Martin Plowman (born 3 October 1987) is a British professional racing driver from Tamworth currently competing in the

British GT Championship The British GT Championship is a sports car racing series based predominantly in the United Kingdom. The series was originally created by the British Racing Drivers' Club in 1993 and, for its first two seasons, was known as the National Sports ...

for Paddock Motorsport, which he co-founded with

Kelvin Fletcher Kelvin Warren Fletcher (born 17 January 1984) is an English actor, model, racing driver and presenter. He played Andy Sugden in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'', a role he played from 1996 until 2016. In 2019, Fletcher won the seventeenth se ...

. In

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

, he won 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 race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose w ...

in the

LMP2 A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were create ...

class and was 2013 FIA WEC World Champion in the LMP2 class for drivers and teams.

Racing career

Early career

After several extremely successful years in

karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with 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 fu ...

, Toyota signed Plowman to a 10-year contract to their young driver program. He made his professional debut in 2006 driving in Italian

Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing popular in Europe and elsewhere. Regarded as an entry-level series to motor racing, it was founded in 1971, and was a respected series where drivers can learn advanced racecraft before moving on to hig ...

for

Prema Powerteam Prema Powerteam (competing as Prema Racing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, the FIA Formula 3 Championship and European Le Mans Series and as Prema Orlen Team in the FIA World Endurance Championship) is a motorsport team from Italy. It mainl ...

, finishing 5th in the Italian Series, claiming rookie of the year. He returned to the same team and series in 2007, finishing joint 7th with Team-Mate Henkie Waldscmidt in Italian Formula Renault. A disappointing end to the campaign for the Prema Powerteam after holding 1–2 in the championship halfway through the season. Plowman was dropped from the Toyota young driver program at the end of 2007. In 2008 Plowman became an official Volkswagen junior driver where he was assigned to the newly re-formed RC Motorsport team and drove in the first seven rounds (14 races) of the

Formula Three Euroseries The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The ...

where he failed to score any points and only managed a best finish of 17th. He also drove in the

Masters of Formula 3 The Masters of Formula 3 was a Formula Three race held annually, usually at the Circuit Park Zandvoort in the Netherlands. Due to noise restrictions in the Zandvoort area, the 2007 and 2008 races were held in the Belgian circuit of Zolder. However ...

with

Signature-Plus Signatech, formerly known as Signature, is a French auto racing team and racing car constructor that competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The team won the FIA European Formula Three Cup in 1999 with Benoît Tréluyer. It won the Fr ...

where he finished 14th.

Indy Lights

In 2009 Plowman signed to drive for

Panther Racing Panther Racing was an American open wheel auto racing team. It was one of the oldest continually operating teams in the IndyCar Series. Four years in a row (2008–2011), the team finished second at the Indianapolis 500. Formation The team was ...

in the American

Firestone Indy Lights Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a progra ...

series, the feeder series to IndyCars. Martin finished 11th in the points standings in his inaugural season with Panther Racing, while achieving two top five finishes and eight top ten finishes. After the 2009 season, Martin signed on board with

AFS AFS is an initialism that may refer to: Computing * Andrew File System, a distributed networked file system ** OpenAFS, an open source implementation of the Andrew File System * Apple File Service, implementing the Apple Filing Protocol * Apple Fi ...

Andretti Autosport Andretti Autosport is an auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series, Indy Lights, Indy Pro 2000, and Formula E. The team also has a 37.5% ownership stake in the Australian Supercars Championship touring car team, Walkinshaw Andrett ...

to compete with teammate

Charlie Kimball Charles Newton Kimball (born February 20, 1985) is an American race car driver currently competing in the IndyCar Series with A. J. Foyt Enterprises He has scored a win, six podiums, and 13 top 5s. His best season result was ninth in 2013 and 20 ...

in the 2010 Indy Lights season. Plowman won from the pole to capture his first victory at the

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course 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. Mid-Ohio has also colloquially become a term for the entire north-central regi ...

. He captured another pole two races later at

Chicagoland Speedway Chicagoland Speedway is a tri-oval Oval track racing, speedway in Joliet, Illinois, southwest of Chicago. The speedway opened in 2001 and actively hosted NASCAR racing including the NASCAR Cup Series until 2019. Until 2010, the speedway has als ...

but was knocked after making contact with former teammate

Pippa Mann Pippa Mann (born 11 August 1983) is a British racing car driver, who competes in the IndyCar Series. She was born in London, United Kingdom. Career Formula Renault Mann began her career in 2003, after signing a three-race contract with Man ...

while leading the race. He finished third in the championship, one spot ahead of Kimball.

IndyCar Series

In 2011 Plowman made his

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

debut with

Sam Schmidt Motorsports The IndyCar Series operation of McLaren (competing as Arrow McLaren due to sponsorship) is based in Indianapolis and was founded by former IndyCar driver Sam Schmidt in 2001 as Sam Schmidt Motorsports. After a series of partnerships and name ch ...

as a part of their partnership with

AFS Racing AFS Racing is a professional racing team participating in the IndyCar Series and previously the Firestone Indy Lights series. It is owned by Gary Peterson, the founder of Automatic Fire Sprinklers for which it is named, and is based in Huntingto ...

