A Beverley-born driver who climbed from karts and Formula Renault to a 2003 Le Mans overall win, a 2011 American Le Mans Series title and a long spell as a Bentley factory driver.
Guy Smith is a British racing driver best known for winning the 2003 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 2011 American Le Mans Series title. He raced karts from 1986, climbed through British and American single-seater series, and later became a Bentley factory driver.
Born in Beverley, Guy Smith is a British driver whose biggest results include an overall victory at Le Mans in 2003 and a championship in the American Le Mans Series in 2011. Across more than three decades he has raced karts, open-wheel cars, touring cars, prototypes and GT machinery. A long spell as a factory driver for Bentley forms the centre of his later career.
How did Smith's career start in karting?
Smith began racing karts in 1986, and a year later he won the British Junior title as well as Protrain Junior and Scottish Open honours. He took the Belgian Junior kart title in 1988, and in 1991 he was runner-up at the karting world event, the same year he began car racing.
His first car race came in the Formula First Winter Series in 1991, where he finished second overall. That season he also raced in the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship, worked as a CRG factory driver and earned the McLaren Autosport Young Kartist of the Year honour.
A Le Mans overall win in 2003 and an American Le Mans Series title in 2011 framed a career built on endurance racing.
How did Smith move up through single-seaters?
In 1992 Smith raced in Formula Vauxhall Junior and finished second in the championship with five wins. In 1993 he was runner-up in British Formula Ford and fourth at the Formula Ford Festival, both with Swift Racing Cars. In 1994 he moved to British Formula Vauxhall and finished fourth overall.
1995 was the breakthrough year. Driving for Manor Motorsport, Smith won the British Formula Renault Championship and finished fourth in the Formula Renault Eurocup. The prize for the British title was a day testing a Williams FW17 Formula One car at Silverstone.
In 1996 he switched to British Formula 3 with Fortec Motorsport, won his first race in the series and finished sixth overall. The same year he drove for the TOM's team at the Macau Grand Prix, finishing tenth, and he entered the Masters of Formula 3, where he did not finish.
1997 was a less successful year. He finished ninth in British Formula 3 with DC Cook Motorsports and was eighteenth in the Masters of Formula 3.
Which series did Smith race in during the late 1990s?
Smith made his FIA GT Championship debut in 1997 at the Spa 4 Hours, driving a GT2-class Saleen Mustang for Cirtek Motorsport. He was 25th overall and placed 13th in the GT2 class. In 1998 he crossed to America for Indy Lights with Johansson Motorsports, finishing third in the championship after two victories and winning the Rookie of the Year title.
He stayed in Indy Lights for 1999 at Forsythe Racing, ending the year fifth in the standings, and he tested a Champ Car for the first time. His Champ Car World Series debut came in 2004 with Paul Gentilozzi's Rocketsports team, where two ninth places were his best results.
When did Smith make his Le Mans debut?
Smith made his first Le Mans start in 2000 for Johansson-Matthews Racing in an LMP1 car, and the team retired with engine failure. Earlier in 2001 he had also raced in the European Le Mans Series for Johansson Racing in an Audi R8, finishing ninth in the championship after the first three rounds. He returned in 2001 for the works Team Bentley, when the car caught fire with him at the wheel and forced a retirement. His 2008 start with the Quifel ASM Team ended 20th overall and fifth in class.
The 2000 race brought him the Rookie of the Year award as a consolation for the retirement. That year he also entered ten American Le Mans Series events in LMP1 for Johansson-Matthews Racing, finishing fifteenth in class, and he took part in the Rolex Sports Car Series, where he finished fourth in class at the Daytona 24 Hours. In 2002 he was Team Bentley's official test driver for most of the year, because the team entered only one car at Le Mans that season.
How did Smith win the 2003 Le Mans 24 Hours?
In 2003 Smith raced for Bentley at Sebring, finishing fourth overall, the first North American event Bentley had run in more than 70 years. Then came the overall win at Le Mans, shared with Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello in the Bentley Speed 8.
After Le Mans he drove a Ferrari 360 Modena in the N-GT class at the Spa 24 Hours for Team Maranello Concessionaires, and he also raced for the team at the Donington Park round. That year brought his only Race of Champions appearance, and he tested a Peugeot 206 XS rally car in Lincolnshire.
In 2004 Smith again entered two prototype races. He finished third at Sebring for Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx, then took second overall at Le Mans for Audi, sharing the car with Johnny Herbert and Jamie Davies.
What was the Dyson Racing period like?
