Danny Watts
{{short description|British racing driver}}
{{other people|Daniel Watts}}
{{BLP sources|date=September 2021}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
{{Infobox racing driver
| name = Danny Watts
| image = Dany Watts 2012 WEC Fuji.jpg
| caption = Watts in 2012
| nationality = {{flagicon|GBR}} British
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1979|12|31}}
| birth_place = Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England
| racing licence = 12px FIA Platinum
| record template1 =
{{Infobox Le Mans driver |embed=yes |
Years = {{24hLM|2007}}, {{24hLM|2009}} – {{24hLM|2013}}, {{24hLM|2015}} – {{24hLM|2016}} |
Team(s) = Team LNT, Strakka Racing |
Best Finish = 5th ({{24hLM|2010}}) |
Class Wins = 1 ({{24hLM|2010}}) |
}}
}}
File:A1 Grand Prix, Kyalami - Great Britain 2.jpg at the 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, South Africa.]]
Danny Watts (born 31 December 1979) is a retired British professional racing driver.
Career
Watts was born in Aylesbury, and started racing in 1993, when he began karting. After five seasons of karting, he stepped up to single seater racing in 1998 in the UK Formula First championship, in which he dominated with 12 wins. He also competed in the Formula Palmer Audi Winter Series, in preparation for running the main Formula Palmer Audi championship the following year.
2000 saw a step up to the British Formula Renault Championship, when he was teammate to Kimi Räikkönen. In his third year of Formula Renault, he won the championship with 6 wins.
Watts ascended another tier in 2003, stepping up to the British Formula 3 Championship, with HiTech Racing. He took his first win in the series the same year in the second race at Castle Combe, having crashed out of the lead in race one. In 2004 he became the first driver for eleven years to win a round of the British Formula 3 Championship whilst not driving a car from the Dallara company.
2005 saw a mixed year for Watts. Unable to remain in Formula Three, he contested a handful of races in various disciplines. The same occurred in 2006, though he did make a brief return to F3 for the penultimate race of the season, at Thruxton, for champions Räikkönen Robertson Racing (co-owned by former British FRenault teammate, and now F1 star Kimi Räikkönen). In that race, Watts led the field and dominated proceedings with a convincing win.
In 2006, he raced in the Porsche Carrera Cup for the Redline Racing team. Initially he shared this drive with Richard Westbrook, only contesting races which clash with Westbrook's Porsche Carrera Cup racing, but after a run of 8 successive victories in the races he started, Richard conceded the drive full-time.
For 2007 Watts drove for Team LNT in the Le Mans Series in a Panoz Esperante GT-LM. He was also invited to join A1 Team Great Britain for the 4th season of the 2007/8 season held in Shanghai, China and took part in the rookie sessions.
In 2008, he signed to the SAS Lechner Racing team with teammate Damien Faulkner for the F1-supporting Porsche Supercup series.
A1 Team Great Britain announced that Watts would race for A1 Team Great Britain in Chengdu; he came 3rd in both the sprint and feature race.
For 2009 he raced for Strakka Racing in the Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving a Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S. In the opening round of the Le Mans Series at Barcelona he claimed overall pole on the teams LMP1 debut.
In 2010, he retained his seat for Strakka Racing in the Le Mans Series however the team moved down to the LMP2 category now using a HPD ARX-01c. The car took the class victory at Le Mans finishing 5th overall.{{cn|date=March 2025}}
Personal life
After retiring, he came out publicly in 2017 as gay.{{cite web |last1=Watts |first1=Daniel |title=I'm A Race Car Driver And I'm Coming Out To Help Change The Sport |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/im-a-race-car-driver-and-im-coming-out-to-help-change-the-sport_b_58a782f0e4b07602ad54befa |website=HuffPost |access-date=23 September 2021 |language=en |date=20 February 2017}}{{cite web |url= http://www.gaytimes.co.uk/news/63161/pro-racing-driver-danny-watts-comes-gay/ |title= Pro racing driver Danny Watts publicly comes out as gay |author= Lewis Corner |date= 20 February 2017 |work= Gay Times |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170612152629/http://www.gaytimes.co.uk/news/63161/pro-racing-driver-danny-watts-comes-gay/ |archive-date= 12 June 2017}} He was previously married to Fiona Leggate with whom he had one son.{{cite web |last1=Igual |first1=Roberto |title=Danny Watts, British racing driver comes out as gay |url=https://www.mambaonline.com/2017/02/20/danny-watts-british-racing-driver-comes-gay/ |website=MambaOnline - Gay South Africa online |access-date=23 September 2021 |date=20 February 2017}}
Helmet
Watts' helmet colour is in honour of Oxford United Football Club, whom he supports.{{cn|date=March 2025}}
Racing record
=Career summary=
| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%; text-align:center"
! Season ! Series ! Team ! Races ! Wins ! Poles ! F.Laps ! Podiums ! Points ! Position |
| rowspan=2 | 1998
|align=left| Formula First Great Britain |align=left| Mark Burdett Motorsport | ? | 12 | 12 | ? | ? | ? | style="background:#FFFFBF;" | 1st |
