Neel Jani

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Neel Jani
Neel Jani 2007 (crop).JPG
Jani in 2007
Nationality Swiss
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Debut season 2011 (ILMC)
Current team Porsche
Previous series
1998–2000
2000
2001–2002
2003–2004
20052006
20052009
2007
2010
Karting
Formula Lista Junior
Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup
Formula Renault V6 Eurocup
GP2 Series
A1 Grand Prix
Champ Car World Series
Le Mans Series
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years 2009
Teams Speedy Racing Team Sebah, Rebellion Racing
Best finish 4th (2012)
Class wins 0

Neel Jani (born 8 December 1983)[1] is a Swiss professional racing driver of Indian Gujarati origin.[2][3] He has achieved his greatest success driving for A1 Team Switzerland in A1 Grand Prix, helping them win the 2007-2008 title and finishing runner-up in 2005-06 and 2008-09. He has been also a GP2 Series race-winner and Formula One tester. Jani competed in sports car racing with Rebellion Racing's LMP1 Lola-Toyota. It was confirmed in July 2013 that Jani is to join Porsche's 2014 LMP1 effort driving in the WEC and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.[4] His father is from India and his mother is German-speaking Swiss.[1]

First steps

Born in Rorschach, Jani started his career in karting in 1998 where he stayed for two years before moving up to Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup in 2001. In the same year, he also raced some races in Italian Formula Renault. He stayed in both for 2002, again only racing part of the Italian Formula Renault season. In 2003, he moved to Formula Renault V6 Eurocup, driving for the Jenzer team. In that year, he finished second by only four points in the championship with Jenzer Motorsport. In 2004, he again raced in the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup but changed team, running with the French team DAMS, stating in the Swiss press, "This year, it is win or nothing."[citation needed] He finished fourth in the championship that year, while his old team, Jenzer Motorsport finished second with their rookie driver Ryan Sharp.

GP2

In 2005, he raced in the GP2 Series with Racing Engineering alongside Borja Garcia who he generally outperformed. He won two races, at the Hungaroring and at Monza. He also managed to lead most of the Nürburgring race in a clearly slower car with some effective defensive driving.

In 2006, he replaced injured Nicolas Lapierre in the Silverstone and Magny-Cours races for English race team Arden. By doing this, he also secured his place in the record books, being the only person to ever drive in both GP2 and F1 on the same day.

A1 Grand Prix

He then raced in the new A1 Grand Prix series, representing his home nation with A1 Team Switzerland. In the inaugural season of A1GP, the team earned the silver medal for second place, with Jani consistently finishing on the podium, including a win at the Dubai Autodrome during the Sprint Race of the 2005-06 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, United Arab Emirates.

After missing the first two rounds of the 2006-07 season in favour Sébastien Buemi, Jani would win another Sprint Race, during the 2006-07 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Malaysia.

Jani drove all the races for Switzerland in the 2007-08 season, taking the championship with four wins and 168 points. The team finished second in the 2008-09 season, again with Jani ever-present.

Formula One

He was linked to a reserve F1 seat with the Sauber team. In 2004 however, he moved back to GP2 the following year. In December 2005 he was confirmed as Scuderia Toro Rosso's third driver, alongside race drivers Scott Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi, a role he held throughout the 2006 season, before departing to pursue a Champ Car career. For the 2008 F1 season, Neel was linked with the test driving role at Red Bull Racing. As his father is from India, Jani was linked to the proposed Indian-backed buyout of BMW Sauber[5] but this did not succeed. In early 2010 he tested for Force India and was rumoured to be involved with the team in 2010. However Force India signed Mercedes driver Paul di Resta as their test and reserve driver.

Champ Car

For 2007, Jani drove for the PKV Racing team in the Champ Car World Series.[6] He ended the series in ninth place with a total of 231 points. After choosing to focus on the 2007-2008 A1GP season rather than stay in ChampCar for 2008,[7] the series was absorbed by the IRL.

