Nicolás Martín "Nico" Varrone (born 6 November 2000) is an Argentine

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

currently competing for

Proton Competition Proton Competition (also formerly racing as Dempsey-Proton Racing or Team Felbermayr-Proton) is a German auto racing team based in Ummendorf, Baden-Württemberg. It was founded by Gerold Ried, and is currently owned by his son Christian Ried. Th ...

in the

2025 FIA World Endurance Championship The 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship is the thirteenth season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The s ...

. He is the 2023 WEC champion in the LMGTE Am class, having won the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

in the category with

Corvette Racing Corvette Racing was an American auto racing team established in 1999 by General Motors and Pratt Miller for the purposes of competing in sports car racing internationally. Corvette Racing was originally the official racing program for General M ...

. Varrone has also won the race in the LMP2 Pro-Am subclass with

AF Corse AF Corse is an Italian auto racing team founded by former racing driver Amato Ferrari in 1995 in Piacenza. Strongly linked to the Maserati and Ferrari brands, AF Corse currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship, GT World Chal ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Early career

Having competed in karting, Varrone made his car racing debut in the national

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

category at the end of 2016. He remained in the series the following year and ended up 20th in the standings. A move to Europe followed in 2018, as Varrone joined the V de V Challenge Monoplace, first driving for

Inter Europol Competition Inter Europol Competition is a Polish auto racing team that competes in Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing. The team contests the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship, IMSA SportsCar Champi ...

before switching to TS Corse. The Argentine dominated, taking six wins from 14 races and claiming the title. This made him the final champion of the series' history. In a 2019 season plagued by monetary concerns, Varrone took part in three rounds of the

BRDC British Formula 3 Championship The GB3 Championship is a single seater motorsport series based in the United Kingdom. The championship is the UK's premier single-seater category, and is aimed at young racing drivers moving up from FIA Formula 4 championships, the GB4 Champi ...

with

Hillspeed Hillspeed is a British motorsport team, based in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, United Kingdom. The team currently participates in the GB3 Championship and the GB4 Championship. Notable past drivers for the team include Alice Powell, Ameya Vaidyan ...

, where he was able to win the reversed-grid race at

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), informally referred to as Spa, is a motor-racing circuit located in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium, about southeast of Spa. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, ho ...

. As a consequence, the youngster signed for Chris Dittmann Racing for the 2020 season. However, plans of running the entire season were scuppered by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, which meant that Varrone was forced to abandon his season after the opening pair of events.

Sportscar career

After being forced to stop his British F3 campaign, Varrone returned home to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, thinking that he would have to abandon his racing career to work in the family business. However, manager Jose Balbiani managed to connect Varrone to Rinaldi Racing owner Michele Rinaldi, giving Varrone the chance to test an

LMP3 A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is a type of sports prototype race car used in various races and championships, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series, and Asian Le M ...

car and subsequently partake in the final round of that year's

Le Mans Cup The Le Mans Cup, previously the GT3 Le Mans Cup and currently known as the Michelin Le Mans Cup under sponsorship, is an international sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club ...

. In 2021, Rinaldi paired Varrone with Alexander Matschull for the entire

season, where three podiums earned the duo third place overall. AWA 17 WGI23 01

In 2022, Varrone made his debut at the

IMSA 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 (I ...

where he entered the Six Hours of The Glen in the LMP3 category. He then signed with the Canadian racing team AWA for the 2023 season. In January 2023, Varrone signed for

to contest the LMGTE Am class of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship, driving a

Chevrolet Corvette C8.R The Chevrolet Corvette C8.R is a grand tourer#grand tourers in racing, grand tourer racing car built by Pratt Miller and Chevrolet for competition in endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing. It serves as the replacement for the Chevrolet C ...

alongside

Nicky Catsburg Nick Catsburg (born 15 February 1988 in Amersfoort) is a Dutch professional racing driver, currently competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship with Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports. He was also a factory driver for BMW from 2011 to ...

and

Ben Keating Benjamin Edward Keating (born August 18, 1971) is an American racing driver and business owner operating out of Victoria, Texas. Keating is the owner of 30 car auto dealerships across Texas, The Keating Auto Group. Since starting auto racing in ...

. He and his team had a successful year, not only winning their

category but also their whole World Endurance Championship category. The campaign contained three race wins, as well as a fastest lap set by Varrone at Le Mans. As a result, Varrone was upgraded to the FIA Gold ranking ahead of 2024. Ahead of the 2024 season, the Argentine became a

Corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

factory driver in lieu of a campaign in the GTD class of the

. However, after retiring from the opening two races of the campaign due to car issues, Varrone's team, AWA racing, and his teammate Anthony Mantella decided to withdraw from the series. Varrone would soon find another drive, joining reigning 24 Hours of Nürburgring winners Frikadelli Racing for the 2024 event together with

Luca Ludwig Luca Ludwig (born 4 November 1988 in Bonn) is a German racing driver. He was champion of the ADAC GT Masters in 2015 and is the son of former Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft champion and 24 Hours of Le Mans and Nürburgring 24 Hours winner ...

, Daniel Keilwitz, and

Felipe Fernández Laser Felipe Fernández Laser (born 16 November 1988) is a German racing driver. Career Fernández Laser began his racing career in 2007 in the ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup and ended it with three wins in the rookie classification. A year later, he entere ...

. The team finished 12th in the red-flagged race, with Varrone setting the fastest lap overall. The Argentine also drove for

in the latter five rounds of the six-race

ELMS 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 ...

campaign, where he scored a podium in

. Varrone made his

LMP2 A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is a type of sports prototype race car used in various races and championships, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series, and Asian Le M ...

debut at the

2024 24 Hours of Le Mans The 92nd 24 Hours of Le Mans () was an Endurance racing (motorsport), automobile endurance race for teams of three drivers each racing Le Mans Prototypes (LMP) and Group GT3, Le Mans Grand Touring Car (LMGT3) cars held from 15 to 16 June 2024 ...

, partnering

Ben Barnicoat Ben George Barnicoat (born 20 December 1996) is a British racing driver, who competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Vasser Sullivan and in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Akkodis ASP; he serves as a factory driver for Lexus. ...

and gentleman driver François Perrodo in the LMP2 Pro-Am subclass. Despite lacking pace in the closing hours held under wet conditions, the trio won the Pro-Am subclass. Varrone made his contribution by taking and extending the overall lead during the night. The week after, Varrone raced in LMP2 once again, driving for

DragonSpeed DragonSpeed Racing is an American auto racing team that competes in the European Le Mans Series, FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2019, the team entered the NTT IndyCar Series with a five race schedule, includin ...

in the

6 Hours of The Glen The Six Hours of Watkins Glen (currently sponsored as the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen) is a sports car racing, sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held annually at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York. The ...

Racing record

Career summary

† As he was a guest driver, Varrone was ineligible to score points.

Complete BRDC British Formula 3 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

^* Season still in progress.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

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

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Varrone, Nicolas 2000 births Living people People from Escobar Partido Racing drivers from Buenos Aires Province Argentine racing drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers Formula Renault Argentina drivers International GT Open drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Iron Lynx drivers Corvette Racing drivers TC 2000 Championship drivers BRDC British Formula 3 Championship drivers Le Mans Cup drivers 24H Series drivers Team Lazarus drivers Chris Dittmann Racing drivers AF Corse drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Hillspeed drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers DragonSpeed drivers GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers Proton Competition drivers