Danny Watts

Danny Watts 2012 in Fuji

Watts in the A1GP in South Africa 2009

Danny Watts (born December 31, 1979 in Aylesbury , Buckinghamshire ) is a retired British racing driver .

Career

Watts began his motorsport career in 1993 in kart racing , in which he was active until 1997. In 1998 he moved into the single-seater racing and immediately won the champion of the British Formula First. He then took part in the Formula Palmer Audi winter series and came third. In 1999 he contested the season in the Formula Palmer Audi and finished the overall standings in 22nd place overall. In 2000 he moved to Manor Motorsport in the British Formula Renault . While his teammate Kimi Räikkönen dominated the championship title, Watts was tenth overall with one win. He also competed in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocupand was 16th in this championship. After being third in the British Formula Renault for Falcon Motorsport in 2001, Watts won the championship title for Fortec Motorsport in 2002, ahead of his teammate Jamie Green . This year he also took part in one race each in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and in the British Porsche Carrera Cup .

In 2003 Watts moved to Hitech Racing in the British Formula 3 Championship . With a win he finished the championship in fifth place. In 2004 he played his second season in the British Formula 3 championship for Promatecme . He decided one more race for himself and finished sixth overall. He also competed in the Japanese Formula 3 championship and was 15th in this series. In 2005 Watts could not find a cockpit for a full season and he started two races each in the British Formula 3 and the World Series by Renault . In the British Formula 3 championship he achieved a podium finish with a second place. He also took part in a Formula 3 Euro Series race weekend as a guest starter.

In 2006 Watts left formula racing and put his main focus on the British Porsche Carrera Cup, in which he came third. He also took part in a Porsche Supercup race. In addition, he competed as a guest starter in one race each in the British Formula 3 and the Asian Porsche Carrera Cup and was the first to cross the finish line in both races. In 2007 Watts switched to the Le Mans Series (LMS) and finished 19th in the LMGT2 classification. He also made his debut in the Le Mans 24-hour race and in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). In 2008 Watts mainly took part in the Porsche Supercup and finished ninth overall. In addition, he started in an ALMS race.

In the winter of 2008/2009 , Watts returned to formula racing for an engagement in the A1GP . After six races, in which he had finished third twice, he moved back to the Le Mans Series in 2009 . This season he finished in 16th place in the LMP1 classification. He also took part in the Le Mans 24-hour race again. In 2010 Watts competed in the LMP2 classification of the Le Mans Series. He won this class three times and was runner-up in the LMP2 class together with Jonny Kane and Nick Leventis . In addition, the three drivers won the LMP2 classification at the Le Mans 24-hour race.

Private

In February 2017, Watts came out as gay.

statistics

Career stations

1993-1997: Karting 1998: British Formula First (Champion) 1998: Formula Palmer Audi , winter series (3rd place) 1999: Formula Palmer Audi (22nd place) 2000: British Formula Renault (10th place) 2000: Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup (16th place) 2001: British Formula Renault (3rd place) 2002: British Formula Renault (champions)

2002: Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup 2002: British Porsche Carrera Cup 2003: British Formula 3 (5th place) 2004: British Formula 3 (6th place) 2004: Japanese Formula 3 (15th place) 2005: British Formula 3 (13th place) 2005: World Series by Renault (32nd place) 2006: British Porsche Carrera Cup (3rd place)

2006: Porsche Supercup 2007 : LMS , LMGT2 (19th place) 2007: ALMS , LMP2 (16th place) 2008: Porsche Supercup (9th place) 2008: ALMS, LMP1 (14th place) 2009 : A1GP 2009 : LMS, LMP1 (16th place) 2010 : LMS, LMP2 (2nd place)

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2007	Team LNT	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	Tom Kimber-Smith	Tommy Milner	failure	Gearbox damage
2009	Strakka Racing	Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S	Nick Leventis	Peter Hardman	Rank 21
2010	Strakka Racing	HPD ARX-01c	Nick Leventis	Jonny Kane	5th place and class win
2011	Strakka Racing	HPD ARX-01d	Nick Leventis	Jonny Kane	failure	accident
2012	Strakka Racing	HPD ARX-03a	Nick Leventis	Jonny Kane	Rank 30
2013	Strakka Racing	HPD ARX-03ac	Nick Leventis	Jonny Kane	Rank 6
2015	Strakka Racing	Strakka Dome S103	Nick Leventis	Jonny Kane	failure	Radiator damage
2016	Strakka Racing	Gibson 015S	Nick Leventis	Jonny Kane	Rank 8

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2012	Strakka Racing	HPD ARX-03a	Nick Leventis	Jonny Kane	Rank 10

Web links

Commons : Danny Watts  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official Website of Danny Watts (English)
• Career statistics of Danny Watts (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Queer.de : British racing driver Danny Watts comes out as gay