Sports car racing

In 2010, Jani and Nicolas Prost raced a Lola-Judd LMP1 at the Le Mans Series and 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing 2nd at Algarve and 5th at Silverstone. Also, he raced the second half of the FIA GT1 season for Matech in a Ford GT, finishing 7th in a championship race and 8th in other two.

Career results

Complete A1 Grand Prix 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 DC Points
2005–06 Switzerland GBR
SPR

9
GBR
FEA

Ret
GER
SPR

2
GER
FEA

5
POR
SPR

3
POR
FEA

2
AUS
SPR

6
AUS
FEA

3
MYS
SPR

2
MYS
FEA

2
UAE
SPR

1
UAE
FEA

Ret
RSA
SPR

3
RSA
FEA

2
IDN
SPR

5
IDN
FEA

5
MEX
SPR

2
MEX
FEA

3
USA
SPR
USA
FEA
CHN
SPR
CHN
FEA
2nd 121
2006–07 NED
SPR
NED
FEA
CZE
SPR
CZE
FEA
BEI
SPR

9
BEI
FEA

Ret
MYS
SPR

1
MYS
FEA

4
IDN
SPR

10
IDN
FEA

8
NZL
SPR
NZL
FEA
AUS
SPR
AUS
FEA
RSA
SPR

5
RSA
FEA

4
MEX
SPR
MEX
FEA
SHA
SPR
SHA
FEA
GBR
SPR
GBR
SPR
8th 50
2007–08 NED
SPR

5
NED
FEA

3
CZE
SPR

8
CZE
FEA

3
MYS
SPR

1
MYS
FEA

1
ZHU
SPR

2
ZHU
FEA

6
NZL
SPR

Ret
NZL
FEA

13
AUS
SPR

10
AUS
FEA

2
RSA
SPR

3
RSA
FEA

1
MEX
SPR

3
MEX
FEA

19
SHA
SPR

1
SHA
FEA

5
GBR
SPR

4
GBR
SPR

3
1st 168
2008–09 NED
SPR

5
NED
FEA

Ret
CHN
SPR

4
CHN
FEA

4
MYS
SPR

1
MYS
FEA

Ret
NZL
SPR

2
NZL
FEA

1
RSA
SPR

3
RSA
FEA

1
POR
SPR

15
POR
FEA

1
GBR
SPR

8
GBR
SPR

3
2nd 95

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 Racing Engineering SMR
FEA

6
SMR
SPR

15
ESP
FEA

4
ESP
SPR

5
MON
FEA

Ret
EUR
FEA

6
EUR
SPR

13
FRA
FEA

5
FRA
SPR

4
GBR
FEA

5
GBR
SPR

6
GER
FEA

Ret
GER
SPR

22
HUN
FEA

1
HUN
SPR

4
TUR
FEA

Ret
TUR
SPR

Ret
ITA
FEA

7
ITA
SPR

1
BEL
FEA

16
BEL
SPR

18
BHR
FEA

16
BHR
SPR

13
7th 48
2006 Arden International VAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
SMR
FEA
SMR
SPR
EUR
FEA
EUR
SPR
ESP
FEA
ESP
SPR
MON
FEA
GBR
FEA

NC
GBR
SPR

Ret
FRA
FEA

11
FRA
SPR

7
GER
FEA
GER
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
TUR
FEA
TUR
SPR
ITA
FEA
ITA
SPR
25th 0

Formula One

(key)

Yr Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 WDC Points
2006 Scuderia Toro Rosso Toro Rosso STR1 Cosworth V10 BHR
TD
MAL
TD
AUS
TD
SMR
TD
EUR
TD
ESP
TD
MON
TD
GBR
TD
CAN
TD
USA
TD
FRA
TD
GER
TD
HUN
TD
TUR
TD
ITA
TD
CHN
TD
JPN
TD
BRA
TD
- -

