Olivier Pla

Olivier Pla
Pla at the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans driver parade
Nationality	French
Born	22 October 1981 Toulouse (France)
Le Mans Series (LMP2) career
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 3 Euro Series French Formula Three Formula Campus
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years	2008–2015
Teams	OAK Racing, Quifel ASM Team
Best finish	8th (2013)

Olivier Pla (born 22 October 1981) is a professional racing driver from France.

Career

French Formula Campus & Formula Three

Born in Toulouse, Pla started his career 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 3 Euro Series 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 3 Euro Series	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
2013	World Endurance Championship - LMP2	OAK Racing	8	0	1	0	5	132.5	2nd
	24 Hours of Le Mans — LMP2		1	0	1	0	1	N/A	2nd

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	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2008	Quifel ASM Team	Miguel Amaral Guy Smith	Lola B05/40-AER	LMP2	325	20th	4th
2009	Quifel ASM Team	Miguel Amaral Guy Smith	Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S/2	LMP2	46	DNF	DNF
2010	Quifel ASM Team	Miguel Amaral Warren Hughes	Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S/2	LMP2	318	20th	7th
2011	Quifel ASM Team	Miguel Amaral Warren Hughes	Zytek 09SC	LMP1	48	DNF	DNF
2012	OAK Racing	Jacques Nicolet Matthieu Lahaye	Morgan LMP2-Judd	LMP2	139	DNF	DNF
2013	OAK Racing	David Heinemeier Hansson Alex Brundle	Morgan LMP2-Nissan	LMP2	328	8th	2nd
2014	G-Drive Racing	Roman Rusinov Julien Canal	Morgan LMP2-Nissan	LMP2	120	DNF	DNF
2015	Nissan Motorsports	Jann Mardenborough Max Chilton	Nissan GT-R LM Nismo	LMP1	234	DNF	DNF

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year	Entrant	Class	Car	Engine	Tyres	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Rank	Points
2013	OAK Racing	LMP2	Morgan LMP2	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	D	SIL 2	SPA 2	LMS 2	SÃO 6	COA 6	FUJ 3	SHA 2	BHR 2	2nd	132.5

United SportsCar Championship results

(key)(Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

Year	Team	Make	Engine	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Rank	Points
2014	OAK Racing	Morgan LMP2	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	P	DAY 8	SIR 4	LBH 4	LS	DET 3	KAN	S6H	MSP 1	IMS	ELK ovr:42 cls:11	VIR	COA	PET	14th	172
2015	Krohn Racing	Ligier JS P2	Judd HK 3.6 L V8	P	DAY ovr:49 cls:13	SIR 8	LBH	LS	DET	S6H	MSP	LRP	ELK	VIR	COA	PET		20th	45
2016	Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian	Ligier JS P2	Honda HR35TT 3.5 L V6 Turbo	P	DAY ovr:50 cls:11	SIR 7	LBH	LS	DET	S6H	MSP	LRP	ELK	VIR	COA	PET		9th	46

References

1. "2001 French Formula 3 Championship". speedsport-magazine.com (Speedsport Magazine). Retrieved 2010-01-26.
2. "2002 French Formula 3 Championship". speedsport-magazine.com (Speedsport Magazine). Retrieved 2010-01-26.
3. "2003 Formula 3 Euro Series". speedsport-magazine.com (Speedsport Magazine). Retrieved 2010-01-26.
4. "2004 Formula Nissan V6 World Series". speedsport-magazine.com (Speedsport Magazine). Retrieved 2010-01-26.

External links

• Official website
• Olivier Pla career summary at DriverDB.com