Harry Gottsacker (born July 28, 1999) is an American racing driver who currently competes for

Bryan Herta Autosport Bryan Herta Autosport is an American auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series and the Michelin Pilot Challenge. It is owned by former IndyCar driver Bryan Herta. The team won the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with driver Dan Wheldon. In 201 ...

in the TCR class of the

Michelin Pilot Challenge The Michelin Pilot Challenge is a grand touring and touring car racing series run by the International Motor Sports Association. Originating from the Canadian Motorola Cup, the series was taken over by Grand-Am in 2001 to become the Grand-Am Cup ...

Career

Early career

Gottsacker was introduced to motorsports through his grandfather, who brought him to

drag racing Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, mos ...

events when Gottsacker was young. Gottsacker began racing himself through

karting Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size motor ...

at age 13, competing in a wealth of SKUSA-sanctioned championships. At 14, he was selected to represent the United States at the

KZ2 KZ2 is a kart racing class using 125 cc water-cooled two-stroke engines yielding about . The engines are equipped with a 6-speed gearbox. Z2 is the second fastest of the KZ karting racing categories, and technical regulations are similar to faster ...

World Championship. Despite graduating from full-time karting at the end of 2017, Gottsacker continues to compete to maintain sharpness during the winter offseason.

Rallycross

For 2016, Gottsacker embarked upon a part-time campaign in the

Global Rallycross Global Rallycross (known as Red Bull Global Rallycross for sponsorship reasons) was a rallycross series operated by businessmen Colin Dyne in conjunction with Sponsor RedBull. The series ran for seven seasons, primarily in North America, from 201 ...

Championship, driving in the GRC Lites class for PMG Rallysport. In his rookie season, he registered five starts and a best finish of 5th, at both the

Fair Park Fair Park is a recreational and educational complex in Dallas, Dallas, Texas, United States, located immediately east of Downtown Dallas, downtown. The area is registered as a Dallas Landmark and National Historic Landmark; many of the building ...

and

Marine Corps Air Station New River Marine Corps Air Station New River is a United States Marine Corps helicopter and tilt-rotor base in Jacksonville, North Carolina, in the eastern part of the state. In 1972, the airfield was named McCutcheon Field for General Keith B. McCut ...

events. Gottsacker ended the season 13th in the points classification, level on points with teammate

Parker Chase Parker B. Chase (born February 22, 2001) is an American professional racing driver who competes full-time in the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Michelin Pilot Challenge and driving the No. 98 Hyundai Veloster N TCR for Bryan Herta ...

Sports car racing

Alongside his Rallycross debut, Gottsacker completed a half-season with Performance Motorsports Group in the

Pirelli World Challenge 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 2 ...

for 2016. Driving a Ginetta G55 GT4, he finished a season-best fifth place 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 ...

, finishing 13th in the GTS classification. Gottsacker expanded his relationship with

Ginetta Ginetta Cars Limited is a British specialist builder of racing and sports cars based in Garforth, Leeds, West Yorkshire. History 20th century Ginetta was founded in 1958 by four Walklett brothers (Bob, Ivor, Trevers and Douglas) in Woodbridge, ...

the following season, joining the marque's Young Driver Development Program for 2017. The first class, which included Gottsacker and fellow American driver Parker Chase, made up the backbone of

Century Motorsport Century Motorsport is a professional motor racing team based in Fenny Compton, Warwickshire, in the United Kingdom. They currently participate in the Ginetta GT4 Supercup, the British GT Championship The British GT Championship is a sports ...

's factory-backed Ginetta GT3 entry into the 2017 British GT Championship. Joining team boss

Nathan Freke Nathan Freke (born 8 September 1983) is a racing driver. He was the 2006 British Formula Ford Champion. Freke has held four British Kart Racing Championship Titles and in 2005 became the only driver ever to win an FIA/CIK Superkart Race in a Di ...

, Gottsacker would only compete in the first three rounds of the campaign, taking the Silver class victory in the opening round at

Oulton Park Oulton Park is a hard surfaced Race track, track used for motor racing, close to the village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England, from Winsford, from Chester city centre, from Northwich and from Warrington, with a nearby rail connection a ...

. Shortly before the round at

Snetterton Snetterton is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. The village is about east-northeast of Thetford and southwest of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of . The United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census recorded a parish population ...

, Chase and Gottsacker both withdrew from the program, citing a desire to pursue other motorsport ventures. Following his short tenure in British GT, Gottsacker began an additional part-time campaign in the Pirelli World Challenge, returning to Performance Motorsports Group. Entered into the GTSA class for the opening round at St. Pete, he scored the class victory in the second race of the weekend. In subsequent appearances in 2017, he was classified as a Pro driver, only eligible for the GTS class championship at large. Gottsacker returned to the championship 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 ...

, taking his first overall GTS podium at

Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a road course auto racing facility located in Troy Township, Morrow County, Ohio, United States, just outside the village of Lexington, Ohio, Lexington. It hosts a number of racing series such as IndyCar Series, Indy ...

the following month. In May of that year, Gottsacker made his debut 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 ...

