Nico Prost facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Nico Prost
Prost at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans
Nationality	French
Born	Nicolas Jean Prost (1981-08-18) 18 August 1981 (age 43) Saint-Chamond, Loire, France
Related to	Alain Prost (father)
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Debut season	2012
Current team	Rebellion Racing
Racing licence	FIA Platinum
Car no.	12
Starts	41
Wins	4
Poles	1
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	3rd in 2017
Finished last season	3rd
Formula E career
Debut season	2014–15
Car no.	8
Former teams	Renault e.dams
Starts	45
Wins	3
Podiums	5
Poles	3
Fastest laps	2
Best finish	3rd in 2015–16
Finished last season	19th
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	2007, 2009 –
Teams	Team Oreca, Speedy Racing Team Sebah, Rebellion Racing
Best finish	4th (2012, 2014)
Class wins	1 (2014)
Previous series
2015 2011–13 2011–12 2010 2009–11 2009–10, 2010–11 2008–09 2008 2006–07 2005 2005 2004–05 2004–05 2004 2003	Stock Car Brasil American Le Mans Series Andros Trophy FIA GT1 World Championship Le Mans Series Andros Trophy Électrique A1 Grand Prix Euroseries 3000 Spanish Formula Three Championship Formula Renault 3.5 Series Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 FFSA GT Championship Formula Renault 2000 France Formula Renault 2000 Germany Formula Campus France
Championship titles
2009–10, 2010–11 2008	Andros Trophy Électrique Euroseries 3000

Nicolas Jean Prost, born on August 18, 1981, is a professional race car driver from France. He raced in the FIA Formula E Championship from 2014 to 2018. Before that, he was a long-time driver for Lotus Rebellion Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He also competes in the Andros Trophy. Nicolas was a backup driver for the Lotus F1 team, which no longer exists. He is the son of Alain Prost, a four-time Formula One world champion.

Nico Prost's Racing Journey

Starting in Racing

Nicolas was born in Saint-Chamond, Loire, France. Even though his father, Alain Prost, was a famous Formula One champion, Nicolas started his racing career a bit later, at age 22. He began in a series called Formula Campus. Nicolas was born just two days after his father raced in the 1981 Austrian Grand Prix. Like his dad, Nicolas is also a talented golfer. He won many tournaments while studying at Columbia University in New York.

Formula Three Success

In 2006, Nicolas joined Racing Engineering to compete in the Spanish Formula Three Championship. He won one race and finished on the podium six times. This helped him secure fourth place in the championship and earn the "best rookie" title.

The next year, in 2007, he improved even more. He finished third in the Spanish Formula Three Championship. He won two races, got one pole position, and stood on the podium seven times.

Winning in Euro Formula 3000

In 2008, Nicolas joined Bull Racing. In his very first year, he won the Euroseries 3000 championship. He achieved one win, two pole positions, and seven podium finishes.

A1 Grand Prix Experience

For the 2007–2008 A1 Grand Prix season, Nicolas was the rookie driver for Team France. He continued as the rookie driver for the 2008–2009 season. He was always the fastest in all the rookie practice sessions.

Later in that season, he was promoted to a main racing driver. He showed he had the speed to compete at the top. The team announced that he was expected to drive for the entire 2009–2010 season.

Sports Car Racing Adventures

24 Hours of Le Mans Races

In 2007, Nicolas raced in the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans with Team Oreca. He drove a Saleen S7-R and finished fifth in his category.

In 2009, he raced in the top LMP1 category for the first time. He drove very well, especially on Sunday morning. He completed a long four-stint drive that moved his car from eighth to fifth place. Unfortunately, a gearbox problem later dropped the car to 14th.

After a tough year in 2010, he had a great race in 2011. Nicolas and his teammates finished sixth overall. They were also first in the unofficial petrol-powered car class.

Prost racing at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans, Nicolas and the Rebellion Racing Team achieved fourth place in the LM-P1 class. His co-drivers were Neel Jani and Nick Heidfeld. Their Lola B12/60 Coupe Toyota completed 367 laps on the Circuit de la Sarthe. Nicolas drove the final part of the race.

In 2014, he achieved a class win at Le Mans, finishing 4th overall.

