Tristan Philippe Alain Vautier (born 22 August 1989) is a French professional racing driver who is currently competing in the 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship for Proton Competition and in the 2025 European Le Mans Series for CLX – Pure Rxcing.

Racing career

Formula Renault Born in Saint-Martin-d'Hères, Isère, Vautier began his career in the French Formula Renault Campus series in 2006, where he finished runner-up. He moved up to the main Championnat de France Formula Renault 2.0 series in 2007, finishing fourth, also competing in some events in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, scoring a second and third in Zolder. In 2008, the French series was replaced by the West European Cup, in which Vautier finished sixth.

Formula Palmer Audi Vautier moved to the Formula Palmer Audi series in 2009, where he finished fourth with six victories.

FIA Formula Two Championship Vautier made his FIA Formula Two Championship debut at Circuit de Catalunya, in place of Edoardo Piscopo. Vautier excelled in the pre-race tests and in the first race, where he finished third behind Andy Soucek and Mikhail Aleshin. He also finished in the points in the second race, finishing sixth. Those two results were enough to place him thirteenth overall in the championship standings.

Star Mazda 2010 saw Vautier move to the American Star Mazda Championship driving for Andersen Racing. Vautier won the season-opener at Sebring Raceway and then in June at New Jersey Motorsports Park. However, several mechanical issues saw him achieve only fifth in the final standings despite being the only driver other than champion Conor Daly to win more than one race. He returned to the series in 2011, this time driving for JDC MotorSports. He won four races and finished every race in the top-five, winning the championship over Connor De Phillippi by 25 points. With the title, he won a scholarship to move to Firestone Indy Lights in 2012 through the Road to Indy program.

Indy Lights Vautier signed with Sam Schmidt Motorsports to race in Firestone Indy Lights in 2012. He won the pole in his first race on the Streets of St. Petersburg and took a flag-to-flag victory, duplicating his Star Mazda feat from two years before by winning on debut. Another win on the Milwaukee Mile came in the midst of a remarkable run of twenty consecutive top-five finishes (including the final two Star Mazda events of 2010, and his championship season of 2011) in his Road to Indy career. The streak ended at Toronto when a first-lap collision put him out of the race for the first time in an open-wheel car in nearly two years.

Vautier clinched the 2012 Firestone Indy Lights championship by eight points over Esteban Guerrieri. With his title win, he won a partial scholarship to compete in the IndyCar Series in 2013 through the Road to Indy program.

IndyCar Vautier signed to compete in the 2013 IndyCar Series season for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.Tristan Vautier makes the jump to IndyCar, Autoweek, 28 January 2013, Retrieved 29 January 2013 He is the first driver to be champion of two rungs of the Road to Indy ladder and move onto the IndyCar Series. Vautier finished twentieth in points with a best finish of tenth in the second race of the season at Barber Motorsports Park. Vautier qualified in the Firestone Fast-Six on his debut race in St Petersburg, and third for the following round in Barber. He won rookie of the year honours. He finished sixteenth in his first Indianapolis 500 race.

Vautier returned to IndyCar in 2015 as a part-time driver for Dale Coyne Racing. He qualified James Davison's car for the Indianapolis 500, then raced in place of Carlos Huertas. A week later, he finished fourth in Detroit for the second race, starting last on the grid after qualifying was cancelled. His showing got Dale Coyne to keep him in the car for the remainder of the season, and he backed his strong Detroit result with a sixth place in Mid-Ohio.

In 2017, Vautier returned to IndyCar for a one-off, subbing for injured Sébastien Bourdais in Texas. Vautier went on to qualify fifth in the Dale Coyne Racing entry, and led 15 laps in the race before being caught in a multi-car incident.

Vautier returned to IndyCar in 2024, making a start at Detroit driving the No. 51 Honda for Dale Coyne.

Sports car racing

Vautier debuted Sports Car racing while still racing open wheels, in the 2009 French GT Championship, and won on his debut race in Nogaro, teaming-up with French driver Jean-Charles Levy.

