Nicolai Elghanayan

Nicolai Nourollah Elghanayan^[1] (born February 27, 1994, in Laguna Beach, California) is an American sports car driver and graduate of USC School of Architecture. Elghanayan currently races a KTM X-BOW in the Blancpain GT World Challenge America GT4 America class with MarcoPolo Motorsports.

Nicolai Elghanayan
Elghanayan in September 2018
Nationality	American
Born	(1994-02-27) February 27, 1994 (age 31) Laguna Beach, California, (USA)
Blancpain GT World Challenge America career
Current team	MarcoPolo Motorsports
Car number	71
Starts	15
Wins	1
Previous series
2016	Lotus Cup USA
Championship titles
2016 2017	Lotus Cup USA Lotus Cup USA

Early career

Elghanayan began racing with his father, Jeff, who previously raced in IMSA.^[2] The two started competing together in the Lotus Cup USA, where Nicolai earned the “Most Improved Driver” award in 2015, then his class championships in 2016 and 2017.^[3]

Blancpain GT World Challenge America

After three years of competition in Lotus Cup USA, Elghanayan advanced to the Pirelli World Challenge, now the Blancpain GT World Challenge America, at the end of the 2017 season, competing in the TC class. He returned for a partial season in the GTS class, earning one win, three additional podium finishes, and two pole positions.^[4] His strongest result weekend of note was the Lime Rock Park double header, where he earned both pole positions, his first win, and an additional podium. It was announced in January 2019 that Elghanayan would run his first full Blancpain GT World Challenge America, running a KTM X-BOW in the GT4 America class with MarcoPolo Motorsports.^[5]

Charity work

In 2018, Elghanayan and his father Jeff raised $39,000^[6] for the Tahirih Justice Center, a non-profit national organization that provide legal services, policy advocacy, and training and education to protect immigrant women and girls fleeing gender-based violence. The father and son pair auctioned off VIP experiences at race events, raising enough funds to protect seven women from abuse. In January 2019, Elghanayan again auctioned off a VIP race weekend experience raising $21,000 for the Children's Hospital of Orange County, a facility Nicolai once attended as a patient.^[7]

Personal life

Elghanayan graduated from USC School of Architecture in 2018 and is currently working full-time at an architecture firm when not racing.^[3]

Motorsports career results

Lotus Cup USA

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Rank	Points
2015		Lotus Exige	Trophy	CHW 3	CHW 3	SMM 3	SMM 2	AUS	AUS	LAG 3	LAG 2	THU 1	THU 2	BUT 1	BUT 2	ACS	ACS	THC	THC	2nd	183
2016	Muellerized	Lotus Exige	Trophy	WILL 5	WILL 1	BUT 1	BUT 1	LAG 1	LAG 1	THU 1	THU 1	SMM 1	SMM 3	SON 2	SON 1	THC 1	THC			1st
2017	Marco Polo Motorsports	Lotus Exige	Trophy	AUS 3	AUS 1	CHW 2	CHW DNS	ACS 1	ACS 1	SON 1	SON 1	BUT 1	BUT 1	BUT 1	BUT 1					1st

Pirelli World Challenge (Blancpain GT America)

Year	Team	Car	Class	Championship	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Rank	Points
2017	Muellerized	Lotus Exige	TC		VIR	VIR	MOS	MOS	LRP	LRP	UMC	UMC	AUS	AUS	LAG NC	LAG 13
2018	Marco Polo Motorsports	KTM X-BOW	GTS	Sprint + SprintX	STP	STP	AUS 10	AUS 6	VIR	VIR	MOS	MOS	LRP 1	LRP 3	RAM 9	RAM 13	POR NC	POR 9	UMC 12	UMC 3	WGI 2	WGI 5	22nd	80
2019	Marco Polo Motorsports	KTM X-BOW	GTS	Sprint	STP DNS	STP 6	LBGP 8	VIR 4	VIR 5	MOS 1	MOS 6	SON 7	SON 7	WGI	WGI	RAM	RAM	LAS	LAS

KTM X-BOW Battle

Year	Race	Team	Car	Class	R1 Position	R2 Position
2018	GT4 Sprint, Misano, Italy	Razoon-More Than Racing	KTM X-BOW	SPX	RET	2

24H Series

Year	Race	Team	Car	Class	Drivers	Overall Position	Position in Class
2019	Dubai 24 Hour	Reiter Engineering	KTM X-BOW	SPX	Adam Galas (AM) Jan Krabec (AM) Nicolai Elghanayan (SEMI PRO) Benjamin Mazatis (SEMI PRO)	Mech.	Mech.

2018 GT4 Central European Cup

Year	Race	Team	Car	Class	Drivers	Overall Position	Class Position
2018	Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort, Netherlands	True Racing – Reiter Engineering	#23 KTM X-BOW GT4	Pro/Am	Sergej Pavlovec David Klar Laura Kraihamer Mads Siljehaug Nicolai Elghanayan	RET	RET