Dylan Trieste

### Achievements

2021 Halfords British Touring Car Championship runner-up2022 Halfords British Touring Car Championship champion

## SMA Racing Career

### Starts

A-Sanctioned: 113 (F1CE: 54, PPG Paints IndyCar Series: 6, Halfords British Touring Car Championship: 51, Other: 2)B-Sanctioned: 20 (Petronas Super GT Series: 20)

### Wins

A-Sanctioned: 6 (Halfords British Touring Car Championship: 5, PPG Paints IndyCar Series: 1)B-Sanctioned: 3 (Petronas Super GT Series: 3)

### Best Finish

1st (2022 Halfords British Touring Car Championship)

### First Win

Overall: 2018 Fuji 250km (Fuji Speedway)A-Sanctioned: 2021 Halfords British Touring Car Championship Round 1 (Brands Hatch)

Dylan Trieste (born 23rd March, 1981) is an active driver currently racing full-time in the Halfords British Touring Car Championship, and racing part-time in the PPG Paints IndyCar Series. Trieste is known for being a conservative, experienced racer, who is highly regarded both by fans and within the paddock. He is also the father of Tourtel F2 driver Gianluca Trieste. He is the 2022 BTCC champion.

## Racing Career:

### Alpine Skiing:

Born into a wealthy family, Trieste’s racing career began not in cars but on snow. Between ages 14 and 22, Dylan Trieste lived in Aosta, where he took on Alpine Skiing as first a hobby, and then competitively. In 1996, Trieste became the Aosta Junior Champion. Trieste began competing in events further afield, but failed to find the success he’d found back in Aosta; his success at home allowed him to enter the Sestriere round of the 2002-03 FIS Ski World Cup - he placed 27th of 30. In late 2003, Trieste moved back to his birthplace of Pescara, and reduced his time spent skiing, to sporadic events in Aosta only.

### Switch to Motorsport:

Dylan Trieste was persuaded to move into motorsports by close friend and car collector Lorenzo Giacolli. Trieste began his career taking part in local rally events, and often used these events as an opportunity to showcase Giacolli’s car collection (all of which were kept in a functional state), and Trieste did not view racing as his future. In 2007 Trieste moved to Calcata Vecchia, near Rome, and took up circuit racing at Vallelunga. It was at this point where his interest deepened, and he moved into regional formula. Trieste’s late move into taking racing seriously meant he, now aged 26, often found himself competing in races where his competitors would be under 18.Trieste did not enjoy the style of racing presented by open wheelers, and moved into local touring car racing at Vallelunga. He also participated in historic GT events across Europe in Giacolli’s various historic racing cars. By 2016, Trieste was competing in touring and GT events across Italy, but was not racing full-time in any series - his background had allowed him to race as a hobby, but a request from his family for him to start earning money from himself led to him re-considering his position.

### Japan:

2016 is when the SMA began to acquire other series in preparation for its position as a global figurehead. In late 2015, it acquired the rights to sanction and operate the British Formula 4 Championship from TOCA, and in June 2016 entered into an agreement with JAF and GTA to purchase and sanction the Japanese Super GT Series, which would be rebranded the Epson Super GT Series (now the Petronas Super GT Series).

For the 2017 season, Trieste was signed by SARD to race for them in the GT300 category. Trieste would be partnered with Japanese driver Seiji Sasaki. Trieste and Sasaki looked to be contenders at least early in the season, scoring three consecutive podium finishes, but their pace dropped off as the season went off, and in the final six races they finished no higher than eighth. Their early season efforts, however, had been enough to secure a 7th-placed points finish.

SARD surprised many by promoting Trieste to the GT500 outfit, alongside popular driver Naoki Arashiro. Arashiro and Trieste made a very good pair, getting along very well, and producing very consistent performances in races. It took just 2 races to yield a result: Trieste’s first SMA victory, coming in the Fuji 250km race, where they worked forward from eighth on the grid to pass the Nissan GT-R of Team Impul for the win within the final 10 laps. Trieste and Arashiro won again in Shanghai later in the year, then won the season ending Sugo 300km race to end the year as the runner-up in series points.

### F1CE:

In November 2018, it was announced that Dylan Trieste would race for Williams F1 in the inaugural F1CE season. This move was a surprise to many, due to Trieste’s public dislike of open wheeled racing, and his past struggles with the media. Trieste got off to a slow start, finishing 15th in his first race and not scoring points until Monaco. His clean and consistent nature came through, however, and he was able to score points on four further occasions to take his tally for the year up to 10, placing him 13th in the standings. This came at a time when only the top 8 scored points, and Williams struggled for race pace.

Trieste was retained for 2020, but struggled to get to grips with the upgraded Williams, and his qualifying pace was woeful. Trieste scored points just once, in the Istanbul Park Sprint Race, and it was announced as early as September that Trieste would leave the team at the end of the season.

### BTCC and Beyond:

For the 2021 season, Dylan Trieste, now 40 years old, moved to Goyaike Performance in the Halfords British Touring Car Championship. A closed-wheel series away from the media pressure suited Trieste very well, and he won his first A-Sanctioned race in his first series start - a dominant win from pole at Brands Hatch. Trieste remained very consistent through the early season, winning two races at Thruxton, but bad luck and poor qualifying hurt the end of the season, and he finished the year third in the standings, 24 points off Corne Van Kessel.

Trieste was retained by Goyaike for the 2022 season. Alongside this, he was signed by Andretti Autosport to run a partial schedule in the PPG Paints IndyCar Series, mainly focused around road courses, but including the Indy 500. Trieste again started strongly, finishing no lower than 4th (and taking two wins) over the first six races. Things got even better over in America, as Trieste pulled off a major upset to win at Road America, in just his second IndyCar start. Trieste remained strong throughout his IndyCar schedule, finishing second in Sturgeon Bay, but would unfortunately crash out of the Indy 500 when his left-front suspension failed. Also in 2022, Goyaike Performance would attempt the Snetterton 300 using a Ford Mustang leased from Simtek. Trieste made the race, and performed very well, finishing 19th. Back in BTCC, Trieste endured a tough spell in the summer, but rebounded at Silverstone, taking another win. A fourth win of the year at Snetterton gave Trieste an 18-point lead heading into the final round. He performed strongly in the final round, finishing 5th, 6th, and 2nd, allowing him to take home his first career championship.

In November 2022, Trieste was named as one of the drivers participating in the 2022 Race of Champions.

## Personal Life:

As the son of an influential Italian businessman and politician, Trieste’s first marriage was arranged as a political alliance. Trieste married a Dutch banker’s daughter, Ceylin Bekken, in August 2000. Neither party was particularly loyal, and they agreed to bring their marriage to an end in June 2001. Trieste was given free reign of his personal life after this embarrassing failure, and married his current wife, Zina Fragnière, whom he had met during his skiing days, in January 2003. In February 2005, they welcomed their first child, Gianluca Trieste, who currently races in the Tourtel F2 Series.

## Career as an Author:

In June 2022, Trieste announced that his first book, the autobiographical "Fortuna Cieca" (blind luck), would be on sale by the end of the year. This book focuses on his skiing career. Trieste also co-wrote Lorenzo Giacolli's non-fiction book "Bellezza e Passione: Una Storia dell'Automobilismo Italiano" (Beauty and Passion: A History of Italian Motoring). Trieste has hinted that he has began work on an autobiographical description of his racing career, but has made it clear the book will not be complete for as long as he is racing.