Lawson L. Aschenbach (born November 22, 1983) is an American professional racing driver. He is a four-time

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 Stephane Ratel Organisation since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club s ...

champion, and most recently, the 2014

GTS Champion. He is the 2006 SPEED World Challenge (later Pirelli World Challenge) Rookie of the Year and became the first person to win the SPEED GT Championship in his rookie season. He is also the champion of the 2010 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (later IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge) ST Championship and 2014

Lamborghini Super Trofeo The Lamborghini Super Trofeo is an international motor racing series. The Lamborghini Super Trofeo is the one-make championship organized by Lamborghini Squadra Corse. The series involves exclusively Huracán Super Trofeo Evo model cars in 3 cont ...

ProAM World Champion. Aschenbach first raced professionally in 2005. He currently races for Stevenson Motorsports in the

IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car 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 ...

Amateur career

Aschenbach was born in

Gaithersburg, Maryland Gaithersburg ( ), officially the City of Gaithersburg, is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census, Gaithersburg had a population of 69,657, ...

and began

kart racing 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 kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are als ...

at age 8. He was introduced to kart racing by his father, who drove him to his first competitions. In 1998, Aschenbach won the

World Karting Association The World Karting Association, or WKA, is the largest sanctioning body for kart racing in North America. The WKA was founded in 1971 and is located directly behind Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The WKA is believed to current ...

Gold Cup. He won an additional four WKA Grand Nationals titles and the North American Karting Championship before moving onto racecars at age 16. In 2001, Aschenbach won the SCCA Southeast National Formula Ford title. He won the SCCA Pro FF2000 series’ Road to Indy Oval Crown Championship a year later.

Professional career

Aschenbach began racing professionally in the

SPEED 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 Stephane Ratel Organisation since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club s ...

(later Pirelli World Challenge) in 2005 and had a podium finish in his first GT race. In 2006, during his first full SPEED World Challenge GT season, Aschenbach won at the

Grand Prix of St. Petersburg The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is an IndyCar Series race held in St. Petersburg, Florida. In most years since 2009, the race has served as the season opener (or at minimum, the first race held on U.S. soil). The race is held annually ...

and placed second at both

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 regio ...

and

Road America Road America is a motorsport road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, United States on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Champ ...

. He never finished lower than ninth that season, and became the first driver to win the SPEED GT Championship in his rookie season. That year Porsche won the SPEED GT Manufacturers’ Championship over second-place Dodge by three points. Aschenbach began driving for Team Cadillac during the 2007 SPEED World Championship GT season and finished the season ranked third. That year Aschenbach and teammate

Andy Pilgrim Andrew Pilgrim (born 18 August 1956 in Nottingham) is a British-born racing driver, who became a United States citizen in 1998. He has competed in the SCCA World Challenge, 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Daytona, and NASCAR. Racing career Hav ...

led Team Cadillac to the SPEED GT Manufacturers’ Championship. In 2010 Aschenbach and co-pilot David Thilenius won the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (later IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge) ST Championship with team Compass360. The championship was decided on the final day of racing, with Lawson and David winning the overall championship via tiebreaker. Aschenbach and Compass360 won the subsequent tiebreaker with their third-place finish at

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

. Aschenbach won the 2011 Pirelli World Challenge Touring Car Championship while piloting a Honda Civic Si for Team Compass360. He won five races and poles that season, and led Honda to the Pirelli World Challenge Touring Car Manufacturers’ Championship. Aschenbach clinched the championship in the second-to-last race that year and finished the season with 1,543 points. Aschenbach later joined Blackdog Speed Shop and piloted the team’s Chevrolet Camaro to the 2013 Pirelli World Challenge GTS Championship in what was his first season in the division. Aschenbach scored his first win that season in what was only his second weekend with Blackdog. He won a class-best six races that season, but trailed Jack Baldwin until the last race of the season held at

Grand Prix of Houston The Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston Presented by the Greater Houston Honda Dealers was an annual auto race on the IndyCar Series circuit. It was held in a street circuit located in downtown Houston for four years, then returned after a f ...

. Aschenbach’s win at Houston secured the overall championship. 0 Lawson Aschenbach 2015 Road America

Aschenbach repeated as Pirelli World Challenge GTS Champion in 2014 in his second season driving for Blackdog Speed Shop. He clinched the championship during the final race day of the year, which was held at Miller Motorsports Park. In the first race of a doubleheader at the track, Aschenbach placed fourth and moved within to two points of the overall lead. His second-place finish in the final race of the season secured for him the overall GTS championship. Aschenbach finished the season with four wins overall. Later that year, he won the 2014

ProAm World Championship at the Sepang Circuit with co-pilot Kevin Conway and Change Racing.

Personal life

Aschenbach is an alumnus of

Landon School Landon School is a private, college preparatory school for boys in grades 3–12, with an enrollment of approximately 680 students, in Bethesda, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C. Background Paul Landon Banfield and his wife, Mary Lee, fou ...

. He is a 2006 graduate of

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

, where he earned a Bachelor of Science while double majoring in engineering and mathematics. Aschenbach married Beth Beattie in November 2013.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Xfinity Series

Sports car racing

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

* Season still in progress

Championships

Pirelli World Challenge

IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge

References

External links

*
Official Website

Stevenson Motorsports
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aschenbach, Lawson Vanderbilt University alumni Living people NASCAR drivers U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers 1983 births Racing drivers from Maryland People from Gaithersburg, Maryland Meyer Shank Racing drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers