Neel Jani
Jani at the2025 6 Hours of São Paulo
Nationality	Swiss
Born	(1983-12-08)8 December 1983 (age 42) Rorschach, Switzerland
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Debut season	2011 (ILMC)
Current team	Proton Competition[1]
Racing licence	FIA Platinum
Car number	99
Previous series
1998–2000 2000 2001–2002 2003–2004 2005–2006 2005–2009 2007 2010	Karting Formula Lista Junior Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup Formula Renault V6 Eurocup GP2 Series A1 Grand Prix Champ Car World Series Le Mans Series
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	2009–2019
Teams	Speedy Racing Team Sebah,Rebellion Racing,Porsche Team
Best finish	1st(2016)
Class wins	1

Neel Jani (born 8 December 1983)^[2] is aSwiss professional racing driver.^[3][4]

Jani achieved his greatest success winning the24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016 after first joiningPorsche'sLMP1 programme for the 2014 season driving in theFIA World Endurance Championship.^[5] Previously, Jani drove forA1 Team Switzerland inA1 Grand Prix, helping them win the2007–2008 title and finishing runner-up in2005–06 and2008–09. He raced forPKV Racing in the North AmericanChamp Car series in 2007. He is also aGP2 Series race-winner and will be aFormula One test driver forAudi in 2026.

Jani joinedFormula E'sFaraday Future Dragon Racing squad for the2017/2018 season but left the team after one weekend. For the2019-20 Formula E season, he returned with his home brandPorsche with teammateAndré Lotterer.

Born inRorschach, Switzerland, to aGujaratiIndian father fromGujarat and a Swiss mother, Jani started his career inkarting in 1998, where he stayed for two years before moving up toFormula Renault 2000 Eurocup in 2001.^[3][4] In the same year, he also raced some races inItalian Formula Renault. He stayed in both for 2002, again only racing part of the Italian Formula Renault season. In 2003, he moved toFormula Renault V6 Eurocup, driving for the Jenzer team. In that year, he finished second by only four points in the championship withJenzer Motorsport. In 2004, he again raced in the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup but changed team, running with the French team DAMS, stating in the Swiss press, "This year, it is win or nothing."^{[citation needed]} He finished fourth in the championship that year, while his old team, Jenzer Motorsport finished second with their rookie driverRyan Sharp.^{[citation needed]}

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In 2005, Jani raced in theGP2 Series with Racing Engineering alongsideBorja García who he generally outperformed. He won two races, at theHungaroring and atMonza. He also managed to lead most of theNürburgring race in a clearly slower car with some effective defensive driving.

In 2006, Jani replaced injuredNicolas Lapierre in theSilverstone andMagny-Cours races for English race team Arden. By doing this, he also secured his place in the record books, being the only person to ever drive in both GP2 and F1 on the same day.

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Jani then raced in the newA1 Grand Prix series, representing his home nation withA1 Team Switzerland. In theinaugural season of A1GP, the team earned thesilver medal for second place, with Jani consistently finishing on the podium, including a win at theDubai Autodrome of the2005-06 United Arab Emirates Sprint race.

After not attending the first two rounds of the2006-07 season, and handing the reins toSébastien Buemi, Jani took another win later in the season at the2006–07 Malaysia Sprint race.

Jani drove all the races for Switzerland in the2007-08 season, taking the championship with four wins and 168 points. The team finished second in the2008-09 season, again with Jani ever-present.

Jani was linked to a reserve F1 seat with theSauber team. In 2004 however, he moved back to GP2 the following year. In December 2005, he was confirmed asScuderia Toro Rosso's third driver, alongside race driversScott Speed andVitantonio Liuzzi, a role he held throughout the2006 season, before departing to pursue aChamp Car career. For the2008 F1 season, Neel was linked with the test driving role atRed Bull Racing. As his father is from India, Jani was linked to the proposed Indian-backed buyout ofBMW Sauber^[6] but this did not succeed. In early 2010, he tested forForce India and was rumoured to be involved with the team that year.^{[citation needed]} However, Force India signed Mercedes driverPaul di Resta as their test and reserve driver.^{[citation needed]}

In June 2023, it was announced that Jani had signed withAudi as asimulator driver to help them develop their power unit in preparation for their entry into Formula 1 in 2026.^[7]

For2007, Jani drove for thePKV Racing team in theChamp Car World Series.^[8] He ended the series in ninth place with a total of 231 points. After choosing to focus on the 2007-2008 A1GP season rather than stay in ChampCar for 2008,^[9] the series was absorbed by theIRL.