. Plowman competed in the events at

Infineon Raceway Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway from 1967 to 1980 and 1982 to 2002, Golden State International Raceway in 1981 and Infineon Raceway from 2002 to 2012) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the souther ...

, and the

Baltimore Grand Prix The Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT was an IndyCar Series and American Le Mans Series race for 3 years held on a street circuit in Baltimore, Maryland. The inaugural race was held September 4, 2011. ESPN said it was the best inaugural ...

, driving the number 17 car featuring the logo of Snowball Express, a volunteer organisation created to assist the children of military personnel who have died while on active duty since the 9/11 attacks. In each event, Plowman improved upon his starting position and upon his previous results, culminating in a near top-10 finish at the Baltimore Grand Prix. In the off-season, he has continued his involvement with Snowball Express, speaking to military families and touring with a show car.

American LeMans Series

On 24 February 2012, the Conquest Endurance racing team announced Plowman,

David Heinemeier Hansson David Heinemeier Hansson is a Denmark, Danish programmer, and the creator of the popular Ruby on Rails web development Software framework, framework and the Instiki, Instiki wiki. He is also a partner at the web-based software development firm B ...

, and

Francesco Dracone Francesco Dracone (born 21 September 1983) is an Italian racing driver who currently competes in the European Le Mans Series with BHK Motorsport. Career Born in Turin, Dracone began racing professionally in the Italian Formula Three Championship ...

as co-drivers for the team's brand new entry in the

division of the

American LeMans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' hea ...

for the 2012 season. The number 37 Judd-powered,

Morgan Morgan may refer to: People and fictional characters * Morgan (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Morgan le Fay, a powerful witch in Arthurian legend * Morgan (surname), a surname of Welsh origin * Morgan (singer), ...

-badged car debuted at the 60th Anniversary running of the

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida, US. The event is the second ro ...

on 17 March 2012. The team finished 3rd in the ALMS P2 class (44th overall), despite having to replace Dracone with

Jan Heylen Jan Heylen (born 1 May 1980 in Geel) is a championship-winning Belgian racing driver, based out of Tampa, Florida. Racing career Early career (1992-2004) He began karting in 1992, and worked his way up through various feeder series through the ...

just 12 hours before the race due to illness. On 10 April 2012, the team announced a partnership with Nissan North America to supply engines for the No. 37 car for the remainder of the season, beginning at the

Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach The Grand Prix of Long Beach (known as Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach since 2019 for naming rights reasons) is an IndyCar Series race held on a street circuit in downtown Long Beach, California. Christopher Pook is the founder of the event. It wa ...

. Plowman and Heinemeier Hansson achieved their first P2 class pole and victory (3rd place overall) at the

Grand Prix of Mosport The Chevrolet Grand Prix is an annual IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race held every July at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. The race originated in 1975 and is currently a two hour and forty minute race in ...

on 22 July 2012. This was also the first victory for the Conquest Endurance team in ALMS competition.

FIA World Endurance Championship

After the 2012 season, Conquest Endurance ended its participation in the ALMS. ; 2013 season For 2013, Plowman and his Conquest co-driver Heinemeier Hansson were both hired by

OAK Racing OAK Racing is an endurance racing team specialising in sports prototypes based in Le Mans, France. In 2013 it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in LMP2 class and the 2013 FIA WEC World Champion drivers and teams on LMP2 class. In 2012 the team cont ...

to drive Morgan-Nissans in the LMP2 class on the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Interco ...

. Plowman shares the number 35 entry with co-drivers

Bertrand Baguette Bertrand Baguette (born 23 February 1986) is a Belgian professional racing driver. In 2013, he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 class and the FIA WEC LMP2 class title. In 2017, he won the final running of the Suzuka 1000km in Super GT. B ...

and Ricardo González. The 2013 season started at the

6 Hours of Silverstone The 4 Hours of Silverstone (formerly the 1000 km of Silverstone and 6 Hours of Silverstone) is an endurance sports car race held at Silverstone Circuit near the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. First run in 1976 as ...

, the

Morgan LMP2 The Pescarolo 01 is the first sports prototype racing car built entirely by French team Pescarolo Sport. It is designed to meet the LMP1 and LMP2 regulations for Le Mans Prototypes in the Le Mans Series as well as at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and ...

- Nissan No. 35 finished in fourth place (twelfth overall), to get their first 10 points for the World Championship. On the

6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (formerly the 1000 Kilometres of Spa-Francorchamps) is an endurance race for sports cars held at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. History The Spa 24 Hours had been introduced in 1924, and other races fo ...

