second year in a row, this time entering the Pro-Am class alongside Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluç. During the ELMS season-opener at Barcelona, Delétraz managed to overcome a late pit stop for a change of his car's tail section to pass Neel Jani for the lead with 15 minutes to go, thus beginning RTT's season with an overall victory. Another class victory followed at Paul Ricard, though Delétraz would drop from the overall lead to third within the final few laps as a de-laminating tyre shredded parts of the car's bodywork. Bad luck hit the #34 crew at Aragón, where a prospective second place was scuppered during the final pit stop, as the car could not be fired up for eleven minutes, thus dropping them to ninth in class. Despite one further Pro-Am podium in Spa, the team missed out on the title, as a spin by Yoluç in the penultimate race acted as a defining setback. At the end of the year, the team finished third, both in the Pro-Am and overall standings.

The main success story of the season came in the WEC, where Delétraz was partnered by Robert Kubica and Rui Andrade. Following a fifth place at Sebring and a podium at Portimão, the trio combined to take the championship lead with a victory at Spa. Despite a strong race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the team were unable to beat the #34 of Inter Europol Competition; Delétraz losing out in the final stint to Fabio Scherer, who controlled the gap until the checkered flag. Another podium followed in Italy, where a late-race overtake by the Swiss driver on the #23 United Autosport guaranteed the team third. Thereafter, a controlled drive to victory in Fuji and a dominant display by WRT at Bahrain, one where the #41 took the lead late thanks to pit stop troubles for the #31 sister car, ended up guaranteeing Delétraz, Kubica, and Andrade the final ever LMP2 title in the WEC era.

At the end of the year, the Swiss auto racing federation awarded Delétraz the 2023 Auto Sport Schweiz Award for "special services to Swiss motorsport".

2024: Sebring win & third ELMS title

Remaining with Wayne Taylor Racing, Delétraz embarked on a full-time campaign in the IMSA SportsCar Championship alongside Jordan Taylor, with Colton Herta joining them for the endurance rounds. At the season-opening 24 Hours of Daytona, the Swiss driver managed to resist the advances of Porsche's Mathieu Jaminet during a late restart to finish third, managing to recover for a podium despite a loss of power that lost the team one lap during the night. The following 12 Hours of Sebring saw Delétraz pull off a winning move on Sébastien Bourdais with five minutes to go, claiming WTR's first victory of the GTP era. At Long Beach, Delétraz crashed out of the race at the first corner, minutes after starting his stint. Following two top-five finishes, the Swiss driver took his first pole position of the campaign at Watkins Glen. Delétraz was in the lead until the final restart, where he could not get heat into his car's tyres and dropped to fourth. At Road America, Delétraz served two drive-through penalties, one for causing a collision with Richard Westbrook and one for a pit stop infraction committed by his team, leaving the car eighth by the end. Another penalty, this time for contact with the GT of Chaz Mostert, caused Delétraz to miss out on a podium once again in Indianapolis, though a post-race disqualification dropped the #40 to last. Seventh at Petit Le Mans left Delétraz and Taylor fifth in the GTP drivers' standings.

Parallel to his commitments overseas, the Swiss driver partnered long-time teammate Kubica and prototype rookie Jonny Edgar at AO Racing by TF in the ELMS. The team started the campaign with seventh at Barcelona and third in Le Castellet. Despite being jumped for the lead in the pits and later gapped by Charles Milesi near the end of the Imola race, Delétraz initially inherited the win as Milesi was penalised for a FCY infraction. The penalty was dropped after an appeal by Panis Racing, leaving the #14 AO car second. Delétraz then scored pole for the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and fended off Tom Dillmann in the closing laps to take victory, one that put the team into the championship lead. Fifth at Mugello set up a title decider in Portimão, ahead of which Delétraz and his teammates were leading the #43 Inter Europol entry by merely six points. Helped by a falsely applied penalty to Inter Europol in the finale, Delétraz, Kubica, and Edgar clinched the ELMS title by finishing second. This result made Delétraz the first driver to take three LMP2 titles in the European Le Mans Series.

Delétraz and AO by TF also took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a Pro-Am entry with Alex Quinn and team owner P. J. Hyett, where the Swiss went on to take pole position. The team finished second in the Pro-Am subclass and sixth in LMP2 overall.

2025

As WTR moved to the Cadillac V-Series.R chassis ahead of the 2025 IMSA season, Delétraz and Taylor remained with the #40 crew. Joined by Kamui Kobayashi for the 24 Hours of Daytona, the talents of the Japanese racing legend brought the #40 into the lead during the evening. This was undone by a mistake from Delétraz during the eighth hour, as a twitch saw him spin into the turn 2 barrier, after which the car was carried back onto the track and hit by oncoming traffic. Delétraz later theorised that a loss of tyre grip caused him to lose control. Another crash, this time one caused by one-off teammate Brendon Hartley, caused the team to fall out of contention at Sebring.

Karting record

Karting career summary

Racing record

Racing career summary

† As Delétraz was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

^* Season still in progress.

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup results

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

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results

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

^† As Delétraz was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete Formula V8 3.5 Series results

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

Complete 24 Hours of Zolder results

Complete GP2 Series/FIA Formula 2 Championship results

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

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete European Le Mans Series results

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

^* Season still in progress.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

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

^† Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP2 Championship.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete Asian Le Mans Series results

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

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deletraz, Louis
1997 births
Living people
Racing drivers from Geneva
Swiss racing drivers
Formula Renault 2.0 NEC drivers
Formula Renault Eurocup drivers
Formula BMW drivers
World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers
ADAC GT Masters drivers
GP2 Series drivers
FIA Formula 2 Championship drivers
24H Series drivers
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
FIA World Endurance Championship drivers
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers
European Le Mans Series drivers
Carlin racing drivers
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers
Josef Kaufmann Racing drivers
Fortec Motorsport drivers
Comtec Racing drivers
Charouz Racing System drivers
Rapax Team drivers
Racing Engineering drivers
Prema Powerteam drivers
W Racing Team drivers
Rebellion Racing drivers
Starworks Motorsport drivers
AV Formula drivers
Wayne Taylor Racing drivers
Andretti Autosport drivers
24 Hours of Spa drivers
Asian Le Mans Series drivers
TF Sport drivers