Gunnar Jeannette

Last updated
Gunnar Jeannette
Gunnar jeannette le mans test 2012.jpg
Jeannette in 2012
NationalityFlag of the United States.svg  American
Born (1982-05-05) May 5, 1982 (age 42)
West Palm Beach, Florida
IMSA WeatherTech Championship career
Current teamWeatherTech Racing
Racing licence FIA Gold Driver.png FIA Gold (until 2021)
FIA Silver Driver.png FIA Silver (2022–) [1]
Previous series
American Le Mans Series
Rolex Sports Car Series
World Endurance Championship
European LeMans Series
Championship titles
2005
2011
2013
Grand Am Cup Team Champion
ALMS LMPC Driver Champion
ELMS GTE Team Champion

Gunnar Patrick Jeannette [2] (born May 5, 1982 in West Palm Beach, Florida) is an American racing driver who serves as the Team Principal for AO Racing. He won the 2011 American Le Mans Series season LMPC Drivers' Championship. [3]

Contents

Early racing career

Jeannette started racing, driving in Historic Sports Car racing at the age of 16. He made the jump to the professional ranks less than one year later.

American Le Mans Series

Jeannette made his American Le Mans Series debut in 2000, scoring six top-10 finishes in seven starts in both the Prototype and GT classes. In 2002, he made his LMP900 class debut in a Panoz before moving to the factory supported JML Team Panoz squad in 2003, where he scored his best-ever overall finish of third (2nd in class) at Mosport.

For 2004, Jeannette moved back to GT2, piloting the Panoz Esperante GTLM for what turned out to be a three-year stint with two different teams. His best result was a fourth at Mosport and Petit Le Mans with co-driver Tommy Milner in 2006.

After making a handful of starts in 2008 for Corsa Motorsports, Jeannette returned to full-time ALMS competition in 2010 in the new LMPC class. Driving for his father's Green Earth Team Gunnar outfit, Jeannette became the first LMPC pole winner in series history. He went on to win four races with Elton Julian and finish 2nd in the Drivers Championship that year.

Jeannette joined CORE autosport for 2011 and continued his streak of success in LMPC, taking two wins, three pole positions and three fastest race laps en route to the LMPC Drivers Championship. He shared the honor with season-long co-driver Ricardo Gonzalez and Genoa Racing's Eric Lux, who ended up on equal points to the CORE autosport duo.

24 Hours of Le Mans

At the age of 18, Jeannette became the youngest-ever driver to finish the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in his race debut in 2000. He's since competed an additional seven times, with a best finish of fifth overall in 2003.

Grand-Am

Jeannette made his debut in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series GTU class at the 2000 Rolex 24 at Daytona. He won his first-ever Rolex Series race one year later in the GTS class and has since made sporadic starts in the series.

In 2005, Jeannette ran his first full season in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, finishing sixth in GS Points Standings with two victories to his credit driving for Multimatic Motorsports. He returned to full-time competition in 2010 with co-driver Frankie Montecalvo, finishing 10th in the GS class championship.

For 2012, Jeannette rejoined Multimatic Motorsports for its new Street Tuner-class Ford Focus ST-R development program.

FIA World Endurance Championship

Jeannette made his FIA World Endurance Championship debut in the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on May 5, 2012, co-driving the No. 58 Luxury Racing Ferrari F458 Italia with Frankie Montecalvo and Pierre Ehret to a fifth-place finish in the GTE-Am class. [4] The trio did not finish the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans after suffering an accident during the overnight hours.

24H Series

Jeannette made his 24H Series return, at the first round of 2021 in the Dubai 24 Hour at the Dubai Autodrome for Simpson Motorsport in an Audi RS3 LMS TCR. He had previously raced in 2013 in a Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 for Ram Racing.

