Stuart Leonard (born 13 June 1991) is a British racing driver who has competed in the

Blancpain GT Series GT World Challenge Europe (known as the Blancpain GT Series between 2014 and 2019) is a sports car racing series organised by SRO Motorsports Group. It features grand tourer racing cars modified from production road cars complying with the FIA's ...

for

W Racing Team W Racing Team (known as Team WRT) is a Belgian auto racing team founded in 2009 by engineer and former head of Volkswagen Motorsport René Verbist, racing driver Vincent Vosse, and entrepreneur Yves Weerts. Between 2010 and 2022 the team campaig ...

(also known as Team WRT), driving an Audi R8 LMS (GT3).

Career

Caterhams

In 2012, whilst studying for a degree in

Finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

, Leonard started his motorsport career in the Caterham Tracksport category. Due to his university commitments, he was only able to compete in some of the scheduled races. In Leonard's first year he took home two podiums, consisting of a win, and third place position, both at the

Nürburgring The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...

GP circuit in Germany. In 2013 Leonard moved up to the top of the Caterham ladder ( R300 Superlight Championship), whilst being coached by the 2012 R300 Champion, Paul Wilson. That year, Leonard entered the second to last round leading the championship, however due to mechanical difficulties finished the championship second on points.

Aston Martin GT3

In 2014 Leonard started driving for

Prodrive Prodrive is an England, English motorsport and advanced engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire. History Prodrive was founded in 1984 by Ian Parry and David Richards (motorsport executive), David Richards. Prodrive sold its 51% s ...

in the GT3 category. After a successful debut driving their Aston Martin GT3 at VLN Nürburgring Nordschleife, Leonard started competing in the Blancpain GT Endurance Series, racing his first 24 hour race 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 ...

(Pro-Am). In 2015 Leonard won the

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. The village is about south-southwest of Towcester and northeast of Brackley, both accessed via the A43 road, A43 main ...

round of the Blancpain GT Endurance Series (Pro-Am) with Michael Meadows and Paul Wilson, completing the Blancpain GT Endurance Championship in fourth position. Leonard also participated in the

British GT 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 G ...

series at

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), informally referred to as Spa, is a motor-racing circuit located in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium, about southeast of Spa. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, ho ...

with Michael Meadows, finishing third overall and first in class (Silver Cup).

Audi R8 GT3

In 2015 Leonard moved from Prodrive to W-Racing Team, driving an Audi R8 GT3. Leonard competed in an all pro line-up in the

Sepang 12 Hours The Sepang 12 Hours (formerly known as the Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race and Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race), was a 12 Hours endurance racing event held annually between 2000 and 2016 at the Sepang International Circuit on December in Malaysi ...

, part of the

Intercontinental GT Challenge The Intercontinental GT Challenge is a sports car racing series developed by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation, SRO Group in 2016. It consists of international Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance races for grand tourer racing cars complying w ...

. Leonard achieved his first win with Audi, alongside his teammates

Laurens Vanthoor Laurens Vanthoor (; born 8 May 1991) is a Belgium, Belgian professional racing driver currently racing for Porsche in motorsport, Porsche Motorsport as a Factory-backed, factory driver in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He currently reside ...

and

Stéphane Ortelli Stéphane Ortelli (born 30 March 1970) is a Monaco, Monégasque professional racing driver with three world championship titles. He has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in with Allan McNish and Laurent Aïello and the Spa 24 Hours in 2003 ...

. In 2016 Leonard entered the

Dubai 24 Hour The Dubai 24 Hour Race is both a sports car and touring car automobile endurance race held annually at the Dubai Autodrome in Dubai, UAE. It was inaugurated in 2006. Entrants and participants As with all races in the 24H Series, promoted by Dut ...

, alongside his teammates Laurens Vanthoor, Michael Meadows and

Alain Ferté Alain Serge Ferté (born 8 October 1955 in Falaise, Calvados) is a French professional racing driver. He is the elder brother of Michel Ferté, who was also a professional racing driver. Alain Ferté competed five seasons in Formula 3000 1985� ...

. The team won the race, making it Audi’s first win in the Dubai 24 Hour. Later that year Leonard competed with Michael Meadows in the Blancpain GT Sprint Cup for the Silver Cup Championship, and the Blancpain Endurance Cup, adding

Robin Frijns Robin Christiaan Maria Frijns (born 7 August 1991) is a Dutch racing driver. He most recently raced in Formula E with Envision Racing, and in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Team WRT as part of the BMW in motorsport, BMW factory driver l ...

to the team line-up in the Pro Cup. Leonard also competed in the

24 Hours Nürburgring 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the H ...

, with teammates Robin Frijns, Frederic Vervische and Edward Sandstrome, finishing eighth overall. In 2017 Leonard joined teammate Robin Frijns for the Blancpain Sprint Pro Cup. Together they became the 2017 Blancpain Sprint Cup champions. Leonard also competed in the Blancpain Endurance Pro Cup, taking a second place finish in the Barcelona round with teammates Robin Frijns and Jake Dennis. Leonard also teamed up with Alain Ferté for the two British GT races at Spa-Francorchamps, finishing second in both races

Hyundai Motorsport

In 2017 Leonard became involved in the development of

Hyundai Hyundai is a former South Korean industrial conglomerate ("''chaebol''"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Asan, a real estate construction ...

’s road car, the i30N. He was also entered in the first and second rounds of the VLN Endurance Championship, finishing third in class for both, and later finishing fourth in class at the 24 Hours Nürburgring.

Racing Record

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results

References

External links

stuartleonard.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonard, Stuart 1991 births Living people 24 Hours of Spa drivers GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers W Racing Team drivers British GT Championship drivers Audi Sport drivers 24H Series drivers Hyundai Motorsport drivers English racing drivers Racing drivers from London