Ricky Collard

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Ricky Collard
Collard driving at Brands Hatch in 2015
NationalityUnited Kingdom British
Born (1996-07-30) July 30, 1996 (age 27)[1]
Frimley, United Kingdom
Related toRob Collard (father)[1]
British Touring Car Championship career
Debut season2018
Current teamToyota Gazoo Racing UK
Racing licence FIA Silver
Former teamsTeam BMW
Starts71 (72 entries)
Wins0
Podiums2
Poles0
Fastest laps0
Best finish8th in 2023
Previous series
2018-2021
2020, 2017
2018
2017
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup
Intercontinental GT Challenge
British GT
24H Series
ADAC GT Masters
BRDC British F3
MSA Formula
British Formula Ford
Ginetta Junior Championship

Ricky Collard is a British racing driver currently competing in the British GT Championship. He is the son of former BTCC driver Rob Collard and the grandson of Hot Rod racer Mick Collard.

Early career[edit]

Collard driving for Team BMW at Silverstone during the 2018 British Touring Car Championship season.

Collard started his racing career in karts in 2006, finishing fourth in the British Cadet Championship in 2009, sixth in the Kartmasters British Grand Prix KF3 category in 2011, and eighth in the U18 Karting World Championship in 2012. That season he also made his car racing debut in the Ginetta Junior Championship.[2]

Following a season in the British Formula Ford Championship, where he finished seventh overall with five podiums, Collard stepped into the MSA Formula Championship in 2015.[1] He took six wins and finished the year as runner-up to Lando Norris, subsequently progressing to the BRDC British F3 Championship in 2016 with Carlin Motorsport.[2] There, Collard managed to win five races on his way to finishing second in the standings.

Sportscar & touring car career[edit]

For the 2017 season, Collard switched to sportscar racing, competing in the opening three events of the ADAC GT Masters as a BMW junior driver.[3] He and factory driver Philipp Eng won during the first round at Oschersleben and scored a further podium at the Red Bull Ring, before Collard withdrew from the subsequent round in lieu of a BMW-organised viewing experience in the DTM.[4][5]

Collard entered the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup in 2018, driving for Rowe Racing.[6] The campaign proved to be disappointing, as he and the team were forced to retire from all four events he entered. During the same year, Collard made his British Touring Car Championship debut at Rockingham, substituting his father Rob who was ruled out on medical advice following concussion suffered at the previous round. He drove the BMW 125i M Sport for the remaining four rounds of the season, scoring his maiden podium at Silverstone with a third place finish.[7]

In 2019, the Briton entered the sprint-formatted GT World Challenge Europe together with Marvin Kirchhöfer, driving an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 for R-Motorsport.[8] With points scored in the majority of races, Collard and Kirchhöfer ended up eighth in the standings, highlighted by a win at the Nürburgring.[9] Despite this success, 2020 proved to be a patchy season for Collard, who raced in individual events of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. The peak of his year came at the 24 Hours of Spa, where he helped Barwell Motorsport, in a lineup which included Sandy Mitchell, Leo Machitski, and Collard's father Rob, towards victory in the Pro-Am class.[10][11] Collard continued without a full-time schedule in 2021, racing in two Endurance Cup events.

In 2022, the Briton returned to the BTCC, driving for Toyota Gazoo Racing UK.[12] After struggling early on, Collard's form improved in the second half of the year, as he scored a best result of fourth on his way to 16th in the championship. Following the season, Collard announced that he would be retiring from racing.[13] The Briton reversed his decision however, instead re-signing with the team for the 2023 season.[14] At Brands Hatch, Collard crossed the finish line first during race 3, but was penalised for a track-limit infringement on the final lap, demoting him to eighth.[15] He eventually scored his sole podium of the year at Knockhill, which helped him towards eighth place in the standings.[16][17]

For the 2024 campaign, Collard partnered with his father Rob to race in the GT3 class of the British GT Championship.[18]

Racing record[edit]

Career summary[edit]

Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2012 Ginetta Junior Championship Tollbar Racing with WIRED 2 0 0 0 0 10 17th
2014 British Formula Ford Championship Falcon Motorsport 29 0 0 0 5 436 7th
2015 MSA Formula Championship TRS Arden Junior Racing Team 30 6 0 2 13 371 2nd
2016 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship Carlin 23 5 4 5 9 466 2nd
2017 ADAC GT Masters BMW Team Schnitzer 6 1 1 1 2 61 14th
24H Series - SPX Schubert Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 18 NC†
Intercontinental GT Challenge Walkenhorst 0 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2018 British Touring Car Championship Team BMW 11 0 0 0 1 46 25th
Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup Rowe Racing 4 0 0 0 0 9 36th
British GT Championship - GT4 Century Motorsport 2 0 0 0 2 30 15th
2019 Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe R-Motorsport 10 1 0 1 1 39.5 8th
Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup - Silver Cup 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2020 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup - Silver Cup Orange1 FFF Racing Team 1 0 0 0 0 9 24th
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
Barwell Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup - Pro-Am 1 1 0 1 1 41 7th
Intercontinental GT Challenge 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2021 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup - Silver Cup Winward Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup - Pro-Am Ram Racing 1 0 0 0 0 3 36th
Intercontinental GT Challenge 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2022 British Touring Car Championship Toyota Gazoo Racing UK 30 0 0 0 0 81 16th
2023 British Touring Car Championship Toyota Gazoo Racing UK 30 0 0 0 1 217 8th
2024 British GT Championship - GT3 Black Bull – Barwell Motorsport 2 1 1 0 1 35* 2nd*

As Collard had not competed in the required number of rounds, he was ineligible for a championship position. * Season still in progress.

