Gelael started racing in 2005, where he became the navigator of his dad Ricardo in Rally of Indonesia. In 2007, he set a record from MURI for being the youngest racing navigator at the age of 10.[2]
Karting
In 2011, he competed in the Asian Karting Open Championship – Formula 125 Senior Open 2011, finishing third in the overall standings.[3]
Lower formulae
Gelael began his car racing career in his native continent, competing in the Formula Pilota China in 2012. He finished his debut season fourth in the overall standings and second in the "Best Asian Trophy" standings.[4] He raced for the BVM team in the last round of the 2012 Formula Abarth season at Monza.[5]
In 2014, Gelael signed with Carlin for the 2014 season.[8] On 10 May 2014, he scored his first ever point in the championship, finishing 10th and therefore scoring one point in the Pau Grand Prix.[9] He finished the season in 18th position with 25 points.[10]
In 2016, Gelael competed full-time in the GP2 Series with Campos Racing, partnering Mitch Evans.[17] At Catalunya, he finished 19th in the feature race having started from 22nd on the grid. He scored his first podium at the Red Bull Ring, where he finished second behind his teammate Evans, who won the race.[18]
Gelael raced for Prema Racing in the 2018 season, joining Dutch driver Nyck de Vries.[20] In the Monaco Grand Prix, he scored his only podium for the season, finishing second in the feature race. He failed to score points for the rest of the season following his podium finish. He placed 15th with 29 points in the overall standings.
Due to a string of accidents and technical failures, followed by Gelael's seldom points-scoring performances in FIA Formula 2 Championship that contributed to poor seasons, Gelael's father Ricardo Gelael announced that his son will no longer continue racing in Formula 2 after the 2020 season.[22]
Gelael had his first experience of Formula One machinery, driving the Toro Rosso STR12 at the in-season test after the 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix, completing 78 laps.[23] He continued to drive for Toro Rosso in a testing capacity throughout the 2017 season, including tests at the Hungaroring and Yas Marina Circuit as well as Friday practice appearances in Singapore, Malaysia, the United States and Mexico.[24] He continued his association with Toro Rosso during the 2018 season, appearing at testing days in Spain, Hungary and Abu Dhabi, and at the Friday practice session of the United States Grand Prix.[25][26][27] In 2019, Gelael again took part in the post-season tyre test for Toro Rosso in Abu Dhabi.[28]
Following the conclusion to his time in Formula 2, Gelael returned to the ALMS for the entirety of the 2021 campaign, driving for Jota Sport alongside Formula E drivers Stoffel Vandoorne and Tom Blomqvist in the LMP2 category. He finished second and fifth in Dubai and won both races in Abu Dhabi, which placed him second in the standings.[32]
The Indonesian's main focus for 2021 would lie in the World Endurance Championship, where he once again partnered Vandoorne and Blomqvist at Jota Sport.[33] Following a pair of podiums at the beginning of the season, a strong performance from the team would see the trio finish second in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.[34][35] Despite rounding off the season with two further appearances on the rostrum, Gelael and his teammates would miss out on the title to Team WRT, who had managed to win the final three races, which left Jota second in the LMP2 results.[35] Following the end of the season, Gelael described the season as having been "really good", whilst equally ruing the team's missed opportunities to win races.[36]
#31 Oreca 07 from Team WRT driven by Robin Frijns, Rene Rast and Sean Gelael
2022: Adding victories
In 2022 Gelael continued to race in the World Endurance Championship, switching teams to previous year's champions WRT to drive alongside Robin Frijns and René Rast.[38][39] After starting the season with a strong second place at a rain-shortened race in Sebring, the Indonesian took his maiden win in the category at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.[40][41] Dramatic scenes would occur at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as, having started from pole due to an impressive lap from Frijns, the team was forced to retire with hours to go after the Dutchman had made an error and collided with the barriers.[42] The outfit was set back further in Monza, where a twelfth place following a radiator issue made them miss out on points for the second race in a row. At the penultimate race in Fuji, Gelael, Frijns and substitute teammate Laurens Vanthoor managed to win the race, having held off advances from the Nr. 38 Jota car in the dying embers of the event.[43] Another victory at the 8 Hours of Bahrain would not be enough to take the title, as the team lost out to Jota by 21 points.[44]
2023: GT3 debut
At the start of 2023, Gelael teamed up with Valentino Rossi and three other drivers to compete in the Dubai 24 Hour event, driving a BMW M4 GT3 for WRT.[45] The lineup experienced a positive weekend, completing a double-podium for the team by finishing third.[46][47]
Gelael is the only son of the owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken's Indonesian franchise and former rally driver Ricardo Gelael, and the youngest child of actress Rini S Bono.[49] He is the cousin of Indonesian tennis player Justin Barki. His late grandfather Dick Gelael is the founder of Gelael Supermarket and Multi Food Indonesia.
Indonesian
FIA Silver
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