# Mateo Llarena

Mateo Llarena (born 26 February 2004) is a Guatemalan-Italian racing driver. He currently competes in the 2024 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.

## Career
### Karting

Llarena began go karting at the age of four. He won two National Karting Championships and the FIA Americas Award before transitioning to open wheel racing. In 2014 and 2016 he became champion in Cadet category of the Guatemalan Karting Championship with the team Mazzotti Corse.

### Formula 4

In 2018 he made his single-seater debut by competing in the 2018–19 NACAM Formula 4 Championship with Telcel RPL Racing. He would finish the season in thirteenth. His best race result was a seventh place at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

### Sports car racing

At the age of 14 he made his car racing debut by competing in some races of the Toyota Yaris Cup Guatemala. In 2019 he won the National Motorsport Championship at 15 years old, making him the youngest in history to win this tournament in Guatemala and Central America, earning his second FIA Americas Award.
The 2019 season also saw Llarena receive an invitation from Porsche AG to participate in the 2020 Porsche Supercup. He competed for the German-based team MRS GT-Racing and finished seventeenth overall in the championship. At the age of 16, Mateo became the youngest ever driver to compete in the Porsche Supercup.
In 2021 Llarena made his debut in the IMSA SportsCar Championship He competed in the LMP3 class with Performance Tech Motorsports. At the 2021 WeatherTech 240 at The Glen he became the youngest ever pole sitter in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Since 2021 he has also been part of the Lamborghini GT3 junior program after competing in the 2021 Italian GT Championship with Imperiale Racing.
In 2022 he competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona with T3 Motorsport North America, driving a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo in the GTD class. He then joined NTE Sport/SSR to compete in the 12 Hours of Sebring.
In 2023 Llarena joined Vincenzo Sospiri Racing to compete in the Italian GT Sprint Championship after competing in the championship with Imperiale Racing in the two previous years. Together with his teammate Baptiste Moulin he finished the season fifth in the GT3 Pro classification after scoring two podiums throughout the season.
In 2024 he joined GRT Grasser Racing Team to compete in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup for the first time.

## Personal life

Llarena studied at IE University in Madrid. In 2023 Llarena received two Guinness World Records for becoming the youngest Porsche Supercup driver in 2020 and the youngest IMSA SportsCar Championship pole-sitter in 2021. In 2024 Llarena to compete under an Italian racing license since he lived in Italy and had received Italian citizenship.

## Racing record
### Career summary

| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
| 2018 | Toyota Yaris Cup Guatemala - Am | | 9 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 77 | 10th |
| 2018-19 | NACAM Formula 4 Championship | Telcel RPL Racing | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 13th |
| 2019 | Campeonato Nacional Guatemala - GT4 | Team Gulf Oil | 9 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 77 | 1st |
| 2019 | Chase for the Trigon Trophy Super GT Series | TLM Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 17th |
| 2019 | Porsche GT3 Cup Trophy Argentina | | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC† |
| 2020 | Porsche Supercup | MRS GT-Racing | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 17th |
| 2021 | Italian GT Sprint Championship - GT3 Pro-Am | Imperiale Racing | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 44 | 6th |
| 2021 | IMSA SportsCar Championship - LMP3 | Performance Tech Motorsports | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 838 | 13th |
| 2022 | IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD | T3 Motorsport North America | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 397 | 44th |
| 2022 | IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD | NTE Sport/SSR | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 397 | 44th |
| 2022 | Italian GT Endurance Championship - GT3 Pro | Imperiale Racing | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | ? | ? |
| 2023 | Italian GT Sprint Championship - GT3 Pro | Vincenzo Sospiri Racing | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 52 | 5th |
| 2024 | GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup | GRT Grasser Racing Team | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2024 | ADAC GT Masters | GRT Grasser Racing Team | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 22nd |
| 2024 | 24H Series - GT3 | ARC Bratislava | | | | | | | |
† As Llarena was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

### Complete Porsche Supercup results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pos. | Points |
| 2020 | MRS GT-Racing | RBR 19 | RBR 24 | HUN 15 | SIL 19 | SIL 18 | CAT 14 | SPA 19 | MNZ 24 | 18th | 4 |

### Complete GT World Challenge Europe results
#### GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup

(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Pos. | Points |
| 2024 | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 | Silver | LEC 44 | SPA 6H 50 | SPA 12H 47 | SPA 24H 37 | NÜR | MNZ | JED | 12th* | 14* |
* Season still in progress.