A 2020 Formula 2 runner-up and Ferrari Driver Academy graduate who moved through IndyCar, the World Endurance Championship and now the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
Callum Ilott is a British driver who finished runner-up in the 2020 Formula 2 Championship. He has raced in IndyCar and at Le Mans, spent time in the World Endurance Championship, and is competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship in 2026.
Callum Ilott is a British racer who competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Wright Motorsports. He finished second to Mick Schumacher during the 2020 Formula 2 season and was a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy for several years. His IndyCar seats came with Juncos Hollinger Racing and Prema, and his endurance programme included a spell with Jota Sport in the World Endurance Championship.
Who is Callum Ilott and how did he start racing?
Callum Benjamin Ilott was born on 11 November 1998. His parents encouraged him to try a range of sports, including football, cricket, rugby and tennis, before he became interested in racing after a friend's birthday party at a kart circuit.
He made his karting debut in 2008 and won his first race in 2011 in the Formula Kart Stars series in the KF3 class.
He stayed in KF3 with Chiesa Corse Team for 2012 and had considerable success. At thirteen he won the WSK Masters Series and the WSK Final Cup, finished second in the WSK Euro Series as well as the CIK-FIA World Cup, and was named the youngest WSK Driver of the Year ever. The year after, he moved into KF and KF2 machinery and claimed the Trofeo delle Industrie, a further WSK success.
In 2014 he raced for Zanardi Strakka Racing, finishing fourth in the CIK-FIA World Championship and winning the WSK Super Masters Series and the CIK-FIA European Championship. Those results helped build the reputation that led to his move into single-seaters.
A Formula 2 runner-up who has since raced at Indianapolis, Le Mans and now the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
How did Ilott progress through the junior formulae?
His first single-seater outing came in the 2015 Toyota Racing Series, driving for ETEC Motorsport, wearing a helmet in Red Bull colours while he was unofficially in the energy drink company's driver programme. He finished sixteenth in the championship, fast in qualifying and practice but weaker in races.
That season he also stepped up to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship with Carlin.
Racing with Carlin as a sixteen-year-old, he was one of the title contenders before the season began. He finished twelfth overall and seventh in the Rookie Championship, with a single podium at the Nurburgring. He was dropped from the Red Bull programme at the end of 2015 after a winless campaign, and he later found his way into the Ferrari Driver Academy.
In 2016 he switched to Van Amersfoort Racing, and at Paul Ricard he took his first victory in the category. A second win came at the Red Bull Ring, and he finished sixth overall. In 2017 he joined Prema Powerteam, finished fourth in the drivers standings and won six races, though he finished 39 points behind his teammate Maximilian Gunther.
In 2018 he moved to GP3 with ART Grand Prix. He finished third in the championship behind his team-mates Nikita Mazepin plus the late Anthoine Hubert. He claimed seven podiums that year, two of them victories, and he also took part in Formula 2 testing before stepping up to the category in 2019.
How did Ilott's Formula 2 career unfold?
Ilott made his Formula 2 debut in 2017 with Trident at Silverstone, finishing both races outside the top ten. He then raced a full season in 2019 with Trident, finishing eleventh overall. That year he took two sprint podiums at Catalunya and Sochi, and he earned his maiden pole position at Monza.
For 2020 he joined UNI-Virtuosi Racing alongside Zhou Guanyu. He won the delayed opening race at the Red Bull Ring as Zhