Michael Stuart Wainwright (born 25 July 1973) is a British racing driver and oil businessman who competes in the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship, abbreviated as WEC, is a world championship for automobile endurance racing organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The se ...

for GR Racing. He made his professional career at oil trading company

Trafigura Trafigura Group Pte. Ltd. is a Singaporean-based multinational commodities company, with major regional hubs in Geneva, Houston, Montevideo and Mumbai, founded in 1993. The company trades in base metals and energy. It is the world's largest pri ...

from 1996 to 2023. Being the protégé of the company's founder Claude Dauphin, he ultimately served as COO of the group based in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. He is listed among the 300 wealthiest individuals of Switzerland, with an estimated fortune of 300-400 millions swiss francs. In 2022, following a very profitable year on the oil market following the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, he acquired a property in Geneva for 49.5 million swiss francs. In December 2023, Wainwright was charged by the Swiss Federal Criminal Court and the

US Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equ ...

over allegations of bribing public officials in

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, together with two other individuals. In January 2025, he was sentenced to 32 months in prison on charges of bribery, with 20 months being suspended.

Racing record

Career summary

^† As Wainwright was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete European Le Mans Series results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

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

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wainwright, Michael 1973 births Living people 24H Series drivers GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers Le Mans Cup drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers European Le Mans Series drivers American Le Mans Series drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers English racing drivers Sportspeople from Worcester, England