Nick Leventis
Nationality	British
Born	(1980-01-31)31 January 1980 (age 45) London, England
Racing licence	FIA Bronze

Nick Leventis (born 31 January 1980) is a British former professional endurance racing driver, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the founder ofStrakka Racing and has competed internationally in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, achieving multiple class wins and setting several endurance-racing records. One of his most memorable successes was winning the2010 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 category withDanny Watts andJonny Kane, breaking five records in the process.^[1] In 2013, he claimed another victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, this time in the top class of LMP 1 privateers.He is currently based in Monaco.

Nick Leventis was born inKensington, London of Persian / Greek Cypriot heritage, and educated atHarrow School with a notable mention, and later studied at theUniversity of Edinburgh. After completing his studies, Leventis lived and worked in Romania and Nigeria. He initially pursued a career as a competitivealpine skiing but a back injury ended his trajectory in winter sports and led him to motorsport. He began racing with EDM Motorsport before founding Strakka Racing in 2006.

He is married to Ukrainian-born former model and PR entrepreneur Olga Lysenko (professionally known as Olga Ly).^[2] The couple have two children together, and Leventis has two older children from previous relationships.

Leventis is a member of the prominent Leventis family, which built its wealth through the Nigerian Bottling Company and later Coca-Cola HBC, one of the largest Coca-Cola anchor bottlers, operating in 43 countries across Europe and Africa by the end of 2026.^[3] The Leventis family were ranked 60th in the 2024 list of the wealthiest people in the United Kingdom, with an estimated combined fortune of about €3.5 billion, mainly due to their long-standing Coca-Cola bottling interests and properties around the world.^[4]

2004 - Start of racing career, driving aBMW M3 in the BMW LMA Euro Saloon Championship, dominating Class B and finishing runner-up in the overall standings. He proved his merit in endurance racing and achieved a class win and 6th overall in the first-everSilverstone Britcar 24 Hour.

2005 - Nick competed in theFerrari Historic Challenge andLe Mans Classic, driving a rareFerrari Dino 246 and scoring encouraging results.

2006 and 2007 - Victories in the Roy Salvadori Trophy at theSilverstone Classic meeting with a 1957Aston Martin DBR1. In 2007 he reached a personal landmark with a Le Mans podium in the Legends race driving a Ferrari P3.

Nick also competed in the Belgian and Italian Touring Car Series, gaining several podiums, two class victories at Spa and consecutive wins in the prestigious Vallelunga 6 Hour Silver Cup. Other successes included podium in the Epilogue of Brno 6 Hour race and a GT1 class win and 2nd overall in the highly competitive Vallelunga Gold Cup.

2007 - CreatedStrakka Racing, one of Britain's leading independent racing teams.

2008 -Strakka Racing and Nick progressed to the iconicLe Mans 24 Hours with anAston Martin DBR9 GT1.

2009 - Nick andStrakka Racing stepped up to aGinetta-ZytekGZ09SLMP1 sports prototype in theLe Mans Series. Partnered byDanny Watts andPeter Hardman, Nick and the team claimed an impressive pole in Barcelona and finished 14th in LMP1 in theLe Mans 24 Hours.

2010 - Raced an LMP2 twin-turbo V6 engined HPD ARX-01c in the Le Mans Series, recording one of the most remarkable seasons in sportscar racing, scoring an LMP2 victory at theLe Mans 24 Hour race, breaking five records. Memorably the team also achieved the first ever LMS outright win for an LMP2 chassis, with victory at the 1,000 km race at theHungaroring.

2011 - Became the first LMP2 driver to achieve two overall victories in the Le Mans Series.

2012 and 2013 - Raced in theFIA World Endurance Championship with an LMP1 class HPD ARX-03a withJohnny Kane andDanny Watts. The team finished on the FIA Endurance Trophy for Private LMP1 Teams' podium in all eight races – achieving the 100% record with an outstanding final stint in Shanghai by Nick when he took the car from 4th to 3rd in the closing stages of the race. The highlight of the season was a 3rd overall finish at the6 Hours of Bahrain.

2012 - Nick was the brainchild behind the creation of Strakka Performance in 2012, a driver development programme designed to nurture young talent to the best they can.

2015 – Leventis spearheaded the design and production of Strakka's own car, the DOME S103 at the6 Hours of Silverstone, claiming a third place on its debut.

