Russell Ward (born March 8, 1992) is an American racing driver who currently competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for HTP Winward Motorsport. Ward also serves as Winward Racing's team principal.

Career

Ward began his racing career in 2016 following several years competing in various track days alongside the

ChampCar Endurance Series The ChampCar Endurance Series is a budget class endurance race held on paved road race courses across North America, formerly known as the ChumpCar World Series, run by ChumpCar International Inc. Founded in 2009, the range changed its name in ...

and 24 Hours of Lemons. For 2016, he embarked on a full season campaign in the Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA with Kelly-Moss Road and Race, taking a podium finish in the final round at Circuit of the Americas. For 2017, Ward made his debut in the

Continental Tire SportsCar 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 ...

, pairing with Damien Faulkner in a GS-class Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport fielded by CJ Wilson Racing. In the duo's opening race at

Daytona Daytona refers to the city of Daytona Beach, Florida, or things named after it. Daytona may also refer to: Locations * Daytona Beach Shores, Florida * South Daytona, Florida * The Daytona Beach metropolitan area * Halifax area, also known as Da ...

, they finished third in the Grand Sport class; Ward's first podium in IMSA-sanctioned competition. Through ten races that season, Ward and Faulkner captured just the one podium, finishing 8th in the Grand Sport classification. 2018 saw Ward take part in a variety of series, with a particular focus on the

. Near the end of 2017, Winward joined forces with

HTP Motorsport HTP Winward Motorsport also known as Team Mann-Filter, HTP Motorsport and Winward Racing is a German-American-based auto racing team. The team mainly competes in GT3 based series such as the GT World Challenge Europe. The team was founded after H ...

, paving the way for the team's transition to Mercedes-AMG machinery for 2018. Driving alongside Faulkner once again, the team claimed one podium through eight races, finishing 20th in the GS class standings. Ward also made one-off appearances in the

Blancpain GT Series Asia The GT World Challenge Asia (formerly Blancpain GT Series Asia and Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia) is a GT series motor racing competition, promoted by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation and organized by Team Asia One GT Management. Champions D ...

, claiming a class victory and a podium finish, as well as the Pirelli World Challenge, International GT Open, DMV Gran Turismo Touring Car Cup, and

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 GT3-spec cars, GT4-spec cars, sports cars, touring cars and 2 ...

. In 2019, Ward scored his first victory in the renamed

Michelin Pilot 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 Cu ...

, pairing with Mercedes-AMG factory driver Dominik Baumann in the penultimate round of the season at Laguna Seca. Ward had missed the round at

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 ...

following a crash in practice, relegating him to 16th in the overall standings. Two races in the

and a select few races in the International GT Open accompanied Ward's primary commitment in IMSA for 2019. With Winward Racing's merger with

at the end of 2019, Ward was set for a wide variety of racing opportunities in 2020. Launching another full-season campaign in the

, Ward collected a pair of podiums, alongside his first pole position in the series at

VIR Vir (; it, Puntadura, Dalmatian: ''Punta de Ura'') is an island on the Croatian coast of the Adriatic Sea with an area of 22 km2. It lies in Dalmatia, north of the city of Zadar. It is connected to the mainland via a road bridge. The mai ...

, en route to his best ever points finish in the championship. Ward also took part in a part-time campaign in the GT World Challenge America, starting in the Pro/Am class with his father, Bryce, before jumping into the Silver Cup class for the rounds at

and Circuit of the Americas. Despite making just four starts in the Silver Cup, the lack of entries meant Ward was scored second in the season-long class championship. Ward also made his debut at the

24 Hours of Spa 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 TotalEnergies. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their a ...

in October, taking second in the Silver Cup class alongside co-drivers

Indy Dontje Indy Dontje (born 21 November 1992 in Alkmaar, North Holland) is a Dutch racing driver. After starting in ADAC Formel Masters and ATS Formel 3 Cup Dontje is now a Mercedes-Benz GT3 driver. Career Karting Father Arthur Dontje supported his sons I ...

and Philip Ellis. Ward began 2021 with his debut in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, joining

Maro Engel Maro René Engel (born 27 August 1985) is a German professional racing driver based in Monaco. He is a long-time Mercedes-AMG factory driver, FIA GT World Cup Champion, Nürburgring 24 hour winner, DTM race winner, Suzuka 10h winner, Macau GT ...

