Meisam “Sam” Taheri

Profile:

Meisam Taheri’s interest in automotive began at a very young age through disassembling cars and engine parts that the Taheri household owned. Young “Sam” had already started to drive at the age of 10, but it would take another decade before he began his racing career after Taheri and his family moved to the UAE.

Taheri learned his first trades in the local karting scene before he moved to race in the local Toyota, BMW, and Radical Cup series. He made his first major breakthrough when he competed in the TRD GT86 Cup in 2015, amassing several podium finishes in the sprint races on his way to finish third in the standings.

That same year, Taheri scored his first major international level victory when he won the CN2 class of the Gulf 12 Hours in Abu Dhabi. This led to Taheri’s first races in Europe as he secured a ride in Bas Koeten’s Wolf team in various European-based endurance championships.

Taheri continued to make further endurance outings in various forms of machinery in both the Middle East and Europe before he made the move to EuroNASCAR in 2017, making Sam the first – and so far only – Iranian driver to have competed in any NASCAR-sanctioned championship.

Joining forces with Lucas Lasserre and Dog Racing, Taheri initially accompanied Lasserre in the No. 95 ROCK’S Ford Mustang before he fielded his own entry – the No. 77 Portier Trading Chevrolet SS – starting from the second round at Brands Hatch. Taheri’s entry was later absorbed by RDV Competition, who gave the Iranian a chance to race RDV’s No. 28 Ford Mustang for the season finale at Zolder. 

Taheri would exit the series at the end of the year and returned to the Middle East where he competed in the regional Lamborghini Super Trofeo series, although he made a one-off return in 2019 to race CAAL Racing’s No. 31 Toyota Camry on the season opening round at Circuit Ricardo Tormo. 

Taheri continued to race in 2020 with his participation in the 24H Series before the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to halt his racing career. He has yet to make his return as of today.

Year-by-Year Statistics:

Season	Class	Car		Team		Points	Pos.
		Wins	Podiums	Poles	FL’s
		Starts	Top 5’s	Top 10’s	DNF’s
2017	Elite 1	#77 Portier Trading SS #28 micromoney.io Ford		Dog Racing RDV Competition		392	15th
		0	0	0	0
		10	0	1	0
2017	Elite 2	#95 ROCK’S Sunglasses Ford #77 Portier Trading SS #28 micromoney.io Ford		Dog Racing RDV Competition		444	13th
		0	0	0	0
		11	0	3	3
2019	Elite 2	#31 Delphix Toyota		CAAL Racing		38	36th
		0	0	0	0
		2	0	1	1

Previous Career Accomplishments:

• 2015 – NGK Racing Series Class 6 – Champion, TRD 86 Cup – Third Place

Disclaimer: Previous Career Accomplishments are courtesy of Driver Database. Unless noted on the photo, all photos are courtesy of NASCAR Whelen Euro Series / Stephane Azemard.

Last Updated: 6 March 2023