Markus Palttala (born 16 August 1977 in Nakkila) is a Finnish racing driver. After racing in karts, Palttala began racing cars in the Finnish Touring Car Championship in 1998. He competed in the 2001 European Super Production Championship, driving a Honda Integra. Palttala's first run in Grand Touring cars came in 2000 in the single-make Porsche Carrera Cup Germany. He moved to the FIA GT Championship beginning in 2002, competing sporadically in 2006, 2008, and 2009, and also competed in its successor championships, the FIA GT1 World Championship and FIA GT3 European Championship through 2011. Palttala's best seasons came in 2011 and 2012 in the Blancpain Endurance Series, where he finished 2nd in the championship each year, driving for Marc VDS Racing Team.[1]
| Markus Palttala | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality |  Finnish | ||||||||
| Born | 16 August 1977 Nakkila, Finland | ||||||||
| United SportsCar Championship career | |||||||||
| Debut season | 2014 | ||||||||
| Current team | Turner Motorsport | ||||||||
| Racing licence |  FIA Silver | ||||||||
| Starts | 4 | ||||||||
| Wins | 2 | ||||||||
| Previous series | |||||||||
| 1998–1999 1999 2000 2001 2002, '06, '08, '09 2003, 2006 2005–2010 2005, '08, '11 2009–2011 2009 2010–2011 2011–2013 2012–2013 | Finnish TCC Dunlop Tourenwagen Cup Light Porsche Carrera Cup Germany European Super Production FIA GT Championship FFSA GT Championship Le Mans Endurance Series Belcar FIA GT3 Finnish GT3 Championship FIA GT1 World Championship Blancpain Endurance Series FIA WEC | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Palttala drove in the Le Mans Endurance Series for various teams from 2005 until 2010. In the 2010 season, he won the GT1 class at the 1000 km of Spa and participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He ran the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2012 (including another outing at Le Mans) and 2013. Palttala joined Turner Motorsport for the inaugural United SportsCar Championship season in 2014. He took his first GT-Daytona class win in the third race of the season at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and followed it up with a dominating win at the Six Hours of Watkins Glen.[2]
Complete motorsports results edit
24 Hours of Le Mans results edit
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 |  Marc VDS Racing Team | Eric De Doncker Bas Leinders | Ford GT1 | LMGT1 | 26 | DNF | DNF |
| 2012 |  JWA-Avila | Paul Daniels Joël Camathias | Porsche 911 GT3 RSR | LMGTE-AM | 290 | 33rd | 8th |
| 2014 | Prospeed Competition |  François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard | Porsche 911 GT3 RSR | LMGTE-AM | 194 | DNF | DNF |
NASCAR edit
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Whelen Euro Series - Elite 1 edit
| NASCAR Whelen Euro Series - Elite 1 results | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | NWES | Points | |||
| 2014 | Racing Club Partners – Marc VDS | 46 | Toyota | VAL | VAL | BRH 8 | BRH 9 | TOU | TOU | NUR 6 | NUR 21 | UMB | UMB | LEM | LEM | 22nd | 178 | |||
Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results edit
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Class | Make | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pos. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Turner Motorsport | GTD | BMW Z4 GT3 | BMW 4.4 L V8 | DAY 7† | SEB 7 | LGA 1 | DET 6 | WGL 1 | MOS 3 | IND | ELK 1 | VIR 1 | COA 3 | ATL 4 | 6th | 287 | |
| 2015 | Turner Motorsport | GTD | BMW Z4 GT3 | BMW 4.4 L V8 | DAY 12 | SEB 8 | LGA 10 | BEL 6 | WGL 9 | LIM | ELK 10† | VIR 4 | AUS 2 | ATL 11 | 11th | 200 | ||
| 2016 | Turner Motorsport | GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | BMW 4.4 L V8 | DAY 5 | SEB 7 | LGA 12 | BEL 11 | WGL 10 | MOS 13† | LIM 7 | ELK 9 | VIR 8 | AUS 14 | PET 3 | 10th | 237 | |
| 2018 | Turner Motorsport | GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | BMW 4.4 L V8 | DAY | SEB 11 | MOH | BEL | WGL 1 | MOS | LIM | ELK | VIR | LGA | PET 15 | 20th | 100 | |
| 2021 | NTE Sport | GTD | Audi R8 LMS Evo | Audi 5.2 L V10 | DAY | SEB | MDO | DET | WGL 4 | WGL | LIM | ELK | LGA | LBH | VIR | PET | 48th | 299 |
| 2022 | NTE Sport | GTD | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 | DAY 16 | SEB | LBH | LGA | MDO | DET | WGL | MOS | LIM | ELK | VIR | PET | 66th | 163 |
† Palttala did not complete sufficient laps in order to score full points.
References edit
- ^ "Markus Palttala". Driver Database. DriverDB AB. Retrieved May 4, 2014.
- ^ DiZinno, Tony (May 4, 2014). "Starworks, Turner Take PC, GTD Monterey Wins". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media, LLC. Retrieved May 4, 2014.
External links edit
- Official website
- Markus Palttala career summary at DriverDB.com
- Markus Palttala on X
