Nicolas Minassian (

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

: ; born 28 February 1973) is a French professional racing driver of

descent. After finishing 2nd place in the 1993

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to auto racing, motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before mov ...

Eurocup,

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

-born Minassian graduated to the

French Formula Three Championship The French Formula Three Championship was a motor racing series for Formula Three cars held in France between 1964 and 2002. The series was merged with the German Formula Three Championship in 2003 to form the Formula 3 Euro Series The Formula 3 ...

where he finished runner-up to countryman Laurent Redon at his second attempt in 1995. He then moved to the British series for another two years in a successful partnership with Promatecme and

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

UK that yielded a 4th place in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and 2nd place the following year. He graduated to

Formula 3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines. Formula 3000 championship ...

with

West Competition West Competition (known as mySAP.com in 2000) was a team in the FIA Formula 3000 Championship, run by the McLaren Formula One team as part of their driver development programme. Named after McLaren's then sponsor, West, the team was active fo ...

for

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, but failed to impress whilst his teammate

Nick Heidfeld Nick Lars Heidfeld (; born 10 May 1977) is a German former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Born and raised in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Heidfeld began competitive kart racing aged 11. He progressed to Formu ...

mounted a strong challenge for overall honours. The following year, he moved to Kid Jensen Racing where he enjoyed more success, including an emphatic lights-to-flag triumph at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. The village is about south-southwest of Towcester and northeast of Brackley, both accessed via the A43 road, A43 main ...

. He signed for the illustrious

Super Nova Racing Super Nova Racing was a British racing team that has competed in International Formula 3000, Formula 3000/GP2 Series, GP2 and the A1 Grand Prix series. History Super Nova first entered racing in 1991. Super Nova was a new incarnation of the p ...

team in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

where he came a strong 2nd in the championship. Unable to secure a

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

drive, Minassian drove in 2001 for Target Chip Ganassi Racing with F3000 title adversary

Bruno Junqueira Bruno Junqueira (born November 4, 1976) is a Brazilian race car driver who most recently competed in the IRL IndyCar Series. He is a former Formula 3000 champion and three-time runner-up in the Champ Car World Series. Racing career Early ca ...

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

and competed in the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

before being released by the team. In 2002 Minassian won the

ASCAR Racing Series ASCAR (Anglo-American Stock Car Racing), was a stock car racing series that raced at circuits around the United Kingdom and Europe from 2001 until 2008. The series went through many guises during its seven year period and was known as the ASCAR M ...

oval racing series for

RML Group Ray Mallock Ltd., also known as RML Group, is a motorsports and high performance engineering company, based in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom. Early history Ray Mallock began building racing cars, alongside his brother Richar ...

before returning to endurance racing including the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

for such teams as

Creation Autosportif Creation Autosportif, Ltd. was a sports car racing team based in Oxford, England. It was founded in 2003 by Ian Bickerton and Mike Jankowski and has raced in the FIA GT Championship, FFSA GT Championship, American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, ...

and

Pescarolo Sport Pescarolo Sport was a motorsport team based in Le Mans, France, and founded in February 2000 by French racing driver Henri Pescarolo and his friend and partner, French publisher François Granet. They raced in the Le Mans Series and the 24 ...

. In 2007 he became a factory driver for the

Peugeot 908 HDi FAP The Peugeot 908 HDi FAP is a sports prototype racing car built by the French automobile manufacturer Peugeot to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, starting in 2007 and eventually winning in 2009. This effort, in development sinc ...

diesel

Le Mans prototype A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is a type of sports prototype race car used in various races and championships, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series, and Asian Le M ...

in the European

Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the ...

. In 2008 he drove the Peugeot 908 diesel

in the European

. He competed in the

with the Peugeot 908.

Outside racing

In 2019 Nicolas Minassian founded a management company together with his former team-mate

Jamie Campbell-Walter Jamie Oliver Campbell-Walter is a British professional racing driver. He was born in Oban, Scotland on 16 December 1972. He won the FIA GT Championship in 2000 and took a World Endurance Championship title in 2013 as an Aston Martin Racing ...

and María Catarineu, Bullet Sports Management, which represents drivers including FIA WEC and

ELMS The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

driver Ferdinand Habsburg,

and

driver

Franco Colapinto Franco Alejandro Colapinto (; born 27 May 2003) is an Argentine racing driver who competes in Formula One for Alpine F1 Team, Alpine. Born and raised in Pilar, Buenos Aires, Colapinto began competitive kart racing aged nine, winning several reg ...

Formula 2 Formula Two (F2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009 to 2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name returned aga ...

driver

Oliver Goethe Oliver Goethe (, ; born 14 October 2004) is a German and Danish racing driver, who competes in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for MP Motorsport as part of the Red Bull Junior Team. A member of the Red Bull Junior Team since 2023, he previously c ...

GT World Challenge Europe GT World Challenge Europe (known as the Blancpain GT Series between 2014 and 2019) is a sports car racing series organised by SRO Motorsports Group. It features grand tourer racing cars modified from production road cars complying with the FIA's ...

driver

Benjamin Goethe Benjamin "Benji" Goethe (born 2 April 2003) is a British-born Danish-German racing driver. He is the current champion of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup in the Silver Cup category. Early career Karting Having been introduced to ...

, and

drivers

Rui Andrade Rui Andrade may refer to: * Rui Andrade (footballer) (born 1977), Portuguese footballer * Rui Andrade (racing driver) (born 1999), Angolan-Portuguese racing driver {{hndis, Andrade, Rui ...

and

Diego Menchaca Diego Menchaca González-Quintanilla (born 20 October 1994 in Mexico City) is a Mexican racing driver. Career Karting Menchaca began karting in 2006 at the age of eight, competing in championships across Mexico and the United States. Lower F ...

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete British Formula 3 results

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

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

American Open-Wheel

( key)

CART

IRL IndyCar Series

Indy 500 results

Complete V8 Supercar results

+ Not Eligible for points ;Bathurst 1000 results

Complete American Le Mans Series results

Complete Le Mans Series results

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

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

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minassian, Nicolas 1973 births Living people Racing drivers from Marseille French racing drivers Champ Car drivers IndyCar Series drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers French Formula Three Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers French people of Armenian descent International Formula 3000 drivers American Le Mans Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Supercars Championship drivers TC 2000 Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers ASCAR drivers 24H Series drivers Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Peugeot Sport drivers Sébastien Loeb Racing drivers SMP Racing drivers West Competition drivers Oreca drivers Pescarolo Sport drivers AF Corse drivers Super Nova Racing drivers DragonSpeed drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers OAK Racing drivers G-Drive Racing drivers Ferrari Competizioni GT drivers IDEC Sport drivers