|---|
| align=left| Formula Palmer Audi Winter Series
|align=left| ? | 4 | 0 | ? | ? | 3 | 80 | style="background:#FFDF9F;" | 3rd |
| 1999
|align=left| Formula Palmer Audi |align=left| ? | 14 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 42 | 22nd |
| rowspan=2 | 2000
|align=left| Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup | rowspan=2 align=left| Manor Motorsport | ? | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 16th |
| align=left| Formula Renault 2.0 UK
| 11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 153 | 10th |
| 2001
|align=left| Formula Renault 2.0 UK |align=left| Falcon Motorsport | 13 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 253 | style="background:#FFDF9F;" | 3rd |
| rowspan=4 | 2002
|align=left| Formula Renault 2.0 UK | rowspan=2 align=left| Fortec Motorsport | 13 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 333 | style="background:#FFFFBF;" | 1st |
| align=left| Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| align=left| Macau Asian Formula 2000 Challenge
|align=left| EYHOB Motorsport | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | style="background:#FFFFBF;" | 1st |
| align=left| Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain
|align=left| Porsche Cars Great Britain | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| rowspan=4 | 2003
|align=left| British Formula Three Championship | rowspan=3 align=left| Hitech Grand Prix | 22 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 125 | 5th |
| align=left| Masters of Formula 3
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23rd |
| align=left| Macau Grand Prix
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10th |
| align=left| Korea Super Prix
|align=left| Alan Docking Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9th |
| rowspan=5 | 2004
|align=left| British Formula Three Championship | rowspan=3 align=left| Promatecme | 21 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 139 | 6th |
| align=left| Masters of Formula 3
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10th |
| align=left| Formula 3 European Cup
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5th |
| align=left| Japanese Formula 3 Championship
|align=left| M-TEC | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 15th |
| align=left| Walter Hayes Trophy
|align=left| ? | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | style="background:#DFDFDF;" | 2nd |
| rowspan=4 | 2005
|align=left| British Formula Three Championship | align=left| Alan Docking Racing | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23 | 13th |
| align=left| Formula 3 Euro Series
|align=left| HBR Motorsport | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| align=left| Macau Grand Prix
|align=left| Team Midland Euroseries | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| align=left| Formula Renault 3.5 Series
|align=left| EuroInternational | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| rowspan=5 | 2006
|align=left| British Formula Three Championship | align=left| Räikkönen Robertson Racing | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | NC |
| align=left| Porsche Supercup
|rowspan=2 align=left| IRWIN Redline Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| align=left| Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain
| 16 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 250 | style="background:#FFDF9F;" | 3rd |
| align=left| Porsche Carrera Cup Asia
|align=left| Gates GR Asia | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | NC |
| align=left| British GT Championship
|align=left| ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | 15 | 7th |
| rowspan=4 | 2007
|align=left| Le Mans Series - LMGT2 |rowspan=2 align=left| Team LNT | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 19th |
| align=left| 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGT2
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| align=left| American Le Mans Series - LMP2
|align=left| Zytek Motorsports | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 16th |
| align=left| Porsche Carrera Cup Asia
|align=left| ? | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| rowspan=4 | 2008
|align=left| Porsche Supercup |align=left| SAS Lechner Racing | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 90 | 9th |
| align=left| American Le Mans Series
|align=left| Team LNT | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| align=left| Aston Martin Asia Cup
|align=left| Noble Group/GR Asia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | NC |
| align=left| Macau GT Cup Grand Prix
|align=left| Team Road & Track | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | style="background:#DFDFDF;" | 2nd |
| 2008-09
|align=left| A1 Grand Prix |align=left| A1 Team Great Britain | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 28 | 10th |
| rowspan=4 | 2009
|align=left| Le Mans Series | rowspan=2 align=left| Strakka Racing | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 16th |
| align=left| 24 Hours of Le Mans
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14th |
| align=left| Porsche Carrera Cup Asia
