Yann Clairay

Yann Clairay 2009 at Le Mans

Yann Clairay (born December 2, 1983 in Laval ) is a French racing driver .

Career

In formula racing

In 2002 Clairay began his career in French Formula Renault , in which he was active for a total of three seasons. Clairay achieved his best overall placement in 2004 when he was runner-up with two wins. Clairay also took part in some races of the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup, in which he also started the next season. In 2005 Clairay was third overall with three wins. Clairay drove for SG Formula in the 2004 and 2005 seasons . 2006 two races in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup to the start. In 2007 Clairay switched to Signature Plus in the Formula 3 Euro Series and finished twelfth in the overall standings. The following season Clairay switched back to SG Formula. Clairay crossed the finish line twice in second and was ninth overall.

In the sports car

Parallel to his involvement in Formula Renault, he made contacts with former Formula 1 racing driver Paul Belmondo , for whose team he competed in the 2003 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps . Clairay, Belmondo, Emmanuel Clérico and Pierre-Yves Corthals in the Chrysler Viper GTS-R finished the round for the FIA GT Championship in sixth place overall and on the podium in the GT class. After a year break, Clairay drove another Viper for Paul Belomondo Racing in 2005. The 1000 km race at Silverstone in the Le Mans Endurance Series was less successful. Clairay finished the run, but with a technical problem only in the lower midfield. Nevertheless, he got the opportunity to drive a Le Mans prototype at the following championship run at the Nürburgring . He, Belmondo and Didier André finished the race on the podium of the LMP2. At the last championship run in Istanbul, Clairay had to vacate the cockpit in favor of local madator Cemil Cipa. Nevertheless, he received a contract with Paul Belmondo for the 2006 season of the series now called Le Mans Series. At first the year started promisingly. When the run in Istanbul was shortened due to fuel, the trio Andre, Claire and Belmondo finished fourth in the LMP2 category. The car then retired from the Spa-Francorchamps 1000 km race . At the 24-hour race of Le Mans, which is not part of the championship, Clairay burst his tires when approaching the Indenapolis curve, spun and hit the track barrier, shortly afterwards got under air and circulated along the guardrail. He then got out of the vehicle, which was beginning to burn, on his own. In addition to the event, the team got into financial difficulties, so that the uninjured Clairay could not drive at the Nürburgring. In the two races that followed, Clairay's vehicle was not registered at all and at the end of the year the team completely stopped racing in the series.

In 2007 and 2008, he therefore concentrated again on formula racing and did not return to the Le Mans Series until 2009. Clairay got a contract with team owner and driver Luc Alphand . With whom he and Patrice Goueslard were to share the team’s Chevrolet Corvette C6.R in parts. By the end of the year, the team had finished two of the five races as winners in the GT1 category and secured both the team and driver titles in the GT1. He also competed at Le Mans for the second time with Julien Jousse and Xavier Maassen and finished the race behind the Corvette works team in second place in the GT1 category.

statistics

Career stations

• 2002: French Formula Renault (18th place)
• 2003: French Formula Renault (21st place)
• 2004: French Formula Renault (2nd place), Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup (10th place)
• 2005: Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup (3rd place)
• 2006: Le Mans Series LMP2 (16th place)
• 2007: Formula 3 Euro Series (12th place)
• 2008 : Formula 3 Euro Series (9th place)
• 2009: Le Mans Series GT1 (champions)

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2006	Paul Belmondo Racing	Courage C65	Didier André	Jean-Bernard Bouvet	failure	accident
2009	Luc Alphand Aventures	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	Julien Jousse	Xavier Maassen	Rank 16

Web links

• Yann Clairay at Racing Sports Cars