David Graeme Pittard (born 29 January 1992) is a British racing driver who competes in the

Nürburgring Endurance Series The Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS, German: ''Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie'') is an organisation of motorsport clubs of which each hosts one event of a nine-race series held on the Nürburgring, Nürburgring Nordschleife. Participants ...

and IMSA SportsCar Championship. He was part of the Frikadelli Racing Team entry which won the

2023 24 Hours of Nürburgring __FORCETOC__ The 2023 Nürburgring 24 Hours (officially known as ADAC TotalEnergies 24h Race at the Nürburgring Nordschleife for sponsorship reasons) was the 51st running of the Nürburgring 24 Hours, which took place over 20–21 May 2023. Th ...

Early life

Pittard studied Motorsport Engineering at Brunel University.

Career

Early career

Pittard began his circuit racing career in 2010, taking part in the Britain-based

Toyota MR2 The Toyota MR2 is a line of two-seat, MR layout, mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive sports cars manufactured in Japan and marketed globally by Toyota from 1984 until 2007 over three generations: W10 (1984–1989), W20 (1989–1999) and W30 (2000–20 ...

Racing Series, which he would return to in 2011. He would add a campaign in the BRSCC Sports 2000 Pinto Championship during the 2011 season, before taking on the

Britcar Britcar is an endurance sports car racing and touring car racing series in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1997, as a result of a discussion in a Nürburgring bar between Willie Moore and James Tucker. Folklore has it that James Tucker and J ...

Endurance Series in 2012. Ahead of the 2013 season, Pittard announced that he'd be taking part in the

Ginetta GT5 Challenge The Ginetta GT5 Challenge, currently known as the Protyre Motorsport Ginetta GT5 Challenge for sponsorship reasons (It has also been previously known as the Ginetta 20 Challenge) is a one-make racing series based in the United Kingdom. The seri ...

. In his opening season of competition, Pittard scored his maiden victory in the first race of the weekend at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

, taking two more alongside seven podiums en route to a fifth-place finish in the overall championship. Owing to his performance in the championship, Pittard was elevated to

BRDC The British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) is an exclusive invitation-only members club for racecar drivers who are judged to have achieved success in the upper levels of motor sport for a number of seasons. Except under exceptional circumstances, me ...

Rising Star status at season's end. Pittard moved to the

Ginetta GT4 Supercup The Ginetta GT4 Supercup is a one-make racing, Sports car racing series based in the United Kingdom, using identical Ginetta G50 and G55 sports cars. The championship currently supports the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). The cham ...

in 2014, driving for

SV Racing SV, Sv, sv, etc. may refer to: Places and language * El Salvador, ISO 3166-1 country code SV * South Vietnam, an extinct state * Svalbard, Norway, FIPS country code SV * Swedish language, ISO 639-1 language code sv * Silicon Valley, a region ...

. After claiming a podium each in the opening two weekends, Pittard took his first victory of the season at Thruxton in May. Pittard doubled up with a victory during the second race as well, elevating him to first in the championship. He would claim another victory at

Croft Croft may refer to: Occupations * Croft (land), a small area of land, often with a crofter's dwelling * Crofting, small-scale food production * Bleachfield, an open space used for the bleaching of fabric, also called a croft Locations In the Uni ...

before sweeping the Silverstone weekend, eventually finishing second in the championship to Charlie Robertson. Following his strong rookie season, SV Racing team boss Danny Buxton stated that he believed Pittard had a bright future in GT racing. After returning to the Ginetta GT4 Supercup in 2015 for a pair of races, as well as a one-off in the North America-based FARA Endurance Championship, Pittard stepped away from professional racing until 2017.

