24 Hours, one driver, one car (20) : Karim Ojjeh and Zytek
Back

24 Hours, one driver, one car (20) : Karim Ojjeh and Zytek

Karim Ojjeh has built the better part of his career at the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving a Zytek with the highlight coming in 2011 with an LM P2 class victory.

24 Heures, un pilote, une voiture (20) : Karim Ojjeh et Zytek

 

Photo :

 

Karim Ojjeh's Le Mans experience is closely linked to the LM P2 class. Following his first two 24 Hours participations driving Courages, he drove a Zytek for the first time at Le Mans in 2007, racing for the Barazi Epsilon team. In 2008, he rejoined French Gentleman driver Claude-Yves Gosselin, former teammate at Paul Belmondo Courage in 2005 and 2006, to take part in the 24 Hours first under the name Trading Performance in 2008, then GAC Racing Team in 2009. Since 2008, the car has run the No. 41 referring to the Swiss telephone prefix. The Alpine country is Karim Ojjeh's birthplace, but he kept his Saudi nationality.

In 2010, he found himself looking for another partner to run the Zytek, owned by his mother Renate. "When Claude-Yves Gosselin told me he no longer wanted to race in LM P2, I went in search of a team that had both financial support and drivers," remembers Karim Ojjeh. After speaking with RML, I heard about Tim Greaves through Marc Rostan or Pierre Bruneau, I think. I called him in November of 209, and from there, things went very quickly. The contract was signed in January 2010."  Known at the time as Team Bruichladdich, the team was renamed Greaves Motorsport in 2011. Although he had not seen the chequered flag at the 24 Hours of Le Mans since 2005, Karim Ojjeh finished fifth in LM P2 (10th overall) in 2010. But the best was to come: in 2011, alongside Tom Kimber-Smith and Olivier Lombard, he took the class win, finishing eighth overall.

After a triumphant season, which also saw the Greaves Motorsport Zytek take the Le Mans Series LM P2 title, with three class wins in five races, Karim Ojjeh retired from endurance racing. Today, Greaves Motorsport is still racing a Zytek : the British squad have just finished third in LM P2 at the 6 Hours of Bahrain to end the FIA World Endurance Championship season, with drivers Bjorn Wirdheim, Wolfgang Reip and Jon Lancaster.

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translated by Rainier Ehrhardt / ACO

Photo : LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, JUNE 10, 2010, FREE PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING. The 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours began the collaboration between Karim Ojjeh, driving, and Tim Greaves' team, with the LM P2 victory awaiting in 2011.

Major Partner

PREMIUM partners

OFFICIAL partners

All partners