Complete British GT Championship results[edit]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DC Points
2018 Century Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 GT4 OUL
1

16
OUL
2

15
ROC
1
SNE
1
SNE
2
SIL
1
SPA
1
BRH
1
DON
1
15th 30
2024 Black Bull-Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 GT3 OUL
1

1
OUL
2

5
SIL
1

DON
1

SPA
1

SNE
1

SNE
2

DON
1

BRH
1

2nd* 35*

* Season still in progress.

Complete British Touring Car Championship results[edit]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded in first race; races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races; * signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded all races)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Pos Points
2018 Team BMW BMW 125i M Sport BRH
1
BRH
2
BRH
3
DON
1
DON
2
DON
3
THR
1
THR
2
THR
3
OUL
1
OUL
2
OUL
3
CRO
1
CRO
2
CRO
3
SNE
1
SNE
2
SNE
3
ROC
1

17
ROC
2

20
ROC
3

DNS
KNO
1

11
KNO
2

12
KNO
3

23
SIL
1

3
SIL
2

4
SIL
3

10
BRH
1

16
BRH
2

18
BRH
3

13
25th 46
2022 Toyota Gazoo Racing UK Toyota Corolla GR Sport DON
1

Ret
DON
2

Ret
DON
3

15
BRH
1

26
BRH
2

17
BRH
3

20
THR
1

16
THR
2

17
THR
3

19
OUL
1

10
OUL
2

10
OUL
3

7
CRO
1

24
CRO
2

25
CRO
3

18
KNO
1

10
KNO
2

11
KNO
3

15
SNE
1

11
SNE
2

6
SNE
3

4
THR
1

22
THR
2

15
THR
3

13
SIL
1

8
SIL
2

Ret
SIL
3

Ret
BRH
1

14
BRH
2

16
BRH
3

11
16th 81
2023 Toyota Gazoo Racing UK Toyota Corolla GR Sport DON
1

6
DON
2

Ret
DON
3

14
BRH
1

9
BRH
2

9
BRH
3

8*
SNE
1

Ret
SNE
2

13
SNE
3

14
THR
1

11
THR
2

9
THR
3

5
OUL
1

4
OUL
2

9
OUL
3

9
CRO
1

11
CRO
2

8
CRO
3

15
KNO
1

3
KNO
2

6
KNO
3

5
DON
1

4
DON
2

6
DON
3

4
SIL
1

20
SIL
2

14
SIL
3

7
BRH
1

9
BRH
2

4
BRH
3

6
8th 217

Complete Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe results[edit]

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pos. Points
2019 R-Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Pro BRH
1

7
BRH
2

5
MIS
1

4
MIS
2

13
ZAN
1

7
ZAN
2

18
NÜR
1

7
NÜR
2

1
HUN
1

10
HUN
2

19
8th 39.5

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "TRS Arden Junior Team sign Collard for 2015 MSA Season". Arden International. Archived from the original on 25 June 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Ricky Collard". BRDC British Formula 3 Championship. Archived from the original on 1 July 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  3. ^ Kilbey, Stephen (18 April 2017). "ADAC GT Masters News Notebook". Dailysportscar. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  4. ^ "Sieg für Eng, Collard und das BMW Team Schnitzer beim ADAC GT Masters in Oschersleben". www.press.bmwgroup.com (in German). Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  5. ^ Graf, Maximilian (19 July 2017). "Zandvoort: Nick Catsburg nimmt Ricky Collards Platz ein". SportsCar-Info.de (in German). Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  6. ^ "Impressive 54-car grid for Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup opener at Monza". blancpain-gt-series.com. SRO Motorsports Group. 13 April 2018. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  7. ^ Haffenden, Michael (16 September 2018). "Ricky Collard hands credit to Team BMW after 'surreal' maiden podium » TouringCars.Net". TouringCars.Net. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  8. ^ "R-Motorsport geht 2019 mit Schlagkräftigem Team in der Blancpain GT Series an den Start". r-motorsport.com. AF Racing AG. 26 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  9. ^ "R-Motorsport Aston Martin clinch maiden Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe victory as Collard and Kirchhöfer triumph at Nürburgring". Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS. 1 September 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  10. ^ "Collard clinches sensational 24 Hours of Spa victory // Infinity Sports Management". www.infinitysportsmanagement.co.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  11. ^ "24h Spa 2020: Irrer Zittersieg für Rowe-Porsche". Motorsport-Total.com (in German). Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  12. ^ "Ricky Collard to make full-time BTCC move with Speedworks". TouringCarTimes. 7 April 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  13. ^ "BTCC racer Collard makes decision to retire at age 26". www.autosport.com. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  14. ^ "George Gamble joins expanded Speedworks line-up – TouringCarTimes". www.touringcartimes.com. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  15. ^ Scapens, Gerren (7 May 2023). "Ash Sutton wins after late penalty means Ricky Collard falls to eighth » TouringCars.Net". TouringCars.Net. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  16. ^ "Ricky Collard 'enjoyed being properly in the fight' in best-ever BTCC weekend » TouringCars.Net". TouringCars.Net. 17 August 2023. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  17. ^ "BTCC | Drivers". www.btcc.net. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  18. ^ Goodwin, Graham (9 December 2022). "Ricky & Rob Return, Collard Family Barwell Lambo For 2024". Dailysportscar. Retrieved 5 April 2023.