GT racing

2017 saw Pittard return to pro racing, taking part in the British GT Championship with Lanan Racing. In line with his Ginetta roots, Pittard and co-driver Alex Reed took part in the GT4 class with a Ginetta G55 GT4, taking part in the Silver sub-class. The duo claimed their first and only victory of the season at Oulton Park; one of four podium finishes as they finished third in the class championship. Pittard supplemented his British GT campaign with historic racing, taking part in the FIA Masters Historic Sports Car Championship. 2018 saw Pittard travel to Germany, taking on a drive in the

for Walkenhorst Motorsport. In just his third race behind the wheel of a GT3 car, he took pole position for the sixth race of the season. Pittard cited his decision to take up a drive in the series as an effort to attract the attention of a manufacturer for a factory drive. Ahead of the 2019 season, Pittard signed a full-time contract with Walkenhorst, who would employ him in the Nürburgring Endurance Series,

Nürburgring 24 Hours The Nürburgring 24 Hours is a 24-hour annual touring car and GT endurance racing event that takes place on a combination of the Nordschleife ("North Loop") and the GP-Strecke ("Grand Prix track") circuits of the Nürburgring in Rhineland-Palat ...

, and

24 Hours of Spa The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their a ...

. Pittard returned to the Nürburgring in 2019, claiming further victories in the Nürburgring Endurance Series. At the end of the season, he cited his goal in the immediate future as becoming a BMW factory driver. In 2020, Pittard joined Walkenhorst for their entry into the Intercontinental GT Challenge, joining BMW factory drivers

Martin Tomczyk Martin Tomczyk (born 7 December 1981) is a German professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He was the DTM champion in 2011, third in 2007, fourth in 2006 and fifth in 2004, having won eight races. Racing career After a karti ...

and Nick Yelloly. Although the team didn't participate in the opening round at Bathurst, they claimed a podium at

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

and would finish ninth in the overall championship. The following year, Pittard would join Walkenhorst for a full season campaign in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, taking part in the Pro class. Through five races, the team would finish with just four total points, taking 28th in the championship. At the end of the season, Pittard would take part in both the BMW M Motorsport selected driver test in Spain as well as the WEC Rookie Test, where he would pilot an Aston Martin Vantage GTE. The move would be somewhat of a harbinger for Pittard, who would join

Aston Martin Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC is an English manufacturer of luxury sports cars and grand tourers. Its predecessor was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford. Steered from 1947 by David Brown, it became associated with ...

for the

2022 FIA World Endurance Championship The 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship will be the tenth season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The seri ...

. However, his status was subject to a degree of confusion in the pre-season. After initially being confirmed as a full factory driver, Aston Martin Racing later stated that he was merely contracted to the Northwest AMR team, the customer operation with which Pittard was competing in 2022, to preserve his ranking as an FIA Silver-ranked driver. Paired with

Nicki Thiim Nicki Thiim (born 17 April 1989 in Sønderborg, Denmark) is a Danish professional racing driver, and Aston Martin Racing works driver in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Biography After competing in karting, Thiim won the 2006 Danish For ...

and Paul Dalla Lana, the trio would claim their sole victory of the season during the opening round at Sebring, but registered two further podiums and finished second in the GTE Am championship. At the end-of-season BRDC awards ceremony, Pittard was handed the

Woolf Barnato Joel Woolf BarnatoPronounced Barnatoo – from Barnett too (27 September 1895 – 27 July 1948) was a British financier and racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s. He achieved three consecutive wins out of three entries in the ...

Trophy, given to the highest-placed British driver in a British car at the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

. Pittard formed a part of the Frikadelli Racing Team entry that won the

, driving alongside

Earl Bamber Earl Anderson Bamber (born 9 July 1990) is a professional racing driver from New Zealand, currently competing as a factory driver for Porsche Motorsport in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTLM class. He is the 2014 Porsche Supercup and ...

Nicky Catsburg Nicky Catsburg (born 15 February 1988 in Amersfoort) is a Dutch professional racing driver, for BMW and General Motors works driver for Corvette Racing Corvette Racing is an American auto racing team established in 1999 by General Motors and ...

, and Felipe Fernández Laser. Pittard's position in the driver lineup wasn't initially confirmed until after the

2023 24 Hours of Daytona The 2023 24 Hours of Daytona (formally the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona) was an Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance Sports car racing, sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The event was held at Dayton ...

, which he had taken part in with the Heart of Racing Team.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete GT World Challenge Europe results

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pittard, David Living people 1992 births English racing drivers Sportspeople from Hertfordshire Ginetta GT4 Supercup drivers British GT Championship drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers BMW M drivers Aston Martin Racing drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers TF Sport drivers Comtoyou Racing drivers