, pairing with Chase in a TRG-entered

Porsche 911 GT3 R The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a range of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS. The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national ...

in the GTD class. For 2018, Gottsacker stepped up to a full-time drive in the Pirelli World Challenge, joining Racers Edge Motorsports. The move was accompanied by a change in manufacturer, with Gottsacker piloting a GT4-homologated

SIN R1 The SIN R1 is a sports car made by Bulgarian manufacturer SIN Cars. Background Rosen Daskalov, the founder of SIN Cars & former racing driver, was working with a British business partner in the United Kingdom in 2012. After disagreements they ...

, once again in the GTS class. He scored his first podium of the season at

COTA Cota or COTA may refer to: People Surname * Ava Michelle Cota (born 2002), American actress * Chad Cota (born 1971), American football player * Chase Cota (born 1999), American football player *Ed Cota (born 1976), American basketball player * H ...

in March, beginning his SprintX campaign on a high note. After a difficult round 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 ...

and a pair of strong finishes at Lime Rock, Gottsacker would score his first GTS victory at

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

. After taking pole for the first race of the weekend, he would win race two, holding a nine-second gap over the second-placed

Panoz Avezzano The Panoz Avezzano is an American front-engine, rear-drive, V8-powered sports car manufactured in Georgia by Panoz, LLC. Intended for sale both as a road car and as a homologated racing vehicle, the racing-configured Avezzano GT4 was first ente ...

of Ian James and Matt Keegan. Gottsacker added another victory in the final round of the season at

Utah Motorsports Campus Utah Motorsports Campus is a race track facility located in Grantsville, Utah, Grantsville near Tooele, Utah, Tooele, Utah, United States. It operated under the name of Miller Motorsports Park from April 2006 until October 2015. The course has h ...

, but would miss out on the GTS class title by three points to

James Sofronas James Sofronas (born September 9, 1968) is an American racing driver and the founder of Global Motorsports Group. Motorsports career Sofronas began his racing career in the early 1990s, purchasing a Nissan NX 2000 which was eligible for the S ...

and Alex Welch. To close his 2018 campaign, Gottsacker joined

Extreme Speed Motorsports Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) was an American auto racing team based out of Riviera Beach, Florida, Riviera Beach, Florida. Founded by Scott Sharp and Patrón CEO Ed Brown (racing driver), Ed Brown, the team competed in the FIA World Endurance ...

in the

IMSA Prototype Challenge IMSA Prototype Challenge (formerly IMSA Prototype Lites) was a racing series featuring two classes of single-seat prototype cars racing simultaneously. The series was sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). Most races we ...

, finishing fourth in a one-off appearance at

Road Atlanta Road Atlanta (known for sponsorship reasons as Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta) is a road course located just north of Braselton, Georgia, United States. The facility is utilized for a wide variety of events, including professional and amateur spo ...

alongside co-driver Max Hanratty. 2019 saw Gottsacker swap manufacturers once again, joining ST Racing's

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

entry into the new

GT4 America Series The GT4 America Series is a sports car racing series based in the United States. In 2019, the series was relaunched with the explicit GT4 title, following the alignment in 2017 of the Pirelli World Challenge series "GTS" class with SRO GT4, and t ...

following the dissolution of the Pirelli World Challenge at the end of 2018. He and co-driver Jon Miller competed in the West Pro-Am sub-classification, taking the title at year's end after winning six of the ten races on the schedule. Sweeping the weekends at COTA and

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, alongside one each at Laguna Seca and Portland, the duo claimed the title by a sizable 68 points over the sister BMW of Samantha Tan and Jason Wolfe. The following season, Gottsacker paired with Nick Wittmer, entering the championship's Silver Cup class. The duo collected four race victories, with two class wins at COTA and one each at VIR and

, en route to a second-place points finish. The championship came down to the final race of the season, with Gottsacker and Wittmer falling six points short of champions

Jarett Andretti Jarett Andretti (born December 13, 1992) is an American racing driver from Charlotte, North Carolina. He is the son of IndyCar and NASCAR driver John Andretti, and the grandson of Aldo Andretti, the brother of Mario Andretti. He is also the second ...

and Colin Mullan. Gottsacker returned to a reduced GT4 schedule in 2021, making only a one-off appearance for ST Racing at Road America. Joining fellow Hyundai TCR driver

Tyler Maxson Tyler Maxson (born October 12, 2004) is an American racing driver. Maxson was crowned champion in the TC America Series in consecutive seasons, becoming the youngest ever winner of the TCA class in 2019 before taking the TCR-class championship t ...

, the duo rebounded from a difficult first race to take the Silver Cup victory in the second race of the weekend. 2022 saw Gottsacker continue his relationship with the team, joining the team's customer debut of the BMW M4 GT3 at the 24 Hours of Dubai. Later that year, Gottsacker took part in the

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 CrowdStrike. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their and ...

and

Indianapolis 8 Hours Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County. Indianapolis is situated in the state's central till plain region along the west fork ...

with the team, winning the Silver class in the latter as the only entrant. In early 2022, Gottsacker made his debut at the

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race for Sports car racing, sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in S ...

