| Michael Benyahia | |
| Nationality: |  Moroccan Americandue to double nationality |
| Birth Date: | 21 July 2000 |
| Birth Place: | Miami, United States |
| Racing Licence: | FIA Silver |
| Current Series: | FIA Motorsport Games |
| First Year: | 2022 |
| Current Team: | Optimum Motorsport |
| Car Number: | 10 |
| Prev Series: | Formula Renault 2.0 NEC French F4 Championship |
| Prev Series Years: | 2017 2016–15 |
| Titles: | Formula Renault 2.0 NEC |
| Title Years: | 2017 |
| Awards: | SISL Trophée Espoir Mars d'Or 2M Challenge |
| Award Years: | 2017 2017 |
Michaël Benyahia (born July 21, 2000, in Miami) is a Moroccan racing driver.
Benyahia was born in Miami of a Moroccan father and a Belgian mother.[1] His father, Karim Benyahia is a businessman in hands-free technologies.[2] [3] His mother, Pascale Van Cleemput was Honorary consul of Belgium in Miami between 2002[4] and 2005.[5]
Benyahia began karting in 2007 at the age of seven, claiming numerous titles in his career.[6] [7]
In November 2013, he took part in the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals held in New Orleans where he finished sixth of the Mini Max category.[8]
In 2015, Benyahia graduated to single-seaters in the French F4 Championship, where he earned nine points and finished 17th. The following year he repeated this series, finishing 3rd and claiming a victory and six podiums.
Michael signed with the R-ace GP Team and became 2017 Formula Renault FR 2.0 NEC Champion.[9] As part of his prize for becoming the 2017 champion at Hockenheim, Michael Benyahia paid a visit to Renault Sport's F1 facility at Enstone.
Between June and October 2019, he joined the development program of the British team Carlin Motorsport to prepare for a serie in F3.[10]
In September 2017, Benyahia joined Venturi Formula E Team as Development Driver,[11] one month later he took part in the pre-season test session in Valencia,[12] then in January 2018 at the Rookie Test of the Marrakesh ePrix where he was the youngest among the twenty participants,[13] in which he finished 19th in the first session and 18th in the second.[14] [15]
Benyahia is one of four confirmed McLaren DDP drivers that will drive two McLaren 570S GT4s for Tolman Motorsport for the 2020 season, after he, Katie Milner, Harry Hayek and Alain Valente were the top 4 drivers in an 18-driver selection at Snetterton.[16]
Michael Benyahia will represent Morocco in the FIA Motorsport Games that will be hosted from October 26 to 30 in Marseille. Benyahia will take part in the “GT Sprint” event on the Paul-Ricard Circuit, securing Morocco’s first participation. The FIA Motorsport Games is a multidisciplinary event that includes GT, karting, and rally sometimes. The event is often referred to as the Olympic Games of motorsports.
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | Podiums | Points | Position | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | French F4 Championship | Auto Sport Academy | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 17th | |
| 2016 | French F4 Championship | FFSA Academy | 23 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 218 | 3rd | |
| 2017 | V de V Challenge Monoplace | align=left rowspan=3 | R-ace GP | 6 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 257 | 12th |
| Formula Renault 2.0 NEC | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 163 | 1st | |||
| Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | NC† | |||
| 2017-18 | Formula E | Venturi Formula E Team | Test driver | |||||||
| 2018 | Euroformula Open Championship | align=left rowspan=2 | RP Motorsport | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 19th |
| Spanish Formula 3 Championship | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 16th | |||
| 2019 | GT4 European Series | align=left rowspan=2 | Team GT | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 16th |
| ADAC GT4 Germany | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 105 | 6th | |||
| 2021 | British GT Championship - GT4 | Jenson Team Rocket RJN | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 67 | 8th | |
| 2022 | International GT Open | Optimum Motorsport | ||||||||
| FIA Motorsport Games GT Sprint | Team Morocco | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 13th | ||
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position in class) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap in class)