Le Mans Series Races

In 2009, Nicolas competed in the European Le Mans Series with Speedy Racing Team Sebah. He and his teammates finished fifth in the championship. Since 2010, he has been racing in the European Le Mans Series for Rebellion Racing alongside Swiss driver Neel Jani.

FIA World Endurance Championship

The Lola B12/60 that Prost drove in the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In 2012 and 2013, Nicolas raced in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Rebellion Racing. He drove an LMP1-class Lola B12/60 Toyota. With his teammate Neel Jani, they won nine races in the LMP1 privateer category during those two years.

He raced the new Rebellion R-One in the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship season. Nicolas won the first four races of 2014 in the LMP1-L Category. He secured the title in that category early on.

American Le Mans Series

Nicolas won two races in a row at Petit Le Mans in 2012 and 2013. He also finished third in the Sebring 12 Hours race in 2013.

Ice Racing with Andros Trophy

During the winters of 2009–2010, Nicolas took part in the famous Andros Trophy ice racing series. He raced in the electric car category. He won the championship with five pole positions, six wins, and 18 podium finishes out of 21 races. He successfully defended his title the following winter, in 2010–2011.

In 2011–2012, he joined his father on the Dacia team. He earned the "rookie title" in the main series.

Formula One Testing

Prost testing for Lotus in 2013.

In 2010, Nicolas drove a Renault F1 car for the first time at Magny-Cours. He impressed the team, being more than two seconds faster than his usual rivals.

In 2011, he became a driver for Lotus Renault F1. He took part in some test sessions and straight-line tests for the team. He also did some promotional roadshows.

He continued with the Lotus Renault program in 2012. On October 4, 2012, it was announced that he would test with Lotus Renault Formula One during a young driver test in Abu Dhabi.

In 2013, he remained a test and development driver for Lotus. He drove in the rookie test at Silverstone. There, he set the fastest lap among all the rookies. He was only three-tenths of a second slower than Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull car. He continued as a test and development driver for Lotus in 2014.

Formula E Racing

Prost racing in the 2014 Punta del Este ePrix

On June 30, 2014, Nicolas signed up for the very first FIA Formula E Championship season. He joined the e.dams Renault team. In the first race in Beijing, Nicolas made history by getting the first-ever pole position in Formula E. He led the race until the very last corner of the last lap. There, he was involved in a big crash with Nick Heidfeld. Nicolas turned into Heidfeld's car while being challenged, sending Heidfeld's car into a barrier. He later apologized for the incident. He received a ten-place grid penalty for the next race in Malaysia.

In the second race in Putrajaya, Malaysia, he again took pole position. However, he had to start ten places back due to the penalty from the previous race. He achieved his first win in Miami, even with a late challenge from Scott Speed. He finished the season in sixth place overall. The next season, 2015–16, was his best in Formula E. He finished third in the final standings of the championship.

Career Highlights

^† As Prost was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

24 Hours of Le Mans Results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2007	Team Oreca	Laurent Groppi Jean-Philippe Belloc	Saleen S7-R	GT1	337	10th	5th
2009	Speedy Racing Team Sebah Automotive	Andrea Belicchi Neel Jani	Lola B08/60-Aston Martin	LMP1	342	14th	12th
2010	Rebellion Racing	Neel Jani Marco Andretti	Lola B10/60-Rebellion	LMP1	175	DNF	DNF
2011	Rebellion Racing	Neel Jani Jeroen Bleekemolen	Lola B10/60-Toyota	LMP1	338	6th	6th
2012	Rebellion Racing	Nick Heidfeld Neel Jani	Lola B12/60-Toyota	LMP1	367	4th	4th
2013	Rebellion Racing	Nick Heidfeld Neel Jani	Lola B12/60-Toyota	LMP1	275	39th	7th
2014	Rebellion Racing	Nick Heidfeld Mathias Beche	Rebellion R-One-Toyota	LMP1-L	360	4th	1st
2015	Rebellion Racing	Nick Heidfeld Mathias Beche	Rebellion R-One-AER	LMP1	330	23rd	10th
2016	Rebellion Racing	Nick Heidfeld Nelson Piquet Jr.	Rebellion R-One-AER	LMP1	330	29th	6th
2017	Vaillante Rebellion	Bruno Senna Julien Canal	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	340	16th	14th

See also

In Spanish: Nicolas Prost para niños