Charles Milesi - Misplaced Pages

French racing driver (born 2001)

Charles Milesi
Milesi in 2023
Nationality	French
Born	(2001-03-04) 4 March 2001 (age 23) Chaumont-la-Ville, France
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Debut season	2019–20
Current team	Alpine Endurance Team
Racing licence	FIA Gold
Car number	36
Former teams	SO24-HAS by Graff, Team WRT
Starts	28
Wins	3
Podiums	6
Poles	1
Fastest laps	5
Best finish	1st (LMP2) in 2021
Previous series
2020–2024 2020 2019 2017-2018 2017	European Le Mans Series Super Formula Japanese Formula 3 Championship Formula Renault Eurocup French F4 Championship

Charles Milesi (born 4 March 2001) is a French racing driver who currently competes in the LMP2 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship for Alpine. He is the son of Patrice Milesi who is also a racing driver.

Career

Early career

After success in karting, Milesi's driving career began in 2017 in Formula Renault. For two years, he competed in various series of this racing formula. In 2018, he reached seventh place in the Formula Renault Eurocup.

In 2019, at the end of the 8 Hours of Bahrain, a WEC rookie test was organized on the same circuit. Milesi thus had the opportunity to make his first laps in the hands of a prototype for the Dutch team Racing Team Nederland.

In 2020, following the withdrawal of Alexandre Cougnaud and a positive test at the end of the 2020 Castellet 240 with Graff Racing, Milesi had the opportunity to join this same team in order to participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the hands of an Oreca 07 in the LMP2 category with Vincent Capillaire and James Allen as co-drivers. Unfortunately, in their first participation, Milesi could not see the checkered flag after going off the track in the last hour of the race when Allen was at the wheel. With this first experience in the hands of an LMP2 and following the withdrawal of the Mexican driver Memo Rojas, Milesi had the opportunity to join the American team DragonSpeed in order to participate in the 4 Hours of Monza. This race went in the best possible way because the car finished in 3rd position. Unfortunately, a problem with the height of the non-compliant diffuser, the car was disqualified at the end of the race. Milesi then finished his year by taking part in the final of the Michelin Le Mans Cup with the CD Sport team in the hands of a Ligier JS P320.

Milesi also competed in the Super Formula Championship in the back end of 2020, racing for Buzz Racing with B-MAX.

Endurance racing

2021

In 2021, Milesi started his season participating in the 24 Hours of Daytona with the Dutch team Racing Team Nederland in the hands of an Oreca 07 in the LMP2 category with Dutch drivers Giedo van der Garde, Frits van Eerd [nl] and Job van Uitert as teammates. That year, the Frenchman's main campaign would lie in the FIA World Endurance Championship, where he partnered Robin Frijns and Ferdinand Habsburg at newcomers Team WRT. Having started the season slowly with tenth and fourth at Spa-Francorchamps and Portimão respectively, the team would bounce back with a maiden podium at the 6 Hours of Monza, where, despite being categorized as a silver driver amongst a slew of platinum and gold drivers, Milesi scored pole position in the LMP2 class. Encouraged by the result, the outfit performed strongly during the 24 Hours of Le Mans, leading into Sunday afternoon before encountering issues that meant that the sister WRT car looked to be on course to win the race. However, due to an car failure, the No. 41 WRT stopped on the final lap, meaning that Milesi, Frijns and Habsburg were able to take the lead and win the race, finishing less than a second ahead of the Nr. 28 Jota car. Another win followed at the 6 Hours of Bahrain, which put the team into the championship lead, before Milesi and his teammates were able to claim the LMP2 world title one week later at the 8 Hours of Bahrain.

Near the end of the year, Milesi also competed in two rounds of the European Le Mans Series with Cool Racing, where he scored back-to-back pole positions.

2022

The following year, Milesi would remain in the WEC, moving to the Richard Mille Racing Team to drive alongside Lilou Wadoux and Sébastien Ogier. With those two drivers being rookies to the LMP2 car, the team struggled, ending up ninth in the teams' standings, having finished ninth at Le Mans.

2023

Milesi remained with the outfit that had rebranded to the Alpine Elf Team for the 2023 season, this time being partnered by Julien Canal and Matthieu Vaxivière. The Frenchman showed his pace by setting the fastest race lap on four occasions, as the lineup overcame a slow start to the season by finishing fourth at Le Mans and second in Monza, leaving the team seventh in the LMP2 standings.

Alpine factory driver

2024

Ahead of the 2024 WEC season it was announced that Milesi would become part of Alpine's lineup in the Hypercar category, driving an Alpine A424 alongside Paul-Loup Chatin and 2021 teammate Habsburg.

In addition, the French driver took part in the ELMS, partnering LMP2 rookie Arthur Leclerc and silver driver Manuel Maldonado. After a pair of points finishes to start off the year, Milesi took pole in a competitive qualifying session at Imola.

Racing record