, joining

Mühlner Motorsport Mühlner Motorsport is a Belgium, Belgian auto racing team competing in the FIA GT1 World Championship.Alec Udell and Ugo de Wilde, the team finished ninth in the

LMP3 A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is a type of sports prototype race car used in various races and championships, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series, and Asian Le M ...

class following an accident. Gottsacker returned to GT4 racing in 2023, joining Chandler Hull in a Silver Cup entry for STR38 Motorsports in the

2023 GT4 America Series The 2023 Pirelli GT4 America Series is the fifth season of the GT4 America Series. The season began on April 2 at Sonoma Raceway and ended on October 8 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Calendar The preliminary calendar was released on July 29, 2 ...

, beginning with the round at

NOLA Motorsports Park NOLA Motorsports Park is a full service motorsports facility in Avondale, Louisiana approximately twenty minutes from downtown New Orleans. NOLA Motorsports Park includes an FIA Grade 2 road course, one of the largest (fully-lit) outdoor kart ...

. Through ten races, Gottsacker claimed two class podium finishes, ending the season eighth in the Silver Cup championship.

TCR

To begin 2019, Gottsacker was contracted to drive the new-for-2019 Hyundai Veloster N TCR, serving as one of Hyundai's North America-based factory drivers for the

2019 Michelin Pilot Challenge The 2019 Michelin Pilot Challenge is the twentieth season of the IMSA SportsCar Challenge and the sixth season organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). Michelin is set to become the new official tire supplier of the serie ...

season. Paired with

Mason Filippi Mason Filippi (born April 23, 1998) is an American auto racing driver who competes in the TCR class of the Michelin Pilot Challenge for Bryan Herta Autosport. He previously raced for Bryan Herta Autosport, finishing the Michelin Pilot Challenge ...

, the two scored three podiums and one race victory in 2019, finishing second in the championship; 23 points adrift of the sister entry. Said victory came in dramatic fashion, after a drive-time penalty dropped the race-winning HART entry to the back of the TCR classification, elevating Filippi and Gottsacker to the race victory. Gottsacker returned to the team in 2020, paired with new co-driver Mark Wilkins. Gottsacker would match his second-place result from 2019, taking two victories and four total podiums. The duo swept the two rounds at Sebring, falling 11 points short of the sister No. 33 entry of

Gabby Chaves Gabriel Chaves (born 7 July 1993) is a Colombian-American racing driver, currently competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Michelin Pilot Challenge. He raced in the IndyCar Series and is the 2014 Indy Lights Champion. Raci ...

and Ryan Norman. The following season saw Hyundai debut the Elantra N TCR, with Gottsacker continuing to pair with Wilkins, this time behind the wheel of

's No. 33 entry. The two claimed their only victory of the season at Laguna Seca, finishing fifth in the championship. Gottsacker returned to the team in 2022, this time in the team's No. 98 entry alongside long-time teammate Parker Chase. The two scored their first victory of the season at Mid-Ohio in May, registering two total podiums en route to a fifth-place finish in the class championship. The team's reduction to three entries for

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

saw Gottsacker change co-drivers, running alongside Robert Wickens. The duo tallied seven podium finishes over the course of the 10-race season, claiming the TCR-class championship by 60 points over teammates Filippi and Wilkins without scoring a race victory. In addition, Gottsacker was also included in Hyundai North America's lineup for the 2023

Nürburgring 24 Hours The Nürburgring 24 Hours is a 24-hour annual touring car racing, touring car and Grand tourer, GT Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing event that takes place on a combination of the Nordschleife ("North Loop") and the GP-Strecke ("Gr ...

, where he'd make his debut alongside fellow factory drivers

Michael Lewis Michael Monroe Lewis (born October 15, 1960) Gale Biography In Context. is an American author and financial journalist. He has also been a contributing editor to '' Vanity Fair'' since 2009, writing mostly on business, finance, and economics. ...

, Mason Filippi, and Taylor Hagler. In the months leading up to the race, Gottsacker chronicled his journey to the race in a Sportscar365 column, outlining the team's efforts in the Nürburgring Endurance Series VT2 class with the Hyundai i30 N. Gottsacker's sophomore effort at the 2024 edition of the event yielded a class victory, where he scored a TCR-class triumph alongside Filippi, Wilkins, and Bryson Morris.

Personal life

Gottsacker is an avid

fisher Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral. Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to: Places Australia * Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland *Elec ...

, and received his

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of Scouting America. Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Scout rank has been earned by over ...

certification while in high school.

Racing record

Career summary

^* Season still in progress.

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

References

External links

Harry Gottsacker
at Motorsport.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Gottsacker, Harry 1999 births Living people Global RallyCross Championship drivers British GT Championship drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 21st-century American sportsmen 12 Hours of Sebring drivers 24H Series drivers Bryan Herta Autosport drivers Extreme Speed Motorsports drivers Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers Racing drivers from San Antonio Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers Hyundai Motorsport drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers TCR World Tour drivers