|align=left| SC Global Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | NC |
| align=left| Macau GT Cup Grand Prix
|align=left| Team Road & Track | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | style="background:#FFDF9F;" | 3rd |
| rowspan=3 | 2010
|align=left| Le Mans Series - LMP2 | rowspan=2 align=left| Strakka Racing | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 69 | style="background:#DFDFDF;" | 2nd |
| align=left| 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | style="background:#FFFFBF;" | 1st |
| align=left| Macau GT Cup Grand Prix
|align=left| United Autosports | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | style="background:#FFDF9F;" | 3rd |
| rowspan=4 | 2011
|align=left| Le Mans Series - LMP2 | rowspan=3 align=left| Strakka Racing | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 43 | style="background:#FFDF9F;" | 3rd |
| align=left| Intercontinental Le Mans Cup - LMP2
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | NC |
| align=left| 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| align=left| Macau GT Cup Grand Prix
|align=left| United Autosports | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | style="background:#FFDF9F;" | 3rd |
| rowspan=3 | 2012
|align=left| FIA World Endurance Championship | rowspan=2 align=left| Strakka Racing | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 64 | 7th |
| align=left| 24 Hours of Le Mans
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8th |
| align=left| Macau GT Cup Grand Prix
|align=left| United Autosports | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | style="background:#FFDF9F;" | 3rd |
| rowspan=4 | 2013
|align=left| FIA World Endurance Championship | rowspan=2 align=left| Strakka Racing | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 15th |
| align=left| 24 Hours of Le Mans
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6th |
| align=left| Macau GT Cup Grand Prix
|align=left| United Autosports | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | style="background:#DFDFDF;" | 2nd |
| align=left| FIA GT Series
|align=left| Trackspeed | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| rowspan=2 | 2014
|align=left| Macau GT Cup Grand Prix | rowspan=2 align=left| United Autosports | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19th |
| align=left| GT Asia Series
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| rowspan=2 | 2015
|align=left| FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2 | rowspan=2 align=left| Strakka Racing | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 63 | 8th |
| align=left| 24 Hours of Le Mans
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| rowspan=2 | 2016
|align=left| FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2 | rowspan=2 align=left| Strakka Racing | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 15th |
| align=left| 24 Hours of Le Mans
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4th |
| colspan="10"|{{center|{{small|Source:{{cite web|title=Danny Watts|url=https://www.driverdb.com/drivers/danny-watts|publisher=Driver Database|access-date=2 September 2023}}}}}} |
=Complete Porsche Supercup results=
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 2 points awarded 2008 onwards in all races) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"
! Year ! Team ! 1 ! 2 ! 3 ! 4 ! 5 ! 6 ! 7 ! 8 ! 9 ! 10 ! 11 ! 12 ! DC ! Points ! Ref |
| 2006
! nowrap| IRWIN Redline Racing | BHR | ITA | GER | ESP | MON |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| GBR | USA | USA | FRA | GER | HUN | ITA ! NC‡ ! 0‡ |
| 2008
! nowrap| SAS Lechner Racing |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BHR |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BHR |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| ESP |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| TUR |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MON |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| FRA |style="background:#DFDFDF;"| GBR |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| GER |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| HUN |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| ESP |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| BEL |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| ITA ! 9th ! 91 |
† – Did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
‡ – Guest driver – Not eligible for points.
=24 Hours of Le Mans results=
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%" |
| Year
! Team ! Co-Drivers ! Car ! Class ! Laps ! {{Tooltip|Pos.|Overall Position}} ! {{Tooltip|Class |
|---|
| {{24hLM|2007}}
|align="left" nowrap| {{flagicon|GBR}} Team LNT |align="left" nowrap| {{flagicon|GBR}} Tom Kimber-Smith |align="left" nowrap| Panoz Esperante GT-LM | GT2 | 60 | DNF | DNF |
| {{24hLM|2009}}
|align="left" nowrap| {{flagicon|GBR}} Strakka Racing |align="left" nowrap| {{flagicon|GBR}} Nick Leventis |align="left" nowrap| Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S | LMP1 | 325 | 21st | 14th |
| {{24hLM|2010}}
|align="left"| {{flagicon|GBR}} Strakka Racing |align="left"| {{flagicon|GBR}} Jonny Kane |align="left"| HPD ARX-01C | LMP2 | 367 | 5th |style="background:#FFFFBF;"| 1st |
| {{24hLM|2011}}