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In 2010, Jani became affiliated with Swiss privateerRebellion Racing and teamed withNicolas Prost to race a Lola-Judd LMP1 at theLe Mans Series and24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing second at Algarve and fifth at Silverstone. Also, he raced the second half of theFIA GT1 season forMatech in aFord GT, finishing seventh in a championship race and eighth in other two.^{[citation needed]}

Jani took up full-timeWEC racing in 2012 with Rebellion, teaming with Prost andNick Heidfeld for two seasons, before joining thePorsche works team in 2014 and winning his firstLMP1 race atSão Paulo, Brazil, finishing third overall in the championship. The 2015 season saw Jani take another win atBahrain in addition to five runner-up spots; again he finished third in the championship.^{[citation needed]}

Jani kicked off the 2016 WEC season with a win atSilverstone and a second place atSpa before inheriting the win at the24 Hours of Le Mans in dramatic fashion whenKazuki Nakajima'sToyota broke down in the lead with only one lap to go in the race.^[10]

On 24 August 2017, it was announced that Jani would make his debut inFIA Formula E Championship in itsfourth season atFaraday Future Dragon Racing withJérôme d'Ambrosio as his teammate.^[11] After two 18th-place finishes at the season opener inHong Kong, Jani abruptly quit the team focusing instead on hisWEC commitments withRebellion Racing.^[12]

In December 2018, Porsche announced that Jani would return to the championship as part of their driver line-up for theirmaiden season.^[13] He raced for Porsche with teammateAndre Lotterer till the end of the 2019–20 season, finishing twentieth on the standings.^[14] For the2020-21 Formula E Championship, he was replaced byPascal Wehrlein.^{[citation needed]}

Jani and his wife Lauren have a son.^[15]

^* Season still in progress.
^‡Team standings.

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position, races initalics indicate fastest race lap)

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2009	Speedy Racing Team Sebah Automotive	Andrea Belicchi Nicolas Prost	Lola B08/60-Aston Martin	LMP1	342	14th	12th
2010	Rebellion Racing	Nicolas Prost Marco Andretti	Lola B10/60-Rebellion	LMP1	175	DNF	DNF
2011	Rebellion Racing	Nicolas Prost Jeroen Bleekemolen	Lola B10/60-Toyota	LMP1	338	6th	6th
2012	Rebellion Racing	Nicolas Prost Nick Heidfeld	Lola B12/60-Toyota	LMP1	367	4th	4th
2013	Rebellion Racing	Nicolas Prost Nick Heidfeld	Lola B12/60-Toyota	LMP1	275	39th	7th
2014	Porsche Team	Marc Lieb Romain Dumas	Porsche 919 Hybrid	LMP1-H	348	11th	4th
2015	Porsche Team	Marc Lieb Romain Dumas	Porsche 919 Hybrid	LMP1	391	5th	5th
2016	Porsche Team	Romain Dumas Marc Lieb	Porsche 919 Hybrid	LMP1	384	1st	1st
2017	Porsche LMP Team	Nick Tandy André Lotterer	Porsche 919 Hybrid	LMP1	318	DNF	DNF
2018	Rebellion Racing	André Lotterer Bruno Senna	Rebellion R13-Gibson	LMP1	375	4th	4th
2019	Rebellion Racing	André Lotterer Bruno Senna	Rebellion R13-Gibson	LMP1	376	4th	4th
2021	Porsche GT Team	Kévin Estre Michael Christensen	Porsche 911 RSR-19	GTE Pro	344	22nd	3rd
2023	Duqueine Team	René Binder Nico Pino	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	327	11th	3rd
2024	Proton Competition	Julien Andlauer Harry Tincknell	Porsche 963	Hypercar	251	45th	16th
2025	Proton Competition	Nico Pino Nicolás Varrone	Porsche 963	Hypercar	383	13th	13th
Source:[16]

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

† Non Championship round

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

^* Season still in progress.

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)

‡ Standings based on entry points, not individual drivers.

* Season in progress.

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; results initalics indicate fastest lap)

Wikimedia Commons has media related toNeel Jani.

• Official website
• Neel Jani career summary at DriverDB.com

• 1983 births
• Living people
• Swiss racing drivers
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• Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers
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