Aïello won the French Karting Championship three years in a row, in 1983, 1984, and 1985. He made his car racing debut in 1988 in the Volant Avia and his professional debut in 1989 in the French Formula 3, driving for Daniel Gache Racing, with a single podium as his best result.
In 1990 Aïello won the Monaco Grand Prix Formula Three support race, finished fourth in the Macau GP for Bowman Racing, and fifth in the French F3 for Graff Racing with four wins from 11 races. He moved to International Formula 3000 for 1991 and 1992, driving for DAMS and Pacific Racing respectively, finishing 15th overall in both seasons. He took the 1992 French Formula 3 title.
In 1993 Aïello switched to the French Supertouring Championship (CFS), finishing runner-up while driving for the non-works team Oreca. He also contested the Italian Super Touring Championship, finishing 17th overall. He claimed the 1994 CFS title with five wins for the works Peugeot team in their 405 MI-16. Through Peugeot's links with Jordan Grand Prix, he tested a Jordan 194 Formula 1 car at Estoril and set the tenth fastest time.
After a third-place finish in the 1995 CFS, Aïello moved to the Super Tourenwagen Cup (STW) in Germany for 1996, driving Peugeot's new 406 model after Peugeot withdrew from the CFS. He finished third overall with three wins and also won a round of the Porsche Carrera Cup France.
Aïello took the STW title in 1997 with 11 wins, finishing 52 points ahead of BMW's Joachim Winkelhock. In 1998, his final STW season, six wins were only enough for second place — Venezuelan driver Johnny Cecotto beat him by three points. That same season, driving a Porsche 911 GT1, Aïello won the 24 Hours of Le Mans on his first attempt at the race.
For 1999 Aïello joined the BTCC with the works Nissan team in their Primera, replacing Anthony Reid. He had initially been offered a drive at Renault but rejected it because WilliamsF1, who ran the team, would not allow him to enter Le Mans. He won the BTCC title in his only season in the series, with ten wins helping him finish 16 points ahead of teammate David Leslie. Nissan took both the Manufacturers' and Teams' championships. His BTCC season earned him the National Racing Driver of the Year award at the Autosport Awards. He also entered the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans for Audi, finishing third in class in their Audi R8R.
Following Nissan's BTCC withdrawal, a potential Honda drive fell through and Aïello joined the newly revived Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters in 2000 with the Abt Sportsline team in an Audi TT-R. The Audi TT proved uncompetitive against the Mercedes-Benz CLK and Opel Astra in that first season, with a fifth place at Oschersleben as the team's best finish. He drove for Audi again at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2000 and 2001, finishing second on both occasions.
After development work on the car, 2001 brought improvement: Aïello became the first Abt driver to win in the DTM, at the Nürburgring, and added three further victories — all at the Nürburgring — in the same season.
In 2002 Aïello defeated reigning champion Bernd Schneider to take the DTM title by six points, winning 12 races. Although initially signed to drive for Audi at the 2002 24 Hours of Le Mans, he ultimately did not appear; Christian Pescatori was entered instead.
Abt Sportsline's 2003 season produced only one victory. Aïello then moved to Opel for 2004 and 2005, but the Vectra GTS proved unsuccessful and he scored no further wins. He announced his retirement at the end of 2005, aged 36, finishing ninth in his final race at Hockenheim. During his last season he tested a "breathable overall" at the Nürburgring round.
In a 2005 poll run by Motorsport Magazine, Aïello was voted the 13th best touring car driver of all time.
Aïello is married to Géraldine and has two children: a daughter named Marie and a son named Tom. He has a passion for jetskis and enjoys DJing.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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