2016 – Nick became a member of the prestigiousBRDC (British Racing Drivers’ Club), home to the most successful racing drivers from Great Britain and the Commonwealth.

With the Gibson-Nissan, Strakka's team consisting of Leventis,Jonny Kane andDanny Watts came fourth in theLMP2 class (eight overall) at the24 Hours of Le Mans. Nick accepted theBRDC Woolf Barnato Trophy awarded to the highest placed British driver at the24 Hours of Le Mans.

2017 – Nick andStrakka Racing started working with one of the most successful and prestigious GT3 manufacturers,McLaren. They entered the challengingBlancpain GT Series with an impressive fourMcLaren 650S GT3.

2018 - In 2018 Nick will expand Strakka Racing's GT activities beyond Europe, forming a new partnership with Mercedes-AMG which will see them carry Performance Team status for the German marque. The Silverstone-based team will run three new Mercedes-AMG GT3s in the Intercontinental GT Challenge alongside Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup.

2019 - On the 24th of July, it was revealed that Leventis had tested positive to banned substances. He was thus banned for four years. Following this incident he announced his retirement.^[5]

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Car No.	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.	Ref
2007	EDM Motorsport	Peter Hardman Christian Vann	BMW M3 E46 GTR	22	GTC	435	32nd	11th	[6]

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2008	Vitaphone Racing Team Strakka Racing	Peter Hardman Alexandre Sarnes Negrão	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	82	DNF	DNF
2009	Strakka Racing	Peter Hardman Danny Watts	Ginetta-ZytekGZ09S	LMP1	325	21st	14th
2010	Strakka Racing	Jonny Kane Danny Watts	HPD ARX-01C	LMP2	367	5th	1st
2011	Strakka Racing	Jonny Kane Danny Watts	HPD ARX-01d	LMP2	144	DNF	DNF
2012	Strakka Racing	Jonny Kane Danny Watts	HPD ARX-03a	LMP1	303	30th	8th
2013	Strakka Racing	Jonny Kane Danny Watts	HPD ARX-03c	LMP1	332	6th	6th
2015	Strakka Racing	Jonny Kane Danny Watts	StrakkaDome S103-Nissan	LMP2	264	DNF	DNF
2016	Strakka Racing	Jonny Kane Danny Watts	Gibson 015S-Nissan	LMP2	351	8th	4th
Sources:[7][8]

Leventis has been involved in charitable work connected to his family's long-standing philanthropic tradition through the A. G. Leventis Foundation, which supports education, culture and environmental projects in Europe and Africa and has funded thousands of scholarships worldwide.^[10][11] In 2010, Leventis took part in the Everest Skydive project in Nepal as an ambassador for the charity Global Angels, completing a tandem skydive from around 30,000 feet above Mount Everest to raise funds for vulnerable children and communities.^[12] In 2012, Leventis abseiled downThe Shard in London as part of a charity event supporting the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund, joining fellow World Endurance Championship drivers in the fundraiser.^[13]

In 2018 Nick Leventis participated in a charity football match with Manchester United football playerDimitar Berbatov to raise money for charity in Bulgaria, supporting children's orphanages and the conservation of the Orthodox church.^[14]Leventis has also participated in long-distance running events, including theNew York City Marathon in 2011, finishing in 3:11:33, in support of charitable causes.^[15]

2010 LMP2 class winner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Strakka Racing, setting multiple category performance records, the Michelin Green X Challenge (Prototype category) at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Nigel Moores Trophy as a private entrant who has established the most meritorious performances in international motor racing.^[16][17]

2013, became the first privateer to achieve an overall podium in the World Endurance Championship.^[18]

2016BRDC Woolf Barnato Trophy (with Jonny Kane and Danny Watts) for being the highest-placed British drivers in a British car at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and RMA Trophy of driver of the year for outstanding performance.^[19]

• Official website
• Nick Leventis career summary at DriverDB.com

• 1980 births
• Living people
• People educated at Harrow School
• English racing drivers
• European Le Mans Series drivers
• 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
• FIA World Endurance Championship drivers
• Britcar 24-hour drivers
• Doping cases in auto racing
• Sports car racing team owners
• Strakka Racing drivers
• Mercedes-AMG Motorsport drivers
• McLaren Racing drivers
• 24 Hours of Spa drivers
• People from Kensington
• Racing drivers from London

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