American Open Wheel

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest race lap)

Champ Car

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Rank Points
2007 PKV Racing United States
LVG
Ret
United States
LBH
7
United States
HOU
Ret
United States
POR
12
United States
CLE
3
Canada
MTT
6
Canada
TOR
2
Canada
EDM
9
United States
SJO
2
United States
ROA
10
Belgium
ZOL
8
Netherlands
ASN
5
Australia
SRF
8
Mexico
MXC
9
9th 231

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2009 Switzerland Speedy Racing Team
United Kingdom Sebah Automotive
Italy Andrea Belicchi
France Nicolas Prost
Lola B08/60-Aston Martin LMP1 342 14th 12th
2010 Switzerland Rebellion Racing France Nicolas Prost
United States Marco Andretti
Lola B10/60-Rebellion LMP1 175 DNF DNF
2011 Switzerland Rebellion Racing France Nicolas Prost
Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen
Lola B10/60-Toyota LMP1 338 6th 6th
2012 Switzerland Rebellion Racing France Nicolas Prost
Germany Nick Heidfeld
Lola B12/60-Toyota LMP1 367 4th 4th
2013 Switzerland Rebellion Racing France Nicolas Prost
Germany Nick Heidfeld
Lola B12/60-Toyota LMP1 275 39th 7th
2014 Germany Porsche Team Germany Marc Lieb
France Romain Dumas
Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1-H 348 11th 4th
2015 Germany Porsche Team Germany Marc Lieb
France Romain Dumas
Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1 391 5th 5th

Complete GT1 World Championship results

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pos Points
2010 Matech Competition Ford ABU
QR
ABU
CR
SIL
QR
SIL
CR
BRN
QR
BRN
CR
PRI
QR
PRI
CR
SPA
QR

20
SPA
CR

14
NÜR
QR

8
NÜR
CR

16
ALG
QR

20
ALG
CR

12
NAV
QR

4
NAV
CR

7
INT
QR

7
INT
CR

8
SAN
QR

17
SAN
CR

8
33rd 14

Complete Superleague Formula results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Operator 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Position Points
2010 Olympiacos CFP GU-Racing International SIL ASS MAG JAR NÜR ZOL BRH ADR POR ORD BEI NAV 4th 653
14 1 X
2011 Belgium – RSC Anderlecht Azerti Motorsport HOL BEL 5th 125
4 9 7 2 9 3

† Non Championship round

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rank Points
2012 Rebellion Racing LMP1 Lola B12/60 Toyota RV8KLM 3.4 L V8 SEB
17
SPA
5
LMS
3
SIL
6
SÃO
4
BHR
4
FUJ
4
SHA
Ret
4th 86.5
2013 Rebellion Racing LMP1 Lola B12/60 Toyota RV8KLM 3.4 L V8 SIL
5
SPA
5
LMS
25
SÃO CTA FUJ SHA BHR 16th 21
2014 Porsche Team LMP1 Porsche 919 Hybrid Porsche 2.0 L V4
(Hybrid)
SIL
Ret
SPA
4
LMS
5
COA
4
FUJ
4
SHA
3
BHR
2
SÃO
1
3rd 117
2015 Porsche Team LMP1 Porsche 919 Hybrid Porsche 2.0 L V4
(Hybrid)
SIL
2
SPA
2
LMS
5
NÜR
2
COA
12
FUJ
2
SHA
2
BHR
1
3rd 138.5

References

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  5. Neel Jani part of consortium bidding for BMW Sauber
  6. Neel Jani joins PKV Racing
  7. Jani Sees Better Future in A1GP, RACER Magazine & Autosport.com via SpeedTV.com, January 23, 2008

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Inaugural
Formula Lista Junior
Champion

2000
Succeeded by
Ken Allemann
Preceded by A1 Grand Prix
Champion
(Team Switzerland)

2007–08
Succeeded by
Adam Carroll
(Team Ireland)