Russell Ward (born March 8, 1992) is an American racing driver who currently competes in the

IMSA SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (I ...

for

HTP Winward Motorsport HTP Winward Motorsport also known as HTP Motorsport and Winward Racing is a German-American-based auto racing team. The team mainly competes in Group GT3, GT3 based series such as the GT World Challenge Europe. The team was founded after HTP Inves ...

. Ward also serves as Winward Racing's team principal.

Career

Ward began his racing career in 2016 following several years competing in various track days alongside the

ChampCar Endurance Series The ChampCar Endurance Series is a budget class Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held on paved road race courses across North America, formerly known as the ChumpCar World Series, run by ChumpCar International Inc. Founded in 2009, ...

and

24 Hours of Lemons The 24 Hours of Lemons, sometimes styled as "24 Hours of LeMons", "24 Hours of LeMONS", or "24 Hours of LEMONS", is a series of endurance races held on paved road race courses across the United States. The series holds the Guinness World Record ...

. For 2016, he embarked on a full season campaign in the Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA with Kelly-Moss Road and Race, taking a podium finish in the final round at

Circuit of the Americas Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located in Austin, Texas, United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Grand Pr ...

. For 2017, Ward made his debut in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, pairing with Damien Faulkner in a GS-class Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport fielded by CJ Wilson Racing. In the duo's opening race at Daytona, they finished third in the Grand Sport class; Ward's first podium in IMSA-sanctioned competition. Through ten races that season, Ward and Faulkner captured just the one podium, finishing 8th in the Grand Sport classification. 2018 saw Ward take part in a variety of series, with a particular focus on the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. Near the end of 2017, Winward joined forces with HTP Motorsport, paving the way for the team's transition to

Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GmbH, commonly known as AMG (Aufrecht, Melcher, Großaspach), is the high-performance subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz AG. AMG independently hires engineers and contracts with manufacturers to customize Mercedes-Benz AMG v ...

machinery for 2018. Driving alongside Faulkner once again, the team claimed one podium through eight races, finishing 20th in the GS class standings. Ward also made one-off appearances in the Blancpain GT Series Asia, claiming a class victory and a podium finish, as well as the Pirelli World Challenge, International GT Open, DMV Gran Turismo Touring Car Cup, and

24H Series The 24H Series is a sports car racing and touring car racing series developed by Creventic and with approval from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It features Group GT3, GT3-spec cars, Group GT4, GT4-spec cars, Sports car r ...

. In 2019, Ward scored his first victory in the renamed Michelin Pilot Challenge, pairing with

factory driver Dominik Baumann in the penultimate round of the season at

Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...

. Ward had missed the round at

Road America Road America is a motorsport Road racing, road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship, Sports Car Club ...

following a crash in practice, relegating him to 16th in the overall standings. Two races in the

and a select few races in the International GT Open accompanied Ward's primary commitment in IMSA for 2019. With Winward Racing's merger with HTP Motorsport at the end of 2019, Ward was set for a wide variety of racing opportunities in 2020. Launching another full-season campaign in the Michelin Pilot Challenge, Ward collected a pair of podiums, alongside his first pole position in the series at

VIR Vir or VIR may refer to: Places * Vir (island), an island on the Croatian coast of the Adriatic Sea * Vir (municipality), the settlement on the Croatian island * Vir, Posušje, a village in Bosnia and Herzegovina * Vír, a municipality and village ...

, en route to his best ever points finish in the championship. Ward also took part in a part-time campaign in the

GT World Challenge America The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the SRO Motorsports Group since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club since 20 ...

, starting in the Pro/Am class with his father, Bryce, before jumping into the Silver Cup class for the rounds at

and

. Despite making just four starts in the Silver Cup, the lack of entries meant Ward was scored second in the season-long class championship. Ward also made his debut at the 24 Hours of Spa in October, taking second in the Silver Cup class alongside co-drivers Indy Dontje and Philip Ellis. Ward began 2021 with his debut in the

, joining

Maro Engel Maro René Engel (born 27 August 1985) is a Germans, German professional racing driver based in Monaco. He is a Mercedes-AMG factory driver since 2008 & brand ambassador since 2017. He is a FIA GT World Cup Champion (2015, 2024), Nürburgring 2 ...

, Indy Dontje, and Philip Ellis in the team's Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. In the team's first ever race in the championship, the 2021 24 Hours of Daytona, the quartet claimed class victory, taking

's first ever GTD class victory at the

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car racing, sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Flo ...

. Ward also took part in a full-season effort for the 2021 GT World Challenge America, alongside a rotating driver lineup of Ellis and

Mikaël Grenier Mikaël Grenier (born October 17, 1992) is a Canadian racing driver from Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury. Career After karting, Grenier moved to Formula BMW Americas in 2008 with Apex-HBR Racing Team, finishing fourth in points with a pole at Road Amer ...

. Grenier and Ward claimed the entry's sole race victory of the season, taking overall honors in the second race at VIR. Eight podium finishes was only enough to see Ward finish fourth in the Pro class championship, six points adrift of the Turner Motorsport duo of Robby Foley and Michael Dinan in third. A full-season effort in the

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by Stéphane Ratel Or ...

also featured in Ward's driving lineup, in which he claimed one podium through five races in the Silver Cup. As a result of his extensive exploits in

machinery during the 2021 calendar year, he was deemed the winner of the Pro-Driver GT3 category of the marque's brand-internal customer racing championship. In October 2021, Ward announced Winward's plans to conduct a full-season campaign in the

for 2022. After a slow start to the season, which included finishes outside of the top ten at Sebring, Long Beach, and Laguna Seca, the team initially believed that they'd claimed victory at Watkins Glen in June. However, the team ran afoul of IMSA's drive time restrictions and were demoted to 11th in class. The team suffered another near miss at Lime Rock, suffering a fuel pump failure on the final lap while leading. However, following three podiums in four races, two of which were back-to-back victories at Road America and Virginia International Raceway, the team entered the final round with an outside chance at scoring the GTD class championship. However, after an 11th-place finish at

Petit Le Mans Petit Le Mans (French language, French for ''Little Le Mans'') is a sports car racing, sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held annually at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, United States. The race has been held for a durat ...

, Ward and season-long co-driver Philip Ellis settled for fifth in the points classification. Ward complemented his IMSA endeavors with a part-time drive in the

. After claiming a class victory at Watkins Glen, Ward and Ellis swept the weekend at Road America, marking three race victories in a row. At the end of 2022, Ward won

's Pro-Driver GT3 award, given to the most successful FIA-Platinum, Gold, or Silver rated driver in Mercedes-AMG's GT3 machinery over the course of the calendar year. 2023 saw Ward return full-time to the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, joining Ellis and Dontje in one of the team's two Gold Cup entries. The team claimed a sole Gold Cup podium at

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, finishing seventh in the class championship. In IMSA competition, Ward claimed a GTD class victory at

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

and an additional podium at VIR, finishing tenth in the championship.

Racing record

Career summary

† Guest driver ineligible to score points.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup results

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

References

External links

Russell Ward
at Speedsport Magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Russell 1992 births Living people American racing drivers 24H Series drivers GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers International GT Open drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers GT World Challenge America drivers Mercedes-AMG Motorsport drivers Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers Le Mans Cup drivers