In 2005 Smith contested the first seven Grand Am Rolex Series races, finishing 36th in class, with eighth at the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen as his best result there. He also raced a Dyson Racing MG-Lola at Sebring and Petit Le Mans, and his best result was second overall at Petit Le Mans. In the Le Mans Endurance Series he was second in LMP2 for Chamberlain Synergy Motor at the Istanbul round.
The 2006 season opened with a 14th place overall, tenth in its class, at the Daytona 24 Hours for Howard-Boss Motorsports. Despite contesting only 70% of the races, he finished sixth overall in the American Le Mans Series that year, with a second place at Mosport as his best ALMS result.
The 2007 season began with a retirement after 295 laps at Daytona, driving for Howard Motorsports. Later that year he took a third at Petit Le Mans and finished fourth in the LMP2 class championship with Dyson Racing. In 2008 the team's Porsche RS Spyders produced one class podium at Sebring and a sixth place in the championship.
How did Smith win the American Le Mans Series title in 2011?
The title came with Dyson Racing, which clinched the championship with one race to go at Monterey, where it finished second overall. Smith had already taken his first ALMS win, and the team's first, at Mid-Ohio in 2010, when he finished sixth overall in the series.
Close finishes were a feature of that period. At Road America, Dyson lost the Road Race Showcase by a margin of 0.112 seconds, with the Muscle Milk entry of Klaus Graf and Lucas Luhr taking the win.
Outside the American series, 2010 brought a run for Rebellion at Castellet, where the eight-hour round ended with a third-place finish overall, and an RAC Rally entry in a Ford Escort Mk 1, co-driven by Patrick Walsh, that did not reach the finish. In 2011 the Nurburgring 24 Hours was on his calendar again, with RJN Motorsport, and he went back to the RAC Rally.
In 2012 Smith drove a new Lola Mazda for Dyson in defence of the title, but he finished second and was nine points short. He won the Road Race Showcase that year by 0.083 seconds from Muscle Milk Racing, in the closest finish the series had seen. Dyson withdrew from its planned 2012 Le Mans start for financial reasons, so Smith did not race there.
What did Smith do as a Bentley factory driver?
From 2014 Smith was a factory driver for Bentley in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, racing for Bentley Team M-Sport with Steven Kane and Andy Meyrick. The trio finished second in the championship and won at home at Silverstone. They repeated second place in 2015, when Smith also finished fourth at the Bathurst 12 Hours.
In 2016 he finished third at Bathurst and seventh at the Nurburgring 24 Hours. In 2017 he added another third place at Bathurst. He retired as a factory driver in 2018, and that year he won single-stage rallies at Cadwell Park and the Dukeries Rally.
What has Smith done since 2019?
For the first four rounds of the 2019-20 season Smith raced with Team LNT in the FIA World Endurance Championship, in a Ginetta G60-LT-P1. From 2021 he was with United Autosports in IMSA's Sportscar Championship, where his LMP2 result at Watkins Glen was third and his Petit Le Mans result was fourth, and he also raced in the Road to Le Mans LMP3 contests.
In 2020 he founded Greenlight Sports Management with Andy Meyrick. The business works with racing drivers to identify opportunities, manage them and prepare development programmes. In 2022 he raced with United Autosports in LMP2, finishing sixth at Daytona and fifth at Sebring, and he won the Donington Park Rally with Patrick Walsh in a Ford Fiesta R5.
How do his main results compare?
| Series or event | Headline result |
|---|---|
| Karting | British Junior title, plus Protrain Junior and Scottish Open honours; Belgian Junior champion in 1988 |
| British Formula Renault | Champion in 1995 with Manor Motorsport |
| Indy Lights | Third in 1998, after two victories and Rookie of the Year |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans | Overall winner in 2003 with Bentley; second overall in 2004 with Audi |
| American Le Mans Series | Champion in 2011 with Dyson Racing; second in 2012 |
| Bathurst 12 Hours | Fourth in 2015, third in 2016 and third in 2017 |
| Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup | Second in 2014 and again in 2015 with Bentley Team M-Sport |
| Rallies | Wins at Cadwell Park and Dukeries in 2018; Donington Park Rally win in 2022 |
What is Smith's legacy?
Smith is best known for his 2003 Le Mans win and the 2011 ALMS title. His route from karts and Formula Renault through Indy Lights to prototypes and GT racing reflects a career built on team work with several manufacturers, including Bentley, Audi, Ferrari and Porsche-powered entries.
His management work with Greenlight Sports Management extends that experience to younger drivers, with development programmes designed to further their careers. His record spans single-seater, prototype, GT, touring car and rally events, and each stage is covered in the sections above, from the early karting titles to the final Greenlight years.
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