Alexander Gustav Lennart West (born 7 November 1965) is a Hong Kong-based Swedish businessman and racing driver. The co-owner of Garage 59, he currently competes for the McLaren customer team in the LMGT3 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
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Business ventures
Born in the Finnish capital of Helsinki, West grew up in Sweden, where he graduated from the Stockholm School of Economics in 1990, before joining Investor AB five years later as its president. After leaving the company in 2000, West established Hong Kong-based Hedge fund manager Blue Pool Capital in 2004 with Joseph Tsai.
Alongside his career in finance, West is also an avid car collector, most notably owning Felipe Massa's Ferrari F2008, a Ferrari 499P Modificata and a Ferrari FXX-K among others.
Racing career
West made his car racing debut in 2015, primarily racing in Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific, in which he scored two class wins at Sepang and finished fourth in the Trofeo Pirelli standings. During 2015, West also raced part-time in the Maserati Trofeo World Series, in which he scored a lone podium at Suzuka.
West made his GT3 debut in 2016, driving in International GT Open for Garage 59, a new team born from the ashes of CRS Racing. Aboard a McLaren 650S GT3, West scored a lone overall win at Monza with Côme Ledogar and three other podiums to take sixth in Pro-Am. During 2016, West also briefly returned to Ferrari Challenge Asia Pacific, as well as making a one-off appearance in Ferrari Challenge Europe. Returning to International GT Open for 2017, West and Ledogar took class wins at the Hungaroring and Monza to secure third in points. During 2017, West also made select appearances in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup and the Le Mans Cup with Garage 59.
Continuing with the team for 2018, West primarily raced in the Am class of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, taking wins at Silverstone and Le Castellet to secure runner-up honours. In parallel, West also raced for Ferrari-fielding Luzich Racing in International GT Open, scoring four Pro-Am podiums as he ended the season sixth in points. He also raced at the Bathurst 12 Hour for McLaren-fielding YNA Autosport, as well as racing in the FIA GT Nations Cup, representing Sweden alongside Victor Bouveng. After making his LMP3 debut with them at the Le Mans Cup season finale, West remained with AF Corse-run Spirit of Race to compete in the LMP2 class of the 2018–19 Asian Le Mans Series. In his first season in the series, West won on debut at Shanghai en route to a fifth-place points finish, despite missing the round in Thailand due to "family commitments".
In 2019, West formally joined Chris Goodwin and Andrew Kirkaldy in the leadership structure of Garage 59. The season saw West and Goodwin share a car with Chris Harris in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup, as the team switched to an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3. Racing in the Am class, the trio scored a lone class win at Le Castellet and three other podiums to once again finish runner-up in points. The following year, West and Goodwin continued to race together in the newly-renamed GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, albeit in Pro-Am. The pair took wins at Imola (with Jonny Adam) and Le Castellet (with Marvin Kirchhöfer), as well as finishing third at the 24 Hours of Spa to clinch the class title. During 2020, West also competed in select rounds of the European Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Ferrari-affiliated AF Corse, in LMGTE and LMGTE Am respectively.
Racing record
Racing career summary
† As West was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.
Complete GT World Challenge Europe results
(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete Asian Le Mans Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete European Le Mans Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete British GT Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)