William Powell (born 8 March 1985) is a British racing driver and businessman. He is the founder of motorsports business Sport77 and formerly the racing team Motus One .[1] He raced in the British Touring Car Championship for Starline Racing in 2023 and for Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero in 2022. He previously raced for the Brabham Motorsport team and won the 2021 British Endurance Championship in a McLaren GT3.[2][3][4]
| Will Powell | |
|---|---|
 Powell in 2021. | |
| Nationality |  British |
| Born | 8 March 1985 Birmingham, West Midlands, England |
| British Touring Car Championship career | |
| Debut season | 2022 |
| Current team | One Motorsport with Starline Racing |
| Racing licence |  FIA Silver |
| Car number | 70 |
| Starts | 36 (36 entries) |
| Wins | 0 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Best finish | 17th in 2023 |
| Previous series | |
| TCR UK Britcar Endurance Championship GT Cup Championship | |
Sports marketing
editPowell's career began[5] working as a road tester for Autocar and Haymarket Media Group. He later worked for production company North One TV whose clients included FIA World Rally Championship, FIA Formula E Championship, and FIA Formula One. He also worked in performance vehicle marketing roles at Jaguar Land Rover and later became a Vice President at CSM, the motorsports marketing division of Chime Plc.
In 2016, Powell founded Motus One.[6][7] In 2018, Motus One Racing was added to the group adding a motorsport services and race team.
Motor racing
editPowell was a BTCC driver for team Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero run by Team HARD in a Cupra Leon.[8] He was formerly a factory driver for the motorsport division of Anglo-American sports car company Brabham Automotive.[9]
He has raced in GT and sports car championships in the UK including F3,British Endurance Championship, GT Cup, Radicals, 24H Series and MR2 Championship.[10][11][12]
He is qualified as a race coach by the Association of Racing Driver Schools (ARDS) and has coached customers for Mercedes-Benz AMG, Bentley, and Ford.[13][14]
He drove the Brabham BT62 Competition in the marque’s return to racing at the Brands Hatch Into The Night Race in November 2019 alongside teammate David Brabham.[15][9][16] The duo finished in first place with Powell setting fastest lap of the race.[17]
In a disrupted 2020 motorsport season, Powell raced in the British Endurance Series and GT Cup in a Ginetta G55 GT4 with co-driver Dave Scaramanga for Motus One Racing.[18] During the COVID-19 UK lockdown, Powell won multiple e-sports races in a virtual Brabham BT62.[19]
In 2021, Powell won the British Endurance Series championship in a McLaren 650S GT3.[20] In the same year, it was announced by Maximum Motorsport that Powell would drive its Hyundai i30N in the TCR UK touring car championship. He also tested for Team HARD in its Cupra Leon for the British Touring Car Championship. [21][22]
He competed in six of the ten race weekends that made up the 2022 BTCC Championship in a CUPRA Leon as late replacement for Jack Goff. He also competed in a partial season of the British Endurance Series and scored multiple podiums.
In 2023 he competed in five of the BTCC Championship weekends in a Honda Civic for Starline Racing and raced in Le Mans Cup in a Duqueine D-08 for Murphy Prototypes.
In 2024 it was announced that Powell would return to the TCR UK Championship with JAS Motorsport and Sport77.[23]
Racing record
editComplete British Touring Car Championship results
edit(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded just in first race; races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races; * signifies that driver led race for at least one lap – 1 point given 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 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero |
Cupra León | DON 1 |
DON 2 |
DON 3 |
BRH 1 29 |
BRH 2 23 |
BRH 3 25 |
THR 1 23 |
THR 2 22 |
THR 3 Ret |
OUL 1 Ret |
OUL 2 NC |
OUL 3 21 |
CRO 1 Ret |
CRO 2 24 |
CRO 3 22 |
KNO 1 21 |
KNO 2 Ret |
KNO 3 26 |
SNE 1 25 |
SNE 2 Ret |
SNE 3 24 |
THR 1 |
THR 2 |
THR 3 |
SIL 1 22 |
SIL 2 25 |
SIL 3 Ret |
BRH 1 |
BRH 2 |
BRH 3 |
31st | 0 |
| 2023 | One Motorsport with Starline Racing |
Honda Civic Type R | DON 1 18 |
DON 2 Ret |
DON 3 Ret |
BRH 1 22 |
BRH 2 21 |
BRH 3 18 |
SNE 1 22 |
SNE 2 23 |
SNE 3 19 |
THR 1 20 |
THR 2 Ret |
THR 3 24 |
OUL 1 19 |
OUL 2 Ret |
OUL 3 21 |
CRO 1 |
CRO 2 |
CRO 3 |
KNO 1 |
KNO 2 |
KNO 3 |
DON 1 |
DON 2 |
DON 3 |
SIL 1 |
SIL 2 |
SIL 3 |
BRH 1 |
BRH 2 |
BRH 3 |
29th | 0 |
References
edit- ^ "OUR TEAM". MOTUS.ONE. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
- ^ "New BT62 set to be Britcar together". Pressreader. 24 October 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
- ^ "The car behind Brabham's return to the race track - BT62". The Checkered Flag. 29 November 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
- ^ Sutcliffe, Aaron. "Knowle driver Powell wins Britcar Endurance Championship". Solihull Observer.
- ^ "LOCAL BOY DONE GOOD". www.magzter.com. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
- ^ "MOTUS ONE HELPING TO PUT BRABHAM NAME BACK IN POLE POSITION". MEPC Silverstone Park. 9 June 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
- ^ "Developing Grid with Codemasters". MOTUS.ONE. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
- ^ "BTCC | WILL POWELL TO TAKE FINAL CUPRA SEAT WITH TEAM HARD. RACING". www.btcc.net. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
- ^ a b "Brabham BT62 to make race debut in November". Motor Authority. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
- ^ "BRDC BRITISH F3 CHAMPIONSHIP" (PDF). Motosport Vision Racing.
- ^ "Driver Profile: Will Powell". GT Cup.
- ^ "Race 13 (Sunday) - Toyota MR2 Championship | theresultslive.co.uk". The Results Live. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
- ^ "Will Powell | Association of Racing Driver Schools | ARDS". www.ards.co.uk. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
- ^ "A Walk in the Park". Pressreader. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
- ^ "BRABHAM AUTOMOTIVE ANNOUNCE DRIVERS FOR BT62 RACING DEBUT – Brabham Automotive". Retrieved 23 January 2020.
- ^ Libbeter, Mark. "New Brabham BT62 wins on debut in Britcar + Ginetta Junior report". Autosport.com. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
- ^ "Brabham wins in a Brabham: debut victory for BT62 as famous name returns". Motor Sport Magazine. 11 November 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
- ^ "Britcar - Teams & Drivers". www.britcar-endurance.com. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
- ^ Mackley, Stefan (30 April 2020). "Brabham wins on BT62'S virtual debut". Autosport (UK). Retrieved 16 March 2023 – via PressReader.
- ^ "Moorgate McLaren dominates to record maiden Britcar class win - automobilsport.com". www.automobilsport.com. Archived from the original on 28 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "21 January 2021 | Autosport Digital Edition". digitaledition.autosport.com. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
- ^ "TCR UK racer Will Powell to test Team HARD Cupra - TouringCarTimes". TouringCarTimes. 15 July 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
- ^ "Will Powell joins TCR UK grid for a new full-season chapter in 2024 - TCR UK". 11 January 2024. Retrieved 10 February 2024.