Simon Mann (racing driver)
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AmericanPierre Louis-Dreyfus (great-grandfather)
| Simon Mann | |
|---|---|
 Mann at the 2025 6 Hours of São Paulo | |
| Nationality | American |
| Born | 10 February 2001 Paris, France |
| Relatives | Peter Mann (father) Pierre Louis-Dreyfus (great-grandfather) |
| FIA World Endurance Championship career | |
| Debut season | 2021 |
| Current team | Vista AF Corse |
| Racing licence |  FIA Silver |
| Car number | 55 |
| Starts | 17 (17 entries) |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Best finish | 12th (LMGTE Am) in 2023 |
| Championship titles | |
| 2021 2020–21 | Italian GT Endurance - Pro-Am Italian GT Sprint - Pro-Am |
Simon Mann (born 10 February 2001) is an American racing driver currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship with AF Corse. A mainstay at the Italian team, Mann has tasted success in the Italian GT Championship's Pro-Am class, winning the Sprint title in 2020 and 2021, the same year in which he would triumph in the Endurance championship.[1]
Mann is the son of British-born, American-naturalised gentleman driver Peter Mann, and the great-grandson of French soldier Pierre Louis-Dreyfus, who made eleven 24 Hours of Le Mans starts between 1931 and 1955.[2][3]
GT3 beginnings
Mann started his career in 2018, competing in the GT3 Light class of the Italian GT Championship with AF Corse. The American-licensed driver returned with the team the following year, driving in the Pro-Am classes of both the Sprint and Endurance series. In the Endurance championship, he and Matteo Cressoni finished 12th in class, whereas the Sprint championship yielded four class podiums, including Mann's first car racing win at Vallelunga; Mann ended up third in the Pro-Am standings. In 2020, he once again raced alongside Cressoni in Italian GT. In the Endurance championship, Mann finished fourth in Pro-Am with two class podiums, though he and Cressoni would attain Sprint success, beating the Easy Race on a dead heat to claim the Pro-Am title.[4]
For the 2021 season, Mann returned to the Sprint and Endurance series, continuing his partnership with AF Corse.[5] Having started the year by competing at the 24 Hours of Daytona, Mann soon showed title-winning form in the Pro-Am class, winning his class at Misano and Imola alongside Toni Vilander and Matteo Cressoni respectively.[5][6] His Sprint campaign concluded with a pair of overall podiums at Mugello, which earned Mann the Sprint Pro-Am title. In Endurance, Mann also won the Pro-Am championship, attaining class wins at Mugello and the season finale in Monza.[7]
LMGTE career
Having made his LMGTE debut at the 6 Hours of Monza in 2021, Mann moved into the FIA World Endurance Championship the subsequent year, pairing up with Vilander and bronze-ranked Christoph Ulrich in AF Corse's LMGTE Am lineup.[8] The outfit performed unremarkably, taking a best finish of seventh and ending up 11th in the teams' standings.[citation needed]
Mann scored a podium in the Asian Le Mans Series at the start of 2023 before embarking on another season in the WEC, this time driving alongside Ulysse de Pauw and a rotating door of amateur drivers in the third seat.[9] Their campaign started off well, as the No. 21 crew took fourth place at Sebring and finished fifth in Portimão.[10] However, an early crash for de Pauw at Le Mans changed their fortunes in the second half of the year, as the team missed out on points thrice during the final four races and took home tenth in the overall championship.[11]
