Mathias Beche

Mathias Beche
Beche at the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers parade
Nationality	Swiss
Born	(1986-06-28) 28 June 1986 (age 38) Geneva, Switzerland
European Le Mans Series career
Debut season	2010
Current team	Richard Mille by TDS Racing
Racing licence	FIA Gold
Car number	29
Former teams	Hope Polevision Racing Applewood Seven Matech Competition Inter Europol Competition TDS Racing x Vaillante Nielsen Racing
Starts	42
Wins	11
Poles	10
Fastest laps	2
Best finish	1st in 2012
Previous series
2011 2010 2009 2008 2008 2007–2008	FIA GT1 World Championship European GT3 Formula Le Mans Formula Asia 2.0 Formula V6 Asia Asian Formula Renault
Championship titles
2014 2012	FIA WEC (LMP1-L) European Le Mans Series (LMP2)

Mathias Beche Aussel (born 28 June 1986 in Geneva) is a Swiss-French professional racing driver who currently competes in the European Le Mans Series for Richard Mille by TDS. He is a former ELMS champion in the LMP2 class, as well as an LMP1-L champion and overall race winner in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Rebellion Racing.

After starting in karting, Beche began racing in single-seaters in Asia in 2007 when he contested the Asian Formula Renault Challenge, finishing fifth overall with one win.^[1] The following year he took part in Formula Asia 2.0 where he ended up runner-up to Felix Rosenqvist.

2009 saw Beche switch to sportscar racing, finishing third in Formula Le Mans. In 2010 he contested four Le Mans Series rounds; three in the FLM class and one in GT1 in a Ford GT. He then entered the last two rounds of the FIA GT3 European Championship, also in a Ford.

In 2011 Beche competed in the full Le Mans Series season in an LMP2 Oreca 03 for TDS Racing with Pierre Thiriet and Jody Firth. The trio won the rounds at Spa and Estoril and finished fourth in the final drivers' standings. Beche also drove in the FIA GT1 World Championship round at Zolder in a Ford.

For 2012, LMP2 became the top class of the renamed European Le Mans Series. Partnering Thiriet at TDS, Beche won the opening round of the season at Paul Ricard and the season finale at Road Atlanta, securing his first major championship victory. For that year's 24 Hours of Le Mans they were joined by Christophe Tinseau, finishing second in class.

Beche remained in the ELMS with Thiriet by TDS in 2013, though he would also progress to drive in the FIA WEC's top class, piloting a Lola B12/60 for Rebellion Racing.^[2][3] Despite missing the opening ELMS round, the Swiss driver took two victories alongside Thiriet, leading the team towards second place in the standings. In the WEC, Beche scored two podium finishes on his way to fifth in the championship.

Rebellion's LMP1 programme would become the permanent home for Beche during the next two seasons, which started with an LMP1-L class win (for non-hybrid powered teams) at the 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Nico Prost and Nick Heidfeld and the eventual LMP1-L title in 2014.^[4][5] The team withdrew from the opening two races of the 2015 season to finalise work on their new Rebellion R-One, but once they entered, Beche and Prost took two privateer class wins to become champions.^[6] At the end of the year, Beche was part of a shootout for a reserve seat at Toyota Gazoo Racing, though that seat eventually went to Kamui Kobayashi.^[7]

In 2016, Beche returned to the ELMS with Thiriet by TDS, driving an Oreca 05 alongside Pierre Thiriet and Ryō Hirakawa.^[8] He took pole for the opening race at Silverstone, though an early crash by Thiriet forced the team out of the race.^[9][10] The trio bounced back by winning a weather-affected event at Imola, before Thiriet/TDS won again at the Red Bull Ring.^[11][12] Beche then took a convincing pole at Le Castellet, paving the way for the outfit's third successive victory.^[13][14] Another podium finish at Spa was not enough to win the title, as Beche and the team suffered electrical troubles in the final race, which was won by eventual champions G-Drive Racing.^[15]