Personal life

Jeannette is an avid extreme sporting enthusiast. Since 2004, he's racked up more than 1,500 skydives and 200 BASE jumps from all corners of the globe. Jeannette has also participated in world record skydives and has been featured on MTV, People Magazine, USA Today and several other local and national publications. [5]

24 Hours of Le Mans results

YearTeamCo-DriversCarClassLapsPos.Class
Pos.
2000 Flag of Germany.svg Manthey Racing
Flag of the United States.svg Gunnar Racing
Flag of the United States.svg Michael Brockman
Flag of the United States.svg Mike Lauer
Porsche 911 GT3-R GT26127th6th
2001 Flag of Germany.svg Freisinger Motorsport Flag of France.svg Romain Dumas
Flag of France.svg Philippe Haezebrouck
Porsche 911 GT3-RS GT2827th2nd
2002 Flag of the United States.svg Panoz Motor Sports Flag of the United States.svg Bill Auberlen
Flag of the United States.svg David Donohue
Panoz LMP01 Evo-Élan LMP900230DNFDNF
2003 Flag of the United States.svg JML Team Panoz Flag of Monaco.svg Olivier Beretta
Flag of Italy.svg Max Papis
Panoz LMP01 Evo-Élan LMP9003605th3rd
2004 Flag of France.svg Epsilon Sport Flag of France.svg Renaud Derlot
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Gavin Pickering
Courage C65-JPXLMP2124DNFDNF
2006 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Multimatic Motorsport Team Panoz Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Scott Maxwell
Flag of the United States.svg Tommy Milner
Panoz Esperante GT-LMGT234DNFDNF
2008 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Team Bruichladdich Radical Flag of France.svg Marc Rostan
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ben Devlin
Radical SR9-AER LMP229731st6th
2012 Flag of France.svg Luxury Racing Flag of Germany.svg Pierre Ehret
Flag of the United States.svg Frankie Montecalvo
Ferrari 458 Italia GTCGTE
Am
146DNFDNF
2023 Flag of Germany.svg Project 1AO Flag of Italy.svg Matteo Cairoli
Flag of the United States.svg P. J. Hyett
Porsche 911 RSR-19 GTE
Am
30935th7th
Sources: [6] [7]

Complete European Le Mans Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

YearTeamClassMakeEngine12345RankPoints
2013 Ram Racing LMGTE Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 Ferrari F142 4.5L V8 SIL
3
IMO
3
RBR
3
HUN
6
LEC
5
5th63
2020 JMW MotorsportLMGTE Ferrari 488 GTE Evo Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8 LEC
SPA
9
LEC
7
MNZ
6
ALG
7
11th26
Source: [6]

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

YearTeamClassMakeEngine123456789101112RankPointsRef
2014 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports PC Oreca FLM09 Chevrolet 6.2L LS3 V8 DAY
4
SEB
9
LGA
4
KAN
4
WGL
3
IMS
5
ELK
7
VIR
8
COT
4
PET
3
4th255 [8]
2016 Alex Job Racing GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R Porsche 4.0L Flat-6 DAY
13
SEB
5
LGA
DET
WGL
5†
MOS
LIM
ELK
13
VIR
AUS
PET
23rd66 [9]
2017 Riley Motorsports - WeatherTech Racing GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 V8 DAY
21
SEB
21
LBH
1
COA
6
DET
12
WGL
4
MOS
11
LIM
10
11th254 [10]
Porsche 911 GT3 R Porsche 4.0L Flat-6 ELK
9
VIR
6
LGA
6
PET
17
2018 Scuderia Corsa GTD Ferrari 488 GT3 Ferrari F154CB 3.9 Turbo V8 DAY
10
SEB
2
MDO
DET
WGL
7
MOS
LIM
3
ELK
VIR
4
LGA
8
PET
1
4th295 [11]
2023 AO Racing Team GTD Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6 DAY
14
SEB
16
LBH
MON
11
WGL
14
MOS
LIM
ELK
VIR
IMS PET
8
27th995 [12]
Source: [6]

Jeannette did not complete sufficient laps in order to score full points.


References

  1. Goodwin, Graham (10 November 2021). "Updated 2022 Provisional FIA Driver Rankings Published". Dailysportscar. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  2. "Gunnar P Jeannette from Sandy, UT". Radaris.com. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  3. ACO. "Interview: Gunnar Jeannette & Frankie Montecalvo". Archived from the original on 21 June 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  4. ACO. "Interview: Gunnar Jeannette & Frankie Montecalvo". Archived from the original on 21 June 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  5. "CORE autosport Driver Bio". Archived from the original on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 "Gunner Jeannette Results". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  7. "Gunnar Jeannette". Automobile Club de l'Ouest . Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  8. "Gunnar Jeannette – 2014 Tudor United SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR DIgital Media, LLC. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  9. "Gunnar Jeannette – 2016 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  10. "Gunnar Jeannette – 2017 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  11. "Gunnar Jeannette – 2018 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  12. "Gunnar Jeannette – 2023 Weathertech SportsCar Championship Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 3 October 2024.