Elton Julián, born in Gran Canaria, is the owner of the Dragonspeed team that participates in several top-level European automobile competitions.
His name will not ring a bell to many, not even to motorsport lovers on the islands. His name is Elton Julián and although during his time as a driver he raced carrying the British and American flag for license reasons, he was born in Gran Canaria.
Elton was born on the island of Gran Canaria, where he grew up before going to Ecuador and later making the leap to the United States, where he began his career as a driver in the world of karting, winning 36 of 49 races and four championships at the beginning of the 90. Statistics that helped him make the jump to British Formula 3, where he became the youngest race winner in the history of the competition. Passing through this competition served as a bridge to access the “great circus” of motorsports in 1994: Formula 1.
Elton signed with the French team Larrouse Formula One Team as a reserve driver and completed several tests that placed him as the main candidate to occupy one of the team's two starting seats. However, bad luck crossed their path and the team closed a year later for financial reasons.
After this setback, he tried different categories with more and less luck until, just over a decade later, he decided to embark on a new adventure by creating his own team, DragonSpeed. With it, Elton Julián began to compete in the United States, where he became part of the Indycar grid, a category that was expanding in Spain thanks to the Spanish driver Álex Palou, and even participated in the 103rd edition of the Indianapolis 500. , possibly the most recognized and historic race in the world of motorsports.
With his team, the Canarian jumped into European competitions, competing mainly in the World Endurance Championship and competing in another renowned race on the automotive scene: the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In this European adventure, Elton Julián had renowned drivers such as the Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado or Pietro Fittipaldi, grandson of the Formula 1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, under his command. In addition, he met Fernando Alonso during his time at Le Mans with Toyota in 2018 and 2019.
The Canary Islander, despite being a well-known face in top-level motorsport competitions, is not frequent in appearing in the media or offering interviews, he maintains a low profile and focuses all his efforts on his team, which in just 15 years years and has accumulated plenty of experience in the best races in the world.
Who knows if, after almost three decades, that opportunity that luck took away from Elton Julián in Formula 1 will present itself again, this time with the Canarian as team director and representing the archipelago in the largest automobile competition in the world.