Beche returned to Rebellion on a full-time basis in 2017, competing in the LMP2 class of the WEC.^[16] His #13 entry was hampered by disqualifications at Le Mans, where a miraculous overall podium (and second place in class) was taken away by the team's "unnecessary modification of approved bodywork", and Fuji, which saw a heated battle between Beche and Jean-Éric Vergne come to a head before Rebellion were excluded for a drive time violation.^[17][18] Despite taking three podiums from the final four races, the Swiss driver and his teammates finished fourth in the teams' standings, whereas the sister #31 entry won the LMP2 title.^[19]

For the 2018–19 WEC "Super Season", Beche and Rebellion returned to LMP1 with the R13, with the Swiss driver partnering Thomas Laurent and Gustavo Menezes.^[20] The team started off with two third places, including a class podium at Le Mans, before a disqualification for both Toyotas earned Beche and his teammates victory at Silverstone.^[21][22] However, Beche moved to the sister car for the round at Sebring and left the team with two races to go, meaning that he finished sixth in the championship — three places behind Menezes and Laurent.

After a scattergun racing programme in 2019 and 2020, where the Swiss made his Super GT debut for arto Ping An Team Thailand, Beche returned to the rostrum in 2021, winning the final race of the Le Mans Cup as well as the LMP2 Pro-Am class at the 8 Hours of Portimão with Realteam Racing.^[23][24][25]

Beche would make the LMP2 Pro-Am category his home in 2022, driving for TDS Racing x Vaillante alongside rookie Tijmen van der Helm and amateur driver Philippe Cimadomo in the ELMS.^[26] He took two overall pole positions during the year, though this was only enough for fourth in the Pro-Am standings.^[27] The team also finished fourth at the Le Mans 24 Hours, where a pre-race exclusion for Cimadomo for insufficient driving standards forced the team up to compete as a Pro entrant with new driver Nyck de Vries.^[28] Beche switched to Nielsen Racing for the 2023 ELMS season, where he, Ben Hanley and Rodrigo Sales finished fourth in the Pro-Am classification with three class podiums.^[29] At Le Mans, the trio retired early when Sales crashed at Dunlop corner.^[30]

Going into 2024, Beche teamed up with LMP2 rookie Grégoire Saucy and the returning Sales at Richard Mille by TDS in the ELMS.^[31]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

^† Non World Endurance Championship entries are ineligible to score points.

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2012	Thiriet by TDS Racing	Pierre Thiriet Christophe Tinseau	Oreca 03-Nissan	LMP2	353	8th	2nd
2013	Rebellion Racing	Andrea Belicchi Congfu Cheng	Lola B12/60-Toyota	LMP1	275	40th	8th
2014	Rebellion Racing	Nicolas Prost Nick Heidfeld	Rebellion R-One-Toyota	LMP1-L	360	4th	1st
2015	Rebellion Racing	Nicolas Prost Nick Heidfeld	Rebellion R-One-AER	LMP1	330	23rd	10th
2016	Thiriet by TDS Racing	Ryō Hirakawa Pierre Thiriet	Oreca 05-Nissan	LMP2	241	DNF	DNF
2017	Vaillante Rebellion	Nelson Piquet Jr. David Heinemeier Hansson	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	364	DSQ	DSQ
2018	Rebellion Racing	Gustavo Menezes Thomas Laurent	Rebellion R13-Gibson	LMP1	376	3rd	3rd
2019	High Class Racing	Dennis Andersen Anders Fjordbach	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	356	16th	11th
2022	TDS Racing X Vaillante	Nyck de Vries Tijmen van der Helm	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	368	8th	4th
2023	Nielsen Racing	Ben Hanley Rodrigo Sales	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	18	DNF	DNF
				LMP2 Pro-Am
2024	Panis Racing	Scott Huffaker Rodrigo Sales	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	293	23rd	9th
				LMP2 Pro-Am			4th

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

• Official website
• Mathias Beche career summary at DriverDB.com