🇺🇸 Tony Ave

Tony Ave is a semi-professional racing driver competing in national-level road racing across multiple series. Bronze-graded under FIA classifications, he drives for Ave Motorsports in IMSA endurance championships and competes regularly in SCCA club racing. His primary machinery includes GT4 and LMP3 prototypes in shared-car endurance racing and single-driver formula racing in SCCA events.[1]

Ave's record spans 12 seasons from 2009 to the present, with 69 starts yielding 19 wins and 31 podiums. His strongest results have come in SCCA Majors, where he has taken 14 wins and 20 podiums across 30 starts since 2021, establishing himself as a front-runner in that series. He has also taken 4 wins and 7 podiums in 17 SCCA Runoffs entries, with additional success in Trans-Am TA2 racing. His ventures into higher-level categories have been more limited; he took a single podium across six IMSA Prototype Challenge starts and did not score in four GT4 America entries in 2023.[2]

In SCCA Majors and Runoffs, Ave finishes consistently ahead of club-level regulars including Jorge Nazario and Jeff Dernehl. He has also posted isolated results against substantially stronger drivers, including a podium ahead of Kevin Estre, a Platinum-graded driver and two-time WEC champion, and two finishes ahead of Gold-graded Michael McDowell in NASCAR Xfinity racing. His record in shared-car endurance racing at IMSA level carries the limitations of amateur team equipment and co-driver calibre; his single-driver and team-owned entries in SCCA road racing form a clearer picture of his pace as a road racer.