In 2014, Vautier was hired by the Mazda factory team to race at the four endurance races of the 2014 United SportsCar Championship in a LMP2 diesel prototype. At the 2015 24 Hours of Daytona, he joined JDC/Miller, resulting third in the Prototype Challenge class.

Vautier has completed the 24 Hours of Spa five times for team Akka-ASP, in 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018, finishing second overall in 2016 on an AMG-Factory backed car alongside Rosenqvist and Van der Zande. He ended the 2016 season by winning the Blancpain GT Sprint final race in Barcelona, teamed-up with Rosenqvist.

Vautier returned to full-time racing in the US in 2017 with Mercedes-AMG customer Team SunEnergy1 racing, teaming-up with Team owner Kenny Habul, and Boris Said. Vautier set Sebring's GTD track record on his way to pole position for the 12-Hour race, before finishing on the podium after a late comeback in the closing stages. He also returned to the Blanpain GT Series with Team Akka-ASP, teaming-up with Mercedes driver Daniel Juncadella and open wheel ace Felix Serralles, closing the season by a win in Barcelona just as he did in 2016.

In 2018, Vautier raced in prototypes alongside of his GT duties as Mercedes-AMG Factory driver, joining American Matt McMurry behind the wheel of the No. 90 Cadillac DPi-V.R. in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, driving for Spirit of Daytona Racing at four races, where he scored pole position for the 12 Hours of Sebring. At 2018 Petit Le Mans, he finished fourth overall for Action Express Racing, partnering with Filipe Albuquerque and Christian Fittipaldi.

Vautier's GT Racing campaign for Mercedes-AMG saw him clinch the Intercontinental GT Challenge during the title-deciding race in WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, scoring a second place in the Bathurst 12 Hours and a win in the Suzuka 10 Hours.

Vautier also debuted on the Nordschleife, finishing in the top-ten in the 24 Hours of Nurburgring for Team Landgraff.

In 2019, Vautier joined JDC-Miller MotorSports to drive a Cadillac DPi at the IMSA WeatherTech Championship together with Mikhail Goikhberg, where he scored two fifth-place finishes. He continued racing in GT3 as a Mercedes Factory driver for Team Strakka in the InterContinental GT and Team GetSpeed in the VLN Series and Nurburgring 24 Hours.

The next season, Vautier had multiple co-drivers, but scored four top-fives.

Vautier won the 2021 12 Hours of Sebring with JDC, together with Loïc Duval and Sébastien Bourdais.

In 2022, Vautier scored pole and finished third in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona teaming with Loïc Duval, Richard Westbrook and Ben Keating. He finished second in the Sebring 12 Hours teaming with Westbrook and Duval.

Vautier represented ARC Bratislava in LMP2 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, leading the pro-am class for most of the race before being taken out of contention by a radiator failure.

In 2023, Vautier competed in the European Le Mans Series with Algarve Pro Racing, later also making his Hypercar debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship, having been called up by Vanwall to replace Jacques Villeneuve. Despite Vanwall's exit from WEC after a year, Vautier remained involved in LMH as Cadillac Racing's reserve driver for the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Racing record

