Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen
Danish racing driver (born 2008)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen (born 30 September 2008) is a Danish racing driver set to compete for Rinaldi Racing in the LMP3 class of the European Le Mans Series and Le Mans Cup.
| Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  Danish |
| Born | 30 September 2008 Egernsund, Denmark |
| European Le Mans Series career | |
| Debut season | 2025 |
| Current team | Rinaldi Racing |
| Categorisation |  FIA Silver |
| Car number | 5 |
| Former teams | DKR Engineering |
| Starts | 10 |
| Wins | 1 |
| Podiums | 3 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Best finish | 10th (LMP3) in 2025 |
| Championship titles | |
| 2023 | F4 Danish Championship |
Career
Pedersen began karting at the age of six, competing until 2022.[1] In his karting career, Pedersen most notably was runner-up in the junior class of the Rotax Max Challenge Germany standings in 2022,[2] and also was third in the Karting Sprint Cup Junior discipline of the FIA Motorsport Games the same year while representing Denmark.[3]
In late 2022, Pedersen made his single-seater debut, racing in the final round of that year's F4 Danish Championship at Jyllands-Ringen for GP Racing, in which he scored a best result of fourth in race one.[4] Returning to the series the following year for BAR,[5] Pedersen began the season by winning twice in the opening round at Padborg Park and winning race two at Anderstorp Raceway to take an early championship lead.[6][7] After winning race three at Karlskoga a round later,[8] Pedersen scored what turned out to be his final two wins of the season at Ring Djursland,[9] before scoring two podiums in the final two rounds to secure the series title by four points over Magnus Pedersen.[10]
Remaining in Formula 4 for 2024, Pedersen joined Drivex to compete in both the Formula Winter Series and the F4 Spanish Championship.[11][12] In the former, Pedersen scored his only podium of the season in race three at Jerez by finishing second,[13] and scored four more points finishes to end the winter eighth in points.[14] In the latter, Pedersen scored points twice, taking a best result of eighth in race two at Aragón before leaving the team and the series with three rounds remaining.[15] After leaving Drivex, Pedersen made his prototype debut in the JS P4 class of the Ligier European Series for Team Virage at the season-ending round at Algarve alongside Brandon McCaughan.[16] The pair finished fourth and fifth in the two races.[17] At the same venue, Pedersen partook in the European Le Mans Series rookie tests with DKR Engineering as he tested LMP3 machinery for the first time.[18]
Stepping up to full-time LMP3 competition the following year, Pedersen joined DKR Engineering to race in the European Le Mans Series alongside Antti Rammo and Wyatt Brichacek.[19] In his rookie season in the series, Pedersen scored his maiden podium at the season-ending race at Algarve by finishing third, on his way to a tenth-place points finish.[20] During 2025, Pedersen also made a one-off appearance in the 24 Hours of Le Mans-supporting round of the Le Mans Cup in the LMP3 Pro-Am class for Rinaldi Racing,[21] and partook in the European Le Mans Series rookie tests with R-ace GP in the LMP3 class.[22]
The following year, Pedersen returned to Rinaldi for a dual campaign in the LMP3 classes of the European Le Mans Series and Le Mans Cup.[23][24]
Karting record
Karting career summary
| Season | Series | Team | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Hungarian International Open - Micro Max | RS Competition | 39th |
| Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals - Micro Max | Tom Gaarde Pedersen | 27th | |
| 2018 | WSK Champions Cup - 60 Mini | RS Competition | NC |
| WSK Super Master Series - 60 Mini | 90th | ||
| WSK Final Cup - 60 Mini | Baby Race Driver Academy | 19th | |
| 2019 | WSK Champions Cup - 60 Mini | Baby Race Driver Academy | 29th |
| WSK Super Master Series - 60 Mini | 33rd | ||
| 24° South Garda Winter Cup - Mini ROK | NC | ||
| WSK Euro Series - 60 Mini | 53rd | ||
| 2020 | Rotax Max Challenge Germany - Junior | 13th | |
| Rotax Max Euro Trophy - Junior Max | RS Competition | 30th | |
| BNL Karting Series - Kick-Off - Junior Max | 33rd | ||
| 2021 | Rotax Max Challenge Germany - Junior | 4th | |
| Rotax Max Euro Trophy - Junior Max | RS Competition | 11th | |
| Rotax Max Euro Golden Trophy - Junior Max | JJ Racing | 5th | |
| 2022 | Rotax Max Winter Trophy - Junior Max | JJ Racing | 10th |
| Rotax Max Challenge Germany - Junior | 2nd | ||
| Rotax Max Euro Trophy - Junior Max | 10th | ||
| Rotax Max Challenge International Trophy - Junior Max | 4th | ||
| Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals - Junior Max | 19th | ||
| FIA Motorsport Games Karting Sprint Cup Junior | Team Denmark | 3rd | |
| Sources:[25][26][27] | |||
Racing record
Racing career summary
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | F4 Danish Championship | GP Racing | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 16th |
| 2023 | F4 Danish Championship | BAR | 17 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 279 | 1st |
| Formula Nordic | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | N/a | NC† | ||
| 2024 | Formula Winter Series | Drivex | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 55 | 8th |
| F4 Spanish Championship | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 23rd | ||
| Ligier European Series – JS P4 | Team Virage | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 13th | |
| 2025 | European Le Mans Series – LMP3 | DKR Engineering | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 41 | 10th |
| European Endurance Prototype Cup | Racing Spirit of Léman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 63rd | |
| Le Mans Cup – LMP3 Pro-Am | Rinaldi Racing | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 28th | |
| 2026 | European Le Mans Series – LMP3 | Rinaldi Racing | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 49* | 4th* |
| Le Mans Cup – Pro-Am | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 70* | 2nd* | ||
| GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup | Steller Motorsport | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0* | NC* | |
| GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup – Gold | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12* | 13th* | |||
| Intercontinental GT Challenge | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0* | NC* | ||
| Sources:[28][25] | |||||||||
† As Pedersen was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.
* Season still in progress.
Complete F4 Danish Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | GP Racing | PAD1 1 |
PAD1 2 |
PAD1 3 |
STU 1 |
STU 2 |
STU 3 |
JYL1 1 |
JYL1 2 |
JYL1 3 |
DJU 1 |
DJU 2 |
DJU 3 |
DJU 4 |
PAD2 1 |
PAD2 2 |
PAD2 3 |
JYL2 1 4 |
JYL2 2 Ret |
JYL2 3 5 |
16th | 22 |
| 2023 | BAR | PAD1 1 3 |
PAD1 2 1 |
PAD1 3 1 |
AND 1 2 |
AND 2 1 |
KAR 1 DNS |
KAR 2 9 |
KAR 3 1 |
DJU 1 3 |
DJU 2 5 |
DJU 3 1 |
DJU 4 1 |
PAD2 1 2 |
PAD2 2 5 |
PAD2 3 3 |
JYL 1 Ret |
JYL 2 7 |
JYL 3 5 |
1st | 279 |
Complete Formula Winter Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete F4 Spanish Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete Ligier European Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete European Le Mans Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
* Season still in progress.
Complete Le Mans Cup results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
* Season still in progress.
Complete GT World Challenge Europe results
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup
(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
* Season still in progress.