, González, Baguette and Plowman finished in third position (for cars registered for points in the FIA World Endurance Championship), of LMP2 class (eleventh overall). Morgan Nissan LMP2

Plowman and his co-drivers Ricardo González and Bertrand Baguette from OAK Racing

- Nissan team, won the 81st edition of the

class (seventh overall). Their Morgan LMP2 covered a total of 329 laps in the

Circuit de la Sarthe The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans, also known as Circuit de la Sarthe (after the 1906 French Grand Prix triangle circuit) located in Le Mans, Sarthe, France, is a semi-permanent motorsport race course, chiefly known as the venue for the 24 ...

. The race was run in very difficult weather conditions and several serious accidents bringing out a record of twelve safety car caution periods. The 6 Hours of São Paulo were held at the

Autódromo José Carlos Pace The Autódromo José Carlos Pace, better known as Interlagos, is a motorsport circuit located in the city of São Paulo, in the neighborhood of Interlagos. It was inaugurated on 12 May 1940, by the federal intervener Adhemar de Barros. The tr ...

, on 30 August – 1 September. González, Baguette and Plowman got the second place of LMP2 category, only behind

Oreca 03 The Oreca 03 is a Le Mans Prototype built by Oreca in 2011. It is built within the revised 2011 ACO regulations for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car made its début at the 12 Hours of Sebring run by Signatech Nissan and set to race at the 2011 ...

- Nissan team ( Rusinov,

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Aus ...

and Conway). With this result the British driver got his second podium of the year. In the fifth round of 2013 season were the 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas in Austin,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

on 20–22 September. González, Baguette and Plowman obtained the seventh place of LMP2 category (eleventh overall). On 18–20 October, in the

6 hours of Fuji The 6 Hours of Fuji (formerly the Fuji 1000 Kilometres) is a sports car race held at Fuji Speedway in Oyama, Shizuoka, Japan. The race was held for the first time in 1967, and in 1977 became part of the new Fuji Long Distance Series. In 1982 a ...

, following a two-hour delay the race was restarted once more under the safety car, lapping another eight circuits before officials stopped the race again and eventually called an end to the event. The No. 35 OAK Morgan-Nissan (Baguette, González and Plowman), started in the

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

and was declared the race winner of LMP2 class (fourth overall), in the same position they started. Due to difficult weather conditions half points will be awarded for all the teams and drivers in the event. During the 6 Hours of Shanghai on 8–9 November, the No. 35 OAK Morgan-Nissan trio (Baguette, González and Plowman), qualified in fourth position and finished in third place (7th overall). With this new podium the French team extend their lead on 15 points to the final race of the championship. On the last race of the season the 6 Hours of Bahrain on 29–30 November, González, Baguette and Plowman qualified in sixth place and finished in fourth position (sixth overall). Therefore, Plowman won the 2013 FIA WEC World Championship for drivers and teams in LMP2 class.

British GT

Plowman first raced in British GT in 2015. In 2017, he joined the series full-time, partnering

in a Nissan GT4, who has remained his co-driver ever since. Plowman and Fletcher won the GT4 Pro-Am title in 2019, before sitting out the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, the pair returned with JRM but then switched to Paddock Motorsport, a team founded by Plowman and Fletcher, already competing in the BRSCC's Mazda MX5 Championship and the

GT Cup Championship The GT Cup Championship is a sports car racing series based in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Marc Haynes in 2007. The championship supported the short-lived British LMP3 Cup in 2017, following the series to Spa-Francorchamps where it parti ...

. With Plowman being both driver and team principal, the team expanded in 2022 to run cars in both GT3 and GT4. https://www.paddock-motorsport.com/paddock-expands-british-gt-commitment-with-multi-class-mclaren-programme In the

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

round of the 2022 season, Plowman and Fletcher took their first overall win in British GT; the Paddock Motorsport team would also manage their first GT4 win in the season finale at

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned ...

as Moh Ritson and Kavi Jundu won the GT4 Pro-Am class.

Racing record

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

( key)

American open–wheel racing results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Indy Lights results

IndyCar Series

: ''¹ The Las Vegas Indy 300 was abandoned after

Dan Wheldon Daniel Clive Wheldon (22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011) was a British motor racing driver who won the 2005 IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship for Andretti Green Racing (AGR). He won the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 and 2011, and was co-winner o ...

died from injuries sustained in a 15-car crash on lap 11.''

Indianapolis 500

Complete American Le Mans Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete British GT Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results

References

External links

Official Martin Plowman fan clubMartin Plowman interview at BritsOnPole.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plowman, Martin 1987 births Living people People from Tamworth (district) English racing drivers Formula 3 Euro Series drivers Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Indy Lights drivers IndyCar Series drivers Karting World Championship drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers British GT Championship drivers Sportspeople from Tamworth, Staffordshire Prema Powerteam drivers Arrow McLaren SP drivers Panther Racing drivers RC Motorsport drivers AFS Racing drivers Andretti Autosport drivers A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers Conquest Racing drivers OAK Racing drivers