Olivier Pla

Olivier Pla Nationality French Born October 22, 1981 (1981-10-22) (age 30) Toulouse (France) 2011 Le Mans Series (LMP2) Debut season 2008 Current team Quifel ASM Team Starts 10 Wins 2 Poles 3 Fastest laps 5 Best finish 1st in 2009 Previous series 2007 2005–07 2004 2003 2001–02 2000 Porsche Cup Germany GP2 Series World Series by Nissan Formula Three Euroseries French Formula Three Formula Campus 24 Hours of Le Mans career Participating years 2008 - Teams Quifel ASM Team Best finish 20th (2008, 2010) Class wins 0

Olivier Pla (born October 22, 1981 in Toulouse) is a race car driver from France.

Career

French Formula Campus & Formula Three

Pla's career started in 2000 in French Formula Campus before moving on to French Formula Three Championship in 2001 with the Saulnier Racing team. He finished eighth in the series standings, taking nine points-scoring positions in eleven races, including a podium in the penultimate race of the season at Magny-Cours.^[1]

In 2002, Pla stayed in the series but switched to the ASM team. He finished third, behind Renaud Derlot and Tristan Gommendy, taking nine podium places from fourteen races, including wins at Croix-en-Ternois and Bugatti Circuit.^[2]

In 2003, Pla joined the Formula Three Euroseries with ASM. He finished third, behind Christian Klien and Ryan Briscoe, taking nine podium places from twenty races.^[3]

World Series by Nissan

2004 saw Pla leave the Euroseries, joining the World Series by Nissan. He contested two rounds with RC Motorsport before joining Carlin Motorsport to replace Michael Keohane. He finished ninth, taking thirteen points-scoring positions in eighteen races, including a win at Estoril.^[4]

GP2 Series

In 2005 he raced in the inaugural GP2 Series season for David Price Racing. In the early part of the season he stalled on the grid several times - some blamed the GP2 cars for the high number of stallings, while others noticed that the same drivers seemed to be affected regularly. In another race he selected reverse instead of first gear and went backwards into his team-mate's car. However, he took advantage of the reverse grid system to finish eighth in Race One and thus take pole for Race Two twice (at Hockenheim and Silverstone), winning both those races to finish 11th in the championship. He remained with DPR for 2006, but was dropped mid-season after running out of sponsorship, after a difficult period which saw him score no points and injure his hand in Monaco.

In 2007, he competed in the German Porsche Carrera Cup. However, he was recalled to DPR in the latter stages of the GP2 season to replace the injured Christian Bakkerud. In 2008, he moved to sports car racing, driving a Lola Le Mans Prototype in the Le Mans Series and 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2000	Formula Renault Campus France	Formula Campus	?	?	?	?	?	391	3rd
2001	French Formula Three Championship	Saulnier Racing	11	0	0	0	1	74	8th
2002	French Formula Three Championship	ASM	14	2	3	1	9	159	3rd
	FIA European Formula Three Cup		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	7th
	Korea Super Prix		1	1	1	0	1	N/A	1st
	Masters of Formula 3		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	2nd
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
2003	Formula Three Euroseries	ASM	20	0	3	0	8	74	3rd
2004	World Series by Nissan	RC Motorsport	18	1	0	0	1	56	9th
		Carlin Motorsport
2005	GP2 Series	David Price Racing	22	2	0	1	2	20	13th
2006	GP2 Series	DPR Direxiv	9	0	0	0	0	0	27th
2007	Porsche Carrera Cup Germany	MRS-Team	9	0	1	0	0	34	15th
	GP2 Series	David Price Racing	2	0	0	0	0	0	35th
2008	Le Mans Series — LMP2	Quifel ASM Team	5	0	0	0	1	12	8th
	24 Hours of Le Mans — LMP2		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	4th
	American Le Mans Series	Team LNT	1	0	0	0	0	20	14th
2009	Le Mans Series — LMP2	Quifel ASM Team	5	2	3	5	3	33	1st
	24 Hours of Le Mans — LMP2		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC

Complete GP2 Series results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	DC	Points
2005	David Price Racing	SMR FEA 9	SMR SPR 5	ESP FEA Ret	ESP SPR Ret	MON FEA 9	EUR FEA Ret	EUR SPR 8	FRA FEA Ret	FRA SPR 9	GBR FEA 8	GBR SPR 1	GER FEA 8	GER SPR 1	HUN FEA 7	HUN SPR Ret	TUR FEA 9	TUR SPR 17	ITA FEA Ret	ITA SPR Ret	BEL FEA 11	BEL SPR 10	BHR FEA Ret	BHR SPR DNS	13th	20
2006	DPR Direxiv	VAL FEA 10	VAL SPR 15	SMR FEA Ret	SMR SPR Ret	EUR FEA 15	EUR SPR Ret	ESP FEA DSQ	ESP SPR 20	MON FEA Ret	GBR FEA	GBR SPR	FRA FEA 16	FRA SPR 9	GER FEA	GER SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	TUR FEA	TUR SPR	ITA FEA	ITA SPR			27th	0
2007	David Price Racing	BHR FEA	BHR SPR	ESP FEA	ESP SPR	MON FEA	FRA FEA	FRA SPR	GBR FEA	GBR SPR	EUR FEA	EUR SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	TUR FEA	TUR SPR	ITA FEA Ret	ITA SPR 13	BEL FEA	BEL SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR			35th	0

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2008	LMP2	40	D	Lola B05/40 AER P07 2.0L Turbo I4	Quifel ASM Team	Miguel Amaral Guy Smith	325	20th	4th
2009	LMP2	40	D	Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S/2 Zytek ZG348 3.4L V8	Quifel ASM Team	Miguel Amaral Guy Smith	46	DNF	DNF
2010	LMP2	40	D	Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S/2 Zytek ZG348 3.4L V8	Quifel ASM Team	Miguel Amaral Warren Hughes	318	20th	7th
2011	LMP1	20	D	Zytek 09SC Zytek ZG348 3.4L V8	Quifel ASM Team	Miguel Amaral Warren Hughes	48	DNF	DNF

References

1. ^ "2001 French Formula 3 Championship". speedsport-magazine.com (Speedsport Magazine). http://www.speedsport-magazine.com/motorsport/formula-level3/french-formula-3/2001/results.html. Retrieved 2010-01-26. 
2. ^ "2002 French Formula 3 Championship". speedsport-magazine.com (Speedsport Magazine). http://www.speedsport-magazine.com/motorsport/formula-level3/french-formula-3/2002/results.html. Retrieved 2010-01-26. 
3. ^ "2003 Formula 3 Euro Series". speedsport-magazine.com (Speedsport Magazine). http://www.speedsport-magazine.com/motorsport/formula-level3/formula-3-euroseries/2003/results.html. Retrieved 2010-01-26. 
4. ^ "2004 Formula Nissan V6 World Series". speedsport-magazine.com (Speedsport Magazine). http://www.speedsport-magazine.com/motorsport/formula-level2/formula-renault-worldseries/2004/results.html. Retrieved 2010-01-26. 

External links

• Official site
• Olivier Pla career statistics at Driver Database

Sporting positions
Preceded by Jonathan Cochet	Korea Super Prix Winner 2002	Succeeded by Richard Antinucci
Preceded by Jos Verstappen	Le Mans Series — LMP2 Champion 2009 With Miguel Amaral	Succeeded by Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Pla, Olivier
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 22, 1981
Place of birth	Toulouse (France)
Date of death
Place of death