Mike Guasch

Mike Guasch
Guasch in 2016
Nationality	American
Born	(1958-02-25) February 25, 1958 (age 68) Palo Alto, California, U.S.
Categorisation	FIA Bronze (2010–2013, 2016–) FIA Silver (2014–2015)
Championship titles
2016 2015 2013 2009	European Le Mans Series – LMP3 North American Endurance Cup – LMPC American Le Mans Series – LMPC Star Mazda Championship – Masters

Michael N. Guasch (born February 25, 1958) is an American businessman and racing driver, best known for his career in LMPC and LMP3. He was American Le Mans Series champion for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports in 2013, and European Le Mans Series champion for United Autosports in 2016.

Business ventures

Guasch became a lube technician for Express Lube in 1989 shortly after serving in the U.S. Navy as a jet mechanic. In 1992, Guasch became a district manager of SpeeDee Oil Change, before taking over as Vice President of Operations for the entire company in 2017. In parallel, Guasch founded StoneTech Professional and worked at the company before selling it to DuPont in 2005, and was CEO of Molecule Labs.

In 2019, Guasch was featured in "The Gentleman Driver", a Netflix documentary detailing him and three other businessmen-drivers as they balanced work and their racing careers.

Racing career

Guasch initially took up dirt racing and motocross at the age of 17, before switching to jet ski competitions and being active there until 1991. In 2005, Guasch began competing in single-seaters, primarily racing in the Star Mazda Championship until 2009. During his stint in junior formulae, Guasch finished runner-up in the 2008 Star Mazda West Coast Championship, as well as clinching the Masters class title in the following year's Star Mazda Championship for JDC MotorSports.

In 2010, Guasch joined United Autosports to drive an Audi R8 LMS in the FIA GT3 European Championship alongside fellow amateur racer Mark Patterson. They scored a best result of 10th three times in the last two rounds to end the year 33rd overall. Switching to the British GT Championship for 2011, Guasch won at Snetterton and took two other podiums to finish sixth in the GT3 standings alongside Matt Bell. That year, Guasch also raced part-time for Genoa Racing in the LMPC class of the American Le Mans Series, winning in both of his starts at the 12 Hours of Sebring and Laguna Seca.

Continuing in ALMS for 2012, Guasch drove for Muscle Milk Pickett Racing in the first three races and scored a lone podium at Long Beach. Moving to PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports for 2013, Guasch won at Sebring and Laguna Seca and scored four other podiums to clinch the LMPC title. After a part-time campaign in the new United SportsCar Championship in 2014, Guasch went full-time again in 2015, taking four wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona, Sebring, Lime Rock and Petit Le Mans to finish runner-up in points alongside Tom Kimber-Smith, and claim the North American Endurance Cup title.

In 2016, Guasch reunited with United Autosports to compete in the LMP3 class of the European Le Mans Series, partnering Alex Brundle and Christian England. The trio secured three wins in a row at the start of the season at Silverstone, Imola and Red Bull Ring, before adding two more podiums to seal the LMP3 title with a race to spare. Guasch then briefly returned to PR1/Mathiasen to make his LMP2 debut in the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship, before taking a sabbatical.

In 2019, Guasch returned to LMP3 with United Autosports. After four ELMS rounds with England and a Le Mans Cup podium at Barcelona with Wayne Boyd, a crash at Silverstone left Guasch with a broken rib and ended his season. After recovery, Guasch began racing karts in SKUSA-sanctioned races in the Master Shifter class.

Karting record

Racing record

References

External links

• Mike Guasch career summary at DriverDB.com