, and Philip Ellis in the team's

Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo The Mercedes-AMG GT (C190 / R190) is a grand tourer produced in coupé and roadster bodystyles by German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-AMG. The car was introduced on and was officially unveiled to the public in October 2014 at the Paris ...

. In the team's first ever race in the championship, the 2021 24 Hours of Daytona, the quartet claimed class victory, taking Mercedes-AMG's first ever GTD class victory at the

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...

. Ward also took part in a full-season effort for the

2021 GT World Challenge America The 2021 Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS was the 15th season of the United States Auto Club's GT World Challenge America, and the fourth under ownership of SRO Motorsports Group.The season began at Sonoma on March 6, and ende ...

, alongside a rotating driver lineup of Ellis and

Mikaël Grenier Mikaël Grenier (born October 17, 1992) is a Canadian racing driver from Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury. Career After karting, Grenier moved to Formula BMW Americas in 2008 with Apex-HBR Racing Team, finishing fourth in points with a pole at Road Americ ...

. Grenier and Ward claimed the entry's sole race victory of the season, taking overall honors in the second race at VIR. Eight podium finishes was only enough to see Ward finish fourth in the Pro class championship, six points adrift of the

Turner Motorsport Turner Motorsport (Also known as TMS Racing or Turner racing ) is a professional sports car racing team located in Newton, NH, and is the second most prolific BMW privateer racing team in the world, second only to Schnitzer Motorsport, who sto ...

duo of

Robby Foley Robby Foley (born July 20, 1996) is an American racing driver who currently competes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Career Raised in Randolph, New Jersey, Foley's motorsports career was kickstarted in 2010 by a severe injury sustain ...

and Michael Dinan in third. A full-season effort in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup also featured in Ward's driving lineup, in which he claimed one podium through five races in the Silver Cup. As a result of his extensive exploits in Mercedes-AMG machinery during the 2021 calendar year, he was deemed the winner of the Pro-Driver GT3 category of the marque's brand-internal customer racing championship. In October 2021, Ward announced Winward's plans to conduct a full-season campaign in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for 2022. After a slow start to the season, which included finishes outside of the top ten at Sebring, Long Beach, and Laguna Seca, the team initially believed that they'd claimed victory at Watkins Glen in June. However, the team ran afoul of IMSA's drive time restrictions and were demoted to 11th in class. The team suffered another near miss at Lime Rock, suffering a fuel pump failure on the final lap while leading. However, following three podiums in four races, two of which were back-to-back victories at Road America and Virginia International Raceway, the team entered the final round with an outside chance at scoring the GTD class championship. However, after an 11th-place finish at Petit Le Mans, Ward and season-long co-driver Philip Ellis settled for fifth in the points classification. Ward complemented his IMSA endeavors with a part-time drive in the GT World Challenge America. After claiming a class victory at Watkins Glen, Ward and Ellis swept the weekend at Road America, marking three race victories in a row. At the end of 2022, Ward won Mercedes-AMG's Pro-Driver GT3 award, given to the most successful FIA-Platinum, Gold, or Silver rated driver in Mercedes-AMG's GT3 machinery over the course of the calendar year. 2023 saw Ward return full-time to the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, joining Ellis and Dontje in one of the team's two Gold Cup entries. The team claimed a sole Gold Cup podium at

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, finishing seventh in the class championship. In IMSA competition, Ward claimed a GTD class victory at

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

and an additional podium at VIR, finishing tenth in the championship.

Racing record

Career summary

† Guest driver ineligible to score points.
^* Season still in progress.

Complete GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup results

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

(

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 ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

References

External links

Russell Ward
at Speedsport Magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Russell 1992 births Living people American racing drivers 24H Series drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers International GT Open drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers GT World Challenge America drivers Mercedes-AMG Motorsport drivers Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers Le Mans Cup drivers