Nicolas Minassian

Nicolas Minassian

Nationality	French
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years	1994, 2000, 2002–
Teams	Roland Bassaler, Team Oreca, Pescarolo Sport, Creation Autosportif, Peugeot
Best finish	2nd (2008)
Class wins	0

Nicolas Minassian (born 28 February 1973 in Marseille) is a French race driver of Armenian descent.

After spending finishing 2nd place in the 1993 Formula Renault Eurocup, he graduated to the French Formula Three Championship 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 UK that yielded a 4th place in 1996 and 2nd place the following year.

He graduated to Formula 3000 with West Competition for 1998, but failed to impress whilst his teammate Nick Heidfeld 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. He signed for the illustrious Super Nova Racing team in 2000 where he came a strong 2nd in the championship.

Unable to secure a Formula One drive, Minassian drove in 2001 for Target Chip Ganassi Racing with F3000 title adversary Bruno Junqueira in CART and competed in the Indianapolis 500 before being released by the team. In 2002 Minassian won the ASCAR oval racing series for RML (Ray Mallock Ltd) before returning to endurance racing including the 24 Hours of Le Mans for such teams as Creation Autosportif and Pescarolo Sport.

For 2007 he is a factory driver for the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP diesel Le Mans prototype in the European Le Mans Series.

For 2008 he will be driving the Peugeot 908 diesel Le Mans prototype in the European Le Mans Series. As well as competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Peugeot 908.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 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	DC	Points
1998	West Competition	OSC Ret	IML 19	CAT Ret	SIL 7	MON 9	PAU 7	A1 5	HOC Ret	HUN 4	SPA 19	PER 19	NUR	13th	5
1999	Kid Jensen Racing	IMO 13	MON Ret	CAT 8	MAG 14	SIL 1	A1R 3	HOC Ret	HUN 5	SPA 3	NUR Ret			6th	20
2000	D2 Playlife Super Nova	IMO 1	SIL 11	CAT 2	NUR Ret	MON 5	MAG 1	A1R 1	HOC 7	HUN 4	SPA 3			2nd	45
2003	Brand Motorsport	IMO 11	CAT	A1R	MON	NUR	MAG	SIL	HOC	HUN	MNZ			NC	0

American Open-Wheel

(key)

CART

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points
2001	Chip Ganassi Racing	MTY 11	LBH 8	TXS NH	NZR 18	MOT Ret	MIL Ret	DET Ret	POR	CLE	TOR	MIS	CHI	MDO	ROA	VAN	LAU	ROC	HOU	LS	SRF	FON	27th	7

Indy 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2001	G-Force	Oldsmobile	22	29	Ganassi

Complete American Le Mans Series Results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points
2004	Creation Autosportif	LMP1	DBA 03S	Zytek ZG348 3.4L V8	D	SEB	MID	LIM	SON	POR	MOS	AME	PET ovr:Ret cls:Ret	MON ovr:Ret cls:Ret			NC	0
2006	Creation Autosportif	LMP1	Creation CA06/H	Judd GV5 S2 5.0L V10	M	SEB	TEX	MID	LIM	UTA	POR	AME	MOS	PET ovr:4 cls:4	MON ovr:3 cls:3		19th	16
2008	Peugeot Sport Total	LMP1	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Peugeot HDi 5.5 L V12 (Diesel)	M	SEB ovr:11 cls:4	STP	LNB	UTA	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	DET	PET ovr:2 cls:2	MON	9th	46
2009	Team Peugeot Total	LMP1	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Peugeot HDI 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	M	SEB ovr:5 cls:4	STP	LNB	UTA	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	PET ovr:2 cls:2	MON		15th	46
2010	Team Peugeot Total	LMP1	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	Peugeot HDI 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	M	SEB ovr:2 cls:2	LNB	MON	UTA	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	PET			NC	0

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1994	LMP1 /C90	8	G	Alpa LM Ford Cosworth DFL 3.5L V8	Roland Bassaler	Patrick Bourdais Olivier Couvreur	64	DNF	DNF
2000	LMP900	5	M	Reynard 2KQ-LM Chrysler (Mopar) 6.0L V8	Mopar Team Oreca	Yannick Dalmas Jean-Philippe Belloc	1	DNF	DNF
2002	LMP900	14	M	Dallara SP1 Judd GV4 4.0L V10	PlayStation Team Oreca	Stéphane Sarrazin Franck Montagny	359	6th	5th
2003	LMP900	18	M	Courage C60 Peugeot 3.2L Turbo V6	Pescarolo Sport	Eric Hélary Soheil Ayari	352	9th	7th
2004	LMP1	17	M	Pescarolo C60 Judd GV5 5.0L V10	Pescarolo Sport	Sébastien Bourdais Emmanuel Collard	282	DNF	DNF
2005	LMP1	7	M	DBA 03S Judd GV4 4.0L V10	Creation Autosportif Ltd.	Jamie Campbell-Walter Andy Wallace	322	14th	7th
2006	LMP1	16	M	Pescarolo C60 Hybrid Judd GV5 S2 5.0L V10	Pescarolo Sport	Emmanuel Collard Érik Comas	352	5th	4th
2007	LMP1	7	M	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP Peugeot HDi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	Team Peugeot Total	Jacques Villeneuve Marc Gené	338	DNF	DNF
2008	LMP1	7	M	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP Peugeot HDi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	Team Peugeot Total	Marc Gené Jacques Villeneuve	381	2nd	2nd
2009	LMP1	7	M	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP Peugeot HDi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	Team Peugeot Total	Pedro Lamy Christian Klien	369	6th	6th
2010	LMP1	2	M	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP Peugeot HDi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	Team Peugeot Total	Stéphane Sarrazin Franck Montagny	264	DNF	DNF
2011	LMP1	8	M	Peugeot 908 Peugeot HDi 3.7L Turbo V8 (Diesel)	Peugeot Sport Total	Stéphane Sarrazin Franck Montagny	353	3rd	3rd

Sporting achievements
Preceded by John Mickel	ASCAR Champion 2002	Succeeded by Ben Collins

External links

• Official Website

Persondata
Name	Minassian, Nicolas
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	28 February 1973
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death

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