Jesús Ángel Pareja Mayo (born 6 March 1955) is a retired Spanish racing driver. Pareja drove in the FIA World Sports-Prototype Championship, the Spanish Touring Car Championship and Global GT Championship.

The 1990 Montreal incident

Pareja was involved in a massive accident during the 1990 WSPC round at Montreal. On his 59th lap driving a Porsche 962C entered by (and shared with) Walter Brun, he hit a fragment of a manhole cover which had been torn out of the ground by a car further ahead. Several cars hit the debris but Pareja was especially unfortunate. His fuel tank was ruptured and the car immediately burst into flames. Remarkably, the marshals were able to put the fire out and rescue Pareja.

Later career

Pareja was a winner of the Le Mans 24 hours in the GT2 class in 1994.

From 1999, Pareja had been involved with the running of the European GT Championship]and the Spanish Formula Three Championship. He is the founder and CEO of GT Sport which was created in 1998 and runs the International GT Open and the Euroformula Open. Jesús made select appearances on the racing circuit, with one of the most memorable being the 2007 Martini Legends race in Barcelona. There, he raced alongside motorsport icons such as the legendary Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi, a two-time Formula 1 world champion; the French endurance specialist Henri Pescarolo, celebrated for his victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans; and the Spanish driver Marc Gené. For this event, Jesús drove the iconic Porsche 917—the same car David Piper piloted in the classic film Le Mans, starring Steve McQueen.

A decade later, in 2017, the World Motor Sport Council gave GT Sport the green light during its Vienna meeting to organize both a European Touring Car Championship (TC Open) and an annual 1,000-kilometer endurance race (GT Open 1000).

The following year, Pareja received the prestigious “Gold Badge” from the Royal Spanish Automobile Federation, honoring his achievements as both a driver and a key figure in promoting the sport.

Racing results 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1985 Ducados Obermaier Racing Jürgen Lässig Hervé Regout Porsche 956 Gr. C1 357 8th 8th 1986 Brun Motorsport Joël Gouhier Oscar Larrauri Porsche 962C Cr. C1 360 2nd 2nd 1987 Brun Motorsport Oscar Larrauri Uwe Schäfer Porsche 962C Cr. C1 40 DNF DNF 1988 Repsol Brun Motorsport Uwe Schäfer Massimo Sigala Porsche 962C C1 372 7th 7th 1989 Brun Motorsport Walter Brun Oscar Larrauri Porsche 962C C1 242 DNF DNF 1990 Repsol Brun Motorsport Walter Brun Oscar Larrauri Porsche 962C C1 353 DNF DNF 1991 Brun Motorsport Walter Brun Oscar Larrauri Porsche 962C C2 338 10th 10th 1992 Euro Racing Cor Euser Charles Zwolsman Lola T92/10-Judd C1 50 DNF DNF 1993 Jack Leconte Larbre Compétition Pierre de Thoisy Jack Leconte Porsche 911 Carrera RSR C4 301 16th 2nd 1994 Larbre Compétition Dominique Dupuy Carlos Palau Porsche 911 Carrera RSR LMGT2 308 8th 1st 1995 Société Larbre Compétition Érik Comas Jean-Pierre Jarier Porsche 911 GT2 Evo LMGT1 64 DNF DNF 1996 Roock Racing Team Dominic Chappell Jean-Pierre Jarier Porsche 911 GT2 Evo LMGT1 93 DNF DNF 1997 Pacific Racing Ltd. Eliseo Salazar Harri Toivonen BRM P301-Nissan LMP 6 DNF DNF

References