Samantha Tan (born 9 August 1997) is a Canadian

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

and team owner, currently competing in

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 ...

with her team Samantha Tan Racing, a team that she co-owns with her father, Kenneth Tan. She is a global ambassador for BMW M Motorsport.

Racing career

Samantha Tan began racing at the age of 16, participating in events under the

National Auto Sport Association The National Auto Sport Association (NASA) is an American motorsports organization promoting road racing and high-performance driver education. Founded in 1991, NASA hosts High Performance Driving Events (HPDE), automotive Rallying, rallies, T ...

in the Performance Touring E category with a modified 1991

Honda Civic The is a series of automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1972. , the Civic is positioned between the Honda Fit/Honda City, City and Honda Accord in Honda's global passenger car line-up. The first-generation Civic was introduced in July 1972 ...

. She moved on to race in the 2014

Canadian Touring Car Championship Canadian Touring Car Championship (CTCC) presented by Pirelli is a Canadian professional touring car road racing series. In 2006, it was created based on the growth of amateur touring car racing in Canada and the pent-up demand for a professiona ...

with a

Mini Cooper Mini Cooper may refer to: *Performance Cars of the original Mini series with uprated drive train and brakes, called the "Mini Cooper", made by the British Motor Corporation and also the successors 1961–1971, and 1990–2000 *Cars of the Mini (mar ...

. Tan made her debut 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 ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, racing in a Kia Forte Koup in the TCA class. She returned the following year in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

under the same class, this time racing in a

Honda Civic Si commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer sin ...

, finishing the year 6th overall. Tan would race in

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 ...

machinery for the first time in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, driving a BMW M235iR for the full season, alongside a new teammate in Nick Wittmer. She would score 23 points and finish 29th in class. Tan and Wittmer would move up into GT4 participating in the 2018 SprintX GT Championship Series, driving a BMW M4 GT4 now alongside each other in one car instead of as two separate entries. The team would participate in two rounds 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 ...

and

Virginia International Raceway Virginia International Raceway (VIR) is a race track located in Alton, Virginia, near Danville. It is less than a half-mile from the North Carolina/Virginia border just outside Milton, North Carolina, on the banks of the Dan River. VIR hosts ...

, scoring in all four of the available races as well as scoring a pole position and a podium in the second race at COTA. Tan would continue to improve throughout the

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and 2020 seasons of the

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 ...

, finishing in the top 3 of the standings in both seasons with teammates Jason Wolfe and Jon Miller. Tan would make her first venture outside of North America in 2021, competing in the

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 ...

. Tan would earn her first championships as both a driver and team owner, winning three races including the 2021 Dubai 24 Hour on route to winning the 24H GT Series teams' and drivers' titles with teammates Chandler Hull and Jon Miller. The following year, Tan moved up to GT3 cars, participating in the GT3 class in

2022 GT World Challenge America The 2022 Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS was the sixteenth season of the United States Auto Club's GT World Challenge America, and the fifth under ownership of SRO Motorsports Group.The season began at Sonoma Raceway on April 1 ...

alongside Wittmer.

Harry Gottsacker Harry Gottsacker (born July 28, 1999) is an American racing driver who currently competes for Bryan Herta Autosport in the TCR class of the Michelin Pilot Challenge. Career Early career Gottsacker was introduced to motorsports through his grand ...

joined the pair for the 2022 Indianapolis 8 Hours, where the team finished the race in 10th overall as the only Silver entry. She also made her first appearance at the

Spa 24 Hours 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 ...

endurance race in the 2022 edition of the event racing with Wittmer, Gottsacker, and Maxime Oosten, finishing 36th overall and 9th in class. For 2023, Tan participated in both the

2023 GT World Challenge America The 2023 Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS was the seventeenth season of the United States Auto Club's GT World Challenge America, and the sixth under ownership of SRO Motorsports Group. The season began at Sonoma on March 30, ...

and the

2023 GT World Challenge Europe The 2023 Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS was the tenth season of GT World Challenge Europe. The season began at Monza on 23 April and ended at Zandvoort on 15 October. The season consisted of 10 events: 5 Sprint Cup events, a ...

series.

Personal life

Tan was born in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

to a Malaysian mother and a Filipino father, Kenneth Tan. Her mother studies at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, and her father Kenneth is a businessman, team principal, and co-owner alongside Samantha, of Samantha Tan Racing. She also has a brother, Kevin, who is pursuing a career in

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

. While racing in the

, Samantha Tan also studied at and has since graduated from

UC Irvine UC may refer to: Education In the United States * University of California system * University of Charleston, West Virginia * University of Chicago, Illinois * University of Cincinnati, Ohio * Upsala College, East Orange, New Jersey (''defunct ...

with an economics degree.

Racing record

Career summary

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tan, Samantha 1997 births Living people Racing drivers from Toronto Canadian female racing drivers Canadian racing drivers Racing drivers from Ontario GT World Challenge America drivers 24H Series drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Sports car racing team owners BMW M drivers Canadian sportspeople of Filipino descent Canadian people of Malaysian descent University of California, Irvine alumni GT4 European Series drivers GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers 21st-century Canadian sportswomen Le Mans Cup drivers W Racing Team drivers