Yvan Muller

If you’re a fan of touring car racing in the 2000’s to 2010’s, chances are you’ve heard of Yvan Muller. Muller is considered by many as one of the greatest touring car drivers in history, boasting plenty of success in both the national and international racing scene.

Muller rose to fame as one of the superstar drivers in the British Touring Car Championship. Leading Vauxhall’s efforts in the turbulent BTC Touring era, Muller won the title in 2003 and finished runner-up four times to other BTCC legends such as Jason Plato, James Thompson and Matt Neal.

His success allowed him to move up to the world scene in 2006. It was in the World Touring Car Championship where Muller truly established himself as one of the greats.

Muller was crowned as the World Touring Car champion for a record of four times. SEAT gave Muller his first world title in 2008, followed by three titles with Chevrolet in 2010, 2011 and 2013. He also finished runner-ups a staggering seven times. 

Outside of touring cars, Muller also tried his hands on various forms of motorsport categories. One of them was stock cars, which happened when Muller was invited by Jerome Galpin and former karting rival Éric Hélary to race in EuroNASCAR’s first oval race at Tours in 2012.

The non-championship event sees Muller race the No. 100 Convergence Camaro for Still Racing. He finished third in Race 2, behind Hélary and eventual champion Ander Vilariño.

For twelve years, that’s all that Muller wrote in stock cars. However, 2025 sees an unexpected twist in the career of the Frenchman.

Muller had decided to enter his team M Racing into the 2025 EuroNASCAR season. M Racing’s initial plan is to have his nephew – and fellow touring car great – Yann Ehrlacher and series up-and-comer Thomas Toffel drive the No. 34 Chevrolet Camaro.

Unfortunately, there is a problem. Ehrlacher is also scheduled to compete in TCR World Tour in 2025 and TCR World’s regulations states that their drivers are not allowed to race in any of the tracks scheduled to host a TCR World round.

One of the tracks happens to be Circuit Ricardo Tormo, the site of EuroNASCAR’s season opener. So, Muller steps into the cockpit once more as a substitute driver for Ehrlacher, earning himself his first championship start in the series.

What followed is nothing short of incredible. Despite already retiring for more than a few years, Muller’s skills haven’t diminished a single bit.

This was best shown when he took a surprise podium finish in his very first championship race. Muller, ever the crafty veteran, masterfully fended off countless challenges from EuroNASCAR’s regining champion Vittorio Ghirelli.

This feat allowed Muller to become the oldest EuroNASCAR PRO podium finisher in history at the age of 55 years and 239 days.

Muller is adamant that his 2025 Valencia outing will be a one-off. However, with M Racing announcing plans to enter a second car in the championship, who knows if Muller is itching to make a return in the future…