Stéphane Ortelli
Stéphane Ortelli (born March 30, 1970 in Hyères , France ) is a Monaco racing car driver .
Career
Stéphane Ortelli began his racing career with karting and switched to French Formula Renault in 1989 . In 1991 he received a cockpit in the French Formula 3 championship , in which he initially secured the title of class B and in the following season took eleventh place in the overall standings. A year later he drove in the Peugeot 905 Spider Cup . In 1994 Ortelli switched to the French Touring Car Championship, in which he was ninth with a Peugeot 405 and eighth the following year with a BMW 320i .
In 1995 Ortelli came into contact with sports car racing when he was allowed to take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a Porsche 911 GT2 for Larbre Compétition . In the following season he finally switched to this motor sport discipline and competed for various teams in the BPR Global GT Series . With Konrad Motorsport he celebrated a class win at Brands Hatch in the Porsche 911 GT2 . In 1997, Ortelli took part in several races of the new FIA GT championship for Roock Racing in such a vehicle . He achieved class wins on the A1-Ring and in Laguna Seca and thus achieved sixth place in the drivers' championship in the GT2 class. He was also allowed to take the wheel of his team's Porsche 911 GT1 in two FIA GT races , with which he achieved second place overall. He also took part in the Le Mans 24-hour race with this vehicle, which his team was unable to finish due to an accident. In 1998 Ortelli continued to compete for Roock Racing in the FIA GT Championship. The season was less successful for him, however, a second place in the GT2 class and a third place in the GT1 class remained his best results. However, the high point of his career so far was the Le Mans 24-hour race in the same year. As a Porsche works driver, he achieved overall victory in the Porsche 911 GT1 with Laurent Aïello and Allan McNish .
In 1999 Ortelli competed for the first time in the Daytona 24-hour race , in which he finished sixth in the GT2 class. Later in the season he took part in the FIA GT Championship for Roock Racing in the Porsche 911 GT2. With the aging car, however, it became more and more difficult to get good results, and Ortelli only scored two championship points. In 2000 he was able to record another success at Le Mans when he and the same team-mates as two years ago achieved second place in the new Audi R8 from Joest Racing . In 2001 Ortelli became a driver for the Freisinger Motorsport team , where he had already competed in individual races last season. The team now field a new Porsche 996 GT3 R in the smaller N-GT class. Ortelli finished four times on the podium in his class and finished seventh in the drivers' championship. When the Freisinger Porsches began to dominate the smaller class of the FIA GT Championship in 2002, Ortelli was able to achieve class victory in seven out of ten races, including the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps with Emmanuel Collard and Romain Dumas . At the end of the season, Ortelli won the championship with a clear point lead. At the same time, he also won the Porsche Supercup , in which he has consistently achieved top positions in previous years.
The 2003 season was also successful for Ortelli. Still driving for Freisinger Motorsport, he achieved three class wins in the FIA GT championship. The highlight of the season was the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race. Together with his teammates Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas, Ortelli was able to achieve overall victory in the Porsche of the N-GT class and even outperform the more powerful GT cars. This was a unique event in the history of the FIA GT Championship. Ortelli successfully defended his title and he shared the first championship place in the N-GT class with his team-mate Marc Lieb. In 2004 Ortelli again achieved three class wins in the FIA GT Championship, including again the one at the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race with Emmanuel Collard and Romain Dumas. In the fight for the driver's title, however, Ortelli had to admit defeat this time to his teammates in the second Freising Porsche, Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr . Ortelli also drove for his team in the newly founded Le Mans Endurance Series , in which he was able to achieve class victory in two of four races. In the drivers' standings he had to admit defeat here too. For the first time he also competed for Freisinger in Le Mans, where he achieved second place in his class. Despite several second places in the final accounts, the season was not completely without success, as he was awarded the Porsche Cup for the best private driver.