|align="left"| {{flagicon|GBR}} Strakka Racing |align="left"| {{flagicon|GBR}} Jonny Kane |align="left"| HPD ARX-01d | LMP2 | 144 | DNF | DNF |
| {{24hLM|2012}}
|align="left"| {{flagicon|GBR}} Strakka Racing |align="left"| {{flagicon|GBR}} Jonny Kane |align="left"| HPD ARX-03a | LMP1 | 303 | 30th | 8th |
| {{24hLM|2013}}
|align="left"| {{flagicon|GBR}} Strakka Racing |align="left"| {{flagicon|GBR}} Jonny Kane |align="left"| HPD ARX-03c | LMP1 | 332 | 6th | 6th |
| {{24hLM|2015}}
|align="left"| {{flagicon|GBR}} Strakka Racing |align="left"| {{flagicon|GBR}} Jonny Kane |align="left" nowrap| Strakka Dome S103-Nissan | LMP2 | 264 | DNF | DNF |
| {{24hLM|2016}}
|align="left"| {{flagicon|GBR}} Strakka Racing |align="left"| {{flagicon|GBR}} Jonny Kane |align="left"| Gibson 015S-Nissan | LMP2 | 351 | 8th | 4th |
| colspan="8"|{{center|{{small|Sources:{{cite web|title=Danny Watts|url=https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/track-record/driver/danny-watts-28|publisher=Automobile Club de l'Ouest|access-date=2 September 2023}}{{cite web|title=Danny Watts Results|url=https://www.motorsportstats.com/driver/danny-watts/results|publisher=Motorsport Stats|access-date=2 September 2023}}}}}} |
=Complete A1 Grand Prix results=
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"
! Year ! Entrant ! 1 ! 2 ! 3 ! 4 ! 5 ! 6 ! 7 ! 8 ! 9 ! 10 ! 11 ! 12 ! 13 ! 14 ! DC ! Points ! Ref |
| nowrap| 2008–09
! nowrap| Great Britain | NED | NED |style="background:#FFDF9F;"| CHN |style="background:#FFDF9F;"| CHN |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| MYS |style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MYS | NZL | NZL |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| RSA |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| RSA | POR | POR | GBR | GBR ! 10th ! 28 |
| colspan="19"|{{center|{{small|Source:{{cite web|title=Danny Watts|url=https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/database/drivers/danny-watts/|work=Motor Sport|access-date=2 September 2023}}}}}} |
|---|
=Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results=
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"
! Year ! Entrant ! Class ! Car ! Engine ! 1 ! 2 ! 3 ! 4 ! 5 ! 6 ! 7 ! 8 ! 9 ! Rank ! Points |
| 2012
! nowrap| Strakka Racing ! LMP1 ! nowrap| HPD ARX-03a ! nowrap| Honda LM-V8 3.4 L V8 |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SEB |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SPA |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| LMS |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SIL |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SÃO |style="background:#FFDF9F;"| BHR |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| FUJ |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SHA | ! 7th ! 64 |
| 2013
! nowrap| Strakka Racing ! LMP1 ! nowrap| HPD ARX-03c ! nowrap| Honda LM-V8 3.4 L V8 |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| SIL |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SPA |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| LMS | SÃO | COA | FUJ | SHA | BHR | ! 15th ! 22 |
| 2015
! nowrap| Strakka Racing ! LMP2 ! nowrap| Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 |style="background:#FFDF9F;"| SIL |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SPA |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| LMS |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| NÜR |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| COA |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| FUJ |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SHA |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BHR | ! 8th ! 63 |
| 2016
! nowrap| Strakka Racing ! LMP2 ! nowrap| Gibson 015S ! nowrap| Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SIL |style="background:#EFCFFF;"| SPA |style="background:#DFFFDF;"| LMS | NÜR | MEX | COA | FUJ | SHA | BHR ! 15th ! 34 |
| colspan="16"|{{center|{{small|Source:}}}} |
|---|
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20060901091051/http://www.danny-watts.com/ danny-watts.com]
- {{DriverDB driver|danny-watts}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-sports}}
{{succession box | before = Carl Breeze | title = British Formula Renault
UK series champion | after = Lewis Hamilton | years = 2002 }}
{{s-ach|aw}}
{{succession box | before = Mike Jordan | title = Autosport
British Club Driver of the Year | after = Lewis Hamilton | years = 2002}}
{{s-end}}
{{Autosport British Club Driver of the Year}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, Danny}}
Category:Sportspeople from Aylesbury
Category:English racing drivers
Category:British Formula Three Championship drivers
Category:British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers
Category:Formula Renault Eurocup drivers
Category:A1 Team Great Britain drivers
Category:Formula Palmer Audi drivers
Category:24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
Category:American Le Mans Series drivers
Category:European Le Mans Series drivers
Category:World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers
Category:Porsche Supercup drivers
Category:FIA World Endurance Championship drivers
Category:GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers
Category:English gay sportsmen