Matheus Tobias Leist (born September 8, 1998) is a Brazilian racing driver who last raced for JDC-Miller MotorSports in the

WeatherTech 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 ...

Career

Karting

Leist began karting in 2009 at the age of eleven. In 2013, he finished as runner-up in the

Petrobras Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., better known by and Trade name, trading as the portmanteau Petrobras (), is a Brazilian state-owned enterprise, majority state-owned multinational corporation in the petroleum industry headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. ...

Karting Championship.

Lower formulas

In 2014, Leist graduated to single-seaters, racing in the B class of the Brazilian F3 Championship, finishing runner-up to Vitor Baptista. The following year, Leist switched to MSA Formula in Britain with

Double R Racing Double R Racing is a motor racing team, which last raced in the 2023 F4 British Championship. The team was formed in November 2004 as Räikkönen Robertson Racing by then McLaren Formula One driver and world champion with Scuderia Ferrari, Fer ...

. He scored two victories and finished fifth in the standings.

British F3

In 2016, Leist reunited with

and graduated to BRDC British F3. Scoring four wins, two poles and six fastest laps, Leist took the title at the final round after a close fight with Ricky Collard throughout the season.

GP3 Series

In November 2016, it was announced Leist would partake in the GP3 post-season test at Yas Marina with

ART Grand Prix ART Grand Prix is a French motor racing team that competes in formula single-seaters in Europe. In 2012, it competed in the GP2 Series and GP3 Series as Lotus GP to reflect sponsorship from British sports and racing car manufacturer Lotus. The ...

Arden International Arden International, competing as Arden Motorsport, is a multiple formula racing team created and run by Christian Horner and Garry Horner. It currently competes in the GB4 Championship, and formerly ran in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, Formula ...

and Trident Racing.

Indy Lights

In February 2017, Leist signed with Carlin for the

Indy Lights Indy NXT (pronounced "Indy Next"), previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as INDY NXT by Firestone for sponsorship reasons. Indy NXT is the highest step on the Roa ...

Championship. During his first season, Leist picked up his first podium at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis before taking pole and winning the Freedom 100 less than two weeks later, having led from start to finish.

IndyCar Series

In November 2017, A.J. Foyt Enterprises announced that the team hired Leist to drive the No. 4 Chevrolet in 2018. Leist partners veteran Brazilian driver

Tony Kanaan Antoine Rizkallah "Tony" Kanaan Filho (born 31 December 1974), nicknamed "TK", is a Brazilian racing driver who is the team principal of Arrow McLaren. He is best known for racing in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) from 1998 to 2002, an ...

and made his IndyCar debut at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 11, 2018. Leist completed two full seasons of IndyCar with Foyt, with a best finish of fourth at the 2019 IndyCar Grand Prix. He was replaced at Foyt with Charlie Kimball for 2020.

IMSA

Leist joined JDC–Miller MotorSports for the Endurance Cup rounds of the 2020 IMSA SportsCar Championship plus the Laguna Seca round. Following a best finish of fourth in the season-ending

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race for Sports car racing, sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in S ...

, JDC-Miller downsized to one car for the 2021 season leaving Leist without a drive.

Personal life

Leist's younger brother Arthur is also a racing driver, currently competing in

Stock Car Brasil The BRB Stock Car Pro Series, formerly known as Stock Car Brasil, is a touring car racing, touring car auto racing series based in Brazil organized by Vicar. It is considered the major Brazilian and South American motorsports series. Starting in ...

Racing record