🇺🇸 Jim Michaelian

Jim Michaelian was a competitive amateur racing in multiclass endurance championships in the United States and Europe. Graded FIA Bronze, he competed in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie from 2010 to 2014, driving Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars and modified production machinery across six starts. He made brief appearances in IMSA WeatherTech in 2014 and 2015 with Muehlner Motorsports America, then raced LMP3 prototypes in Road to Le Mans in 2018 for Win Motorsport.[1]

Michaelian's career spanned eight years but comprised only ten total starts across three series. His record against regular competitors at his level showed mixed results; he ran closely with Andreas Ziegler, an entry-level professional also graded Bronze who was active in the same Nürburgring series, but typically finished behind Uwe Kolb, a fellow competitive amateur in that championship. His most notable results came against drivers of far greater standing: he finished ahead of Brendon Hartley, an established professional and multiple world champion in WEC and Formula 1, and ahead of Timo Bernhard, also an established professional and 2016 WEC LMP1 champion, though each encounter was a single-race result rather than a sustained pattern. He raced for small operations; his longest association was with Car #64, which competed with limited success across its driver roster.[2]