Mathias Beche

Mathias Beche Aussel (born 28 June 1986 in Geneva) is a Swiss-French professional racing driver who currently competes in the European Le Mans Series for Richard Mille by TDS. He is a former ELMS champion in the LMP2 class, as well as an LMP1-L champion and overall race winner in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Rebellion Racing.

Career

After starting in karting, Beche began racing in single-seaters in Asia in 2007 when he contested the Asian Formula Renault Challenge, finishing fifth overall with one win. The following year he took part in Formula Asia 2.0 where he ended up runner-up to Felix Rosenqvist.

2009 saw Beche switch to sportscar racing, finishing third in Formula Le Mans. In 2010 he contested four Le Mans Series rounds; three in the FLM class and one in GT1 in a Ford GT. He then entered the last two rounds of the FIA GT3 European Championship, also in a Ford.

In 2011 Beche competed in the full Le Mans Series season in an LMP2 Oreca 03 for TDS Racing with Pierre Thiriet and Jody Firth. The trio won the rounds at Spa and Estoril and finished fourth in the final drivers' standings. Beche also drove in the FIA GT1 World Championship round at Zolder in a Ford.

For 2012, LMP2 became the top class of the renamed European Le Mans Series. Partnering Thiriet at TDS, Beche won the opening round of the season at Paul Ricard and the season finale at Road Atlanta, securing his first major championship victory. For that year's 24 Hours of Le Mans they were joined by Christophe Tinseau, finishing second in class.

Beche remained in the ELMS with Thiriet by TDS in 2013, though he would also progress to drive in the FIA WEC's top class, piloting a Lola B12/60 for Rebellion Racing. Despite missing the opening ELMS round, the Swiss driver took two victories alongside Thiriet, leading the team towards second place in the standings. In the WEC, Beche scored two podium finishes on his way to fifth in the championship.

Rebellion's LMP1 programme would become the permanent home for Beche during the next two seasons, which started with an LMP1-L class win (for non-hybrid powered teams) at the 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Nico Prost and Nick Heidfeld and the eventual LMP1-L title in 2014. The team withdrew from the opening two races of the 2015 season to finalise work on their new Rebellion R-One, but once they entered, Beche and Prost took two privateer class wins to become champions. At the end of the year, Beche was part of a shootout for a reserve seat at Toyota Gazoo Racing, though that seat eventually went to Kamui Kobayashi.

In 2016, Beche returned to the ELMS with Thiriet by TDS, driving an Oreca 05 alongside Pierre Thiriet and Ryō Hirakawa. He took pole for the opening race at Silverstone, though an early crash by Thiriet forced the team out of the race. The trio bounced back by winning a weather-affected event at Imola, before Thiriet/TDS won again at the Red Bull Ring. Beche then took a convincing pole at Le Castellet, paving the way for the outfit's third successive victory. Another podium finish at Spa was not enough to win the title, as Beche and the team suffered electrical troubles in the final race, which was won by eventual champions G-Drive Racing.

Beche returned to Rebellion on a full-time basis in 2017, competing in the LMP2 class of the WEC. His #13 entry was hampered by disqualifications at Le Mans, where a miraculous overall podium (and second place in class) was taken away by the team's "unnecessary modification of approved bodywork", and Fuji, which saw a heated battle between Beche and Jean-Éric Vergne come to a head before Rebellion were excluded for a drive time violation. Despite taking three podiums from the final four races, the Swiss driver and his teammates finished fourth in the teams' standings, whereas the sister #31 entry won the LMP2 title.

For the 2018–19 WEC "Super Season", Beche and Rebellion returned to LMP1 with the R13, with the Swiss driver partnering Thomas Laurent and Gustavo Menezes. The team started off with two third places, including a class podium at Le Mans, before a disqualification for both Toyotas earned Beche and his teammates victory at Silverstone. However, Beche moved to the sister car for the round at Sebring and left the team with two races to go, meaning that he finished sixth in the championship — three places behind Menezes and Laurent.

After a scattergun racing programme in 2019 and 2020, where the Swiss made his Super GT debut for arto Ping An Team Thailand, Beche returned to the rostrum in 2021, winning the final race of the Le Mans Cup as well as the LMP2 Pro-Am class at the 8 Hours of Portimão with Realteam Racing.

Beche would make the LMP2 Pro-Am category his home in 2022, driving for TDS Racing x Vaillante alongside rookie Tijmen van der Helm and amateur driver Philippe Cimadomo in the ELMS. He took two overall pole positions during the year, though this was only enough for fourth in the Pro-Am standings. The team also finished fourth at the Le Mans 24 Hours, where a pre-race exclusion for Cimadomo for insufficient driving standards forced the team up to compete as a Pro entrant with new driver Nyck de Vries. Beche switched to Nielsen Racing for the 2023 ELMS season, where he, Ben Hanley and Rodrigo Sales finished fourth in the Pro-Am classification with three class podiums. At Le Mans, the trio retired early when Sales crashed at Dunlop corner.

Going into 2024, Beche teamed up with LMP2 rookie Grégoire Saucy and the returning Sales at Richard Mille by TDS in the ELMS.

Racing record

Complete Asian Formula Renault Challenge results

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

Complete Formula Asia 2.0 results

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

Complete Formula Le Mans Cup results

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

Complete European Le Mans Series results

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

^* Season still in progress.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

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

^† Non World Endurance Championship entries are ineligible to score points.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

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

^* Season still in progress.

Complete Super GT results

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

Complete Asian Le Mans Series results

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

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Beche, Mathias
1986 births
Living people
Racing drivers from Geneva
Swiss racing drivers
French racing drivers
FIA GT1 World Championship drivers
European Le Mans Series drivers
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
American Le Mans Series drivers
FIA World Endurance Championship drivers
Swiss-French people
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers
24 Hours of Spa drivers
Asian Le Mans Series drivers
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers
24H Series drivers
Formula V6 Asia drivers
Asian Formula Renault Challenge drivers
Morand Racing drivers
TDS Racing drivers
JDC Motorsports drivers
Rebellion Racing drivers
Manor Motorsport drivers
Phoenix Racing drivers
Asia Racing Team drivers
Alan Docking Racing drivers
Le Mans Cup drivers
Craft-Bamboo Racing drivers
Prema Powerteam drivers
Champ Motorsport drivers
Proton Competition drivers
21st-century French sportsmen