Career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position 2007 French Formula Renault 2.0 Graff Racing 13 0 0 0 3 69 4th Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 6 0 0 0 2 22 15th 2008 Formula Renault 2.0 WEC Epsilon Sport 15 0 0 0 2 79 6th Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 2 0 0 0 0 1 29th 2009 FIA Formula Two Championship MSV Racing 2 0 0 0 1 9 13th Formula Palmer Audi 20 6 5 6 9 303 4th Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 iQuick Valencia 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC† 2010 Star Mazda Championship Andersen Racing 13 2 0 0 3 400 5th 2011 Star Mazda Championship JDC MotorSports 11 4 5 4 6 426 1st 2012 Indy LightsSam Schmidt Motorsports 12 4 5 3 7 461 1st Blancpain Endurance Series - Pro-Am Cup SOFREV Auto Sport Promotion 1 0 0 0 0 12 36th 2013 IndyCar Series Schmidt Peterson Hamilton HP Motorsports 19 0 0 0 0 266 20th Rolex Sports Car Series - GX SpeedSource 1 0 0 0 0 25 14th 2014 United SportsCar Championship - P SpeedSource 4 0 0 0 0 59 30th Blancpain Endurance Series - Pro-Am Cup SOFREV Auto Sport Promotion 1 0 0 0 0 2 35th 2015 United SportsCar Championship - P JDC-Miller MotorSports 1 0 0 0 1 1 36th IndyCar Series Dale Coyne Racing 11 0 0 0 0 175 22nd Blancpain Endurance Series - Pro Cup AKKA ASP 2 0 0 0 0 9 21st Blancpain Endurance Series - Pro-Am Cup 1 0 0 0 0 2 28th 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD Stevenson MotorSports 1 0 0 0 0 25 47th Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup AKKA ASP 2 0 0 0 0 18 22nd Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup 10 1 1 1 3 51 7th 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD SunEnergy1 Racing 12 0 1 2 2 224 19th IndyCar Series Dale Coyne Racing 1 0 0 0 0 15 36th Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup AKKA ASP 4 1 1 0 1 26 16th Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup - Pro-Am Cup 2 0 0 0 1 18 7th 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship - P Spirit of Daytona Racing 4 0 1 0 0 96 24th Mustang Sampling Racing 1 0 0 0 0 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP 4 1 1 0 1 51 3rd Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup - Pro-Am Cup SunEnergy1 Racing 1 1 0 0 1 16.5 5th 24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9 Landgraf Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 9th Intercontinental GT Challenge Mercedes-AMG Team SunEnergy1 Racing 2 0 0 0 2 73 1st Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP 1 0 0 0 1 Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing 1 1 1 0 1 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship - DPi JDC-Miller MotorSports 10 0 0 0 0 230 11th Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup Mercedes-AMG Team Strakka Racing 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC 24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9 Pro GetSpeed Performance 1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF 2020 IMSA SportsCar Championship - DPi JDC-Miller MotorSports 9 0 0 0 0 226 9th 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship - DPi JDC-Miller MotorSports 10 1 0 1 2 2933 6th 2022 IMSA SportsCar Championship - DPi JDC-Miller MotorSports 10 0 0 0 3 2979 6th FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2 ARC Bratislava 1 0 0 0 0 0 27th 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 21st GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup AKKodis ASP Team 2 0 0 1 0 0 NC Intercontinental GT Challenge US RaceTronics 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship - Hypercar Floyd Vanwall Racing Team 4 0 0 0 0 0 21st 24 Hours of Le Mans - Hypercar 1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF European Le Mans Series - LMP2 Pro-Am Algarve Pro Racing 6 0 0 0 0 38 9th 2024 IndyCar Series Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing 1 0 0 0 0 12 38th European Le Mans Series - LMP2 Pro-Am Team Virage 3 0 0 0 0 22 12th 24 Hours of Le Mans - Hypercar Cadillac Racing Reserve driver2024–25 Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2 RD Limited 6 1 0 1 4 88 2nd 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTP Proton Competition 2 0 0 0 0 776 23rd Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian 1 0 0 0 0 European Le Mans Series - LMP2 CLX – Pure Rxcing 5 0 0 0 0 15 13th 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 14th2025–26 Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2 RD Limited 6 0 0 2 2 52 5th 2026 IMSA SportsCar Championship - LMP2 Tower Motorsports 5 0 0 0 1 1464 18thEuropean Le Mans Series - LMP2Algarve Pro Racing 4 0 0 0 1 29* 12th*European Le Mans Series - LMP2 Pro-AmDKR Engineering 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 Pro-Am RD Limited 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 8th † As Vautier was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)