Since Freisinger Motorsport withdrew from motorsport after the end of the 2004 season, Ortelli did not have a permanent cockpit in 2005. He contested the Sebring 12-hour race for Aston Martin Racing in the debut of the new Aston Martin DBR9 . With his teammates Darren Turner and David Brabham , he achieved class victory and fourth place in the overall standings. He later moved to ORECA in the Le Mans Endurance Series, in which he and Allan McNish won one victory at Silverstone and two second places at the Nürburgring and in Istanbul in an Audi R8. With this, Ortelli achieved fourth place in the LMP1 class of drivers. In the ORECA Audi he drove with his teammates Franck Montagny and Jean-Marc Gounon at Le Mans, where he just missed the podium with fourth place. For the 2006 season, ORECA replaced the Le Mans prototype Audi R8 with the Saleen S7R of the GT1 group. With this vehicle, Ortelli and his team-mate Soheil Ayari achieved two class wins in the Le Mans Series and so he finished seventh in the drivers' championship at the end of the season. On the other hand, he contested the 24 Hours of Le Mans behind the wheel of an Aston Martin Racing DBR9 from Aston Martin Racing. Ortelli finished the race with Pedro Lamy and Stéphane Sarrazin in tenth place in the overall standings.
In 2007 Ortelli won four of six races in the Le Mans Series in the ORECA-Saleen with team-mate Soheil Ayari. They thus shared the GT1 class drivers' title. Ortelli and Ayari also competed in the Le Mans 24-hour race, in which the team was additionally reinforced by Nicolas Lapierre . Ortelli finished the race with his teammates in 16th place overall. After having only participated in individual races in this series in previous years, Ortelli also contested a full season in the FIA GT Championship in the same year. There he won three races for AF Corse with Gianmaria Bruni in a Ferrari F430 in the GT2 category. In the battle for the title, however, Ortelli was narrowly defeated and he finally took third place in the drivers' championship in the GT2 class.
In 2008, ORECA switched to a Le Mans prototype in the LMP1 category with the Courage-ORECA LC70 . Ortelli had a serious accident in this vehicle at the second round of the Le Mans Series, the 1000-kilometer race in Monza . When braking onto the chicane after the start-finish straight, his vehicle suffered a fracture of the rear wing and spun, which caused it to undergo air, and took off and flew over the track several times and only came to a stop when it hit the guardrail. Ortelli also only flew a few centimeters past Allan McNish in the Audi R10 TDI , who was driving in front of him . As if by a miracle, Ortelli only broke his ankle in the accident. Due to an injury, Ortelli had to take a break from the Le Mans 24-hour race and was only able to intervene again in the penultimate race of the Le Mans Series.
Ortelli started the 2009 season with a third place together with Bruno Senna at the Le Mans Series in Barcelona. After a retirement at the Spa-Francorchamps race, Ortelli entered the Le Mans 24-hour race with a new ORECA 01 . However, he and his teammates Bruno Senna and Tiago Monteiro were unable to finish the race due to engine damage. In the Le Mans Series, Ortelli did not participate in any more races this season. He had another racing assignment in the Porsche 997 GT3 RSR from Trackspeed Racing at the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps, in which all vehicles of this type were ultimately disqualified.
successes
- 1998: Winner of the Le Mans 24-hour race
- 2002: Champion of the Porsche Supercup
- 2002: Champion of the FIA GT Championship (Group N GT)
- 2002: Class win at the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race (Group N-GT)
- 2003: Champion of the FIA GT Championship (Group N GT)
- 2003: Winner of the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race
- 2004: Class win at the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race (Group N-GT)
- 2004: Winner of the Porsche Cup
- 2005: Class victory at the 12-hour race in Sebring (Group GT1)
- 2007: Champion of the Le Mans Series (Group GT1)
statistics
Le Mans results
Sebring results
| year | team | vehicle | Teammate | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 |
 Freising Motorsport
|
Porsche 911 GT3-RS |
Wolfgang Kaufmann
|
Rank 17 | ||
| 2005 |
 Aston Martin Racing
|
Aston Martin DBR9 |
Darren Turner
|
 David Brabham
|
4th place and class win | |
| 2011 |
 Luxury racing
|
Ferrari 458 Italia |
 Jean-Denis Delétraz
|
 Frédéric Makowiecki
|
Rank 28 |
Web links
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ortelli, Stéphane |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Monegasque automobile racing driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 30, 1970 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hyeres , France |