Benjamin Leuenberger
Leuenberger in 2009
Nationality	Swiss
Born	(1982-06-11) 11 June 1982 (age 44) Solothurn, Switzerland
Categorisation	FIA Gold (until 2012) FIA Silver (2013–2019)[1]
Championship titles
1999	Formula BMW ADAC – Junior

Benjamin Leuenberger (born 11 June 1982) is a Swiss businessman and former racing driver.

Leuenberger notably competed for Panoz's factory LMP900 team in the American Le Mans Series in 2003. He later dabbled between the LMP1, LMP2, GT1 and GT2 classes of the Le Mans Series until 2009, winning on his final start for Speedy Racing Team Sebah and scoring a podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Business ventures

Alongside his racing career, Leuenberger has been working at A. Aubry AG since 2004, a plastic fabrication company in which he serves as CEO since 2022.^[2]

Career

Leuenberger began his single-seater career in 1999, spending two years in Formula BMW ADAC, winning the Junior title on his debut season and finishing eighth in the overall standings in 2000.^[3] After a year in Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup with JD Motorsport, Leuenberger switched to sportscars for 2002, competing for Carsport Racing in Porsche Carrera Cup Germany.^[4]

In 2003, Leuenberger joined JML Team Panoz to compete in select rounds of the American Le Mans Series in the LMP900 class.^[5] In his four starts, Leuenberger took a best result of fourth at both Road America and Petit Le Mans to take 13th in points,^[6][7] in a year in which he also made his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut with the same team alongside David Saelens and Scott Maxwell.^[8] The following year, Leuenberger joined Taurus Sports Racing to drive a Lola B2K/10 in select rounds of the LMP1 class of the Le Mans Endurance Series,^[9] as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.^[10] During 2004, Leuenberger also joined Doran Lista Racing for two races of the Rolex Sports Car Series in the DP class.^[11]

With no racing plans lined up for 2005, Leuenberger joined Creation Autosportif to be a test driver for their LMP1 programme, before being called on the eve of the Le Mans Endurance Series season to drive Paul Belmondo Racing's Chrysler Viper GTS-R in GT1.^[12] Competing in three of the five races alongside Pierre Perret, Leuenberger scored a best result of sixth at the Nürburgring.^[13] Continuing in GT1 machinery for 2006, Leuenberger joined Lamborghini-fielding Münnich Motorsport to compete part-time in the FIA GT Championship and the Le Mans Series.^[14][15] Between the two campaigns, Leuenberger most notably finished eighth at Dijon in the former, scoring his only points finish in FIA GT.^[16] Switching to ADAC GT Masters in 2007,^[17] Leuenberger split the season between Lamborghini-aligned Waiblinger Motorsport Club and Porsche-aligned Carsport Racing, taking a best result of seventh once with each team.^[18]

The following year, Leuenberger switched to Speedy Racing Team to drive a Spyker C8 in the GT2 class of the Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.^[19][20] In his only season in GT2 machinery, Leuenberger took a best result of fourth at both Monza and Spa en route to a ninth-place points finish.^[21] Stepping up to LMP2 with Speedy in 2009,^[22] Leuenberger finished second at Spa and won the Silverstone finale with Jonny Kane and Xavier Pompidou to secure fourth in the standings.^[23] He also finished second at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the pair,^[24] and deputised for Jaroslav Janiš in the LMS opener for Spyker's GT2 squad.^[25]

Over the following two seasons, Leuenberger featured for Panoz in their GT2-spec Abruzzi in the American Le Mans Series.^[26][27] After the car never left the tent at the 2010 Petit Le Mans,^[28] Leuenberger's 12 Hours of Sebring only lasted 19 laps due to mechanical issues, in what was his last start in the series.^[29] Leuenberger also made his 24 Hours of Nürburgring debut for Rikli Motorsport in 2010, before joining Lamborghini-affiliated DKR Engineering for the Chinese rounds of the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship.^[30] Two years later, Leuenberger made a one-off return to racing, competing in the V3 class of the 24 Hours of Nürburgring for Toyota Swiss Racing Team.^[31]

Karting record

Racing record

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Pos."},"2":{"wt":"Class Position"}},"i":0}}]}' id="mwA2k"/>Class Pos.
2003	JML Team Panoz	David Saelens Scott Maxwell	Panoz LMP01 Evo	LMP900	233	DNF	DNF
2004	Taurus Sports Racing	Christian Vann Didier André	Lola B2K/10-Judd	LMP1	300	20th	8th
2008	Speedy Racing Team	Andrea Chiesa Iradj Alexander	Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2-R	GT2	72	DNF	DNF
2009	Speedy Racing Team Sebah Automotive	Jonny Kane Xavier Pompidou	Lola B08/80-Judd	LMP2	343	12th	2nd

References

External links

• Benjamin Leuenberger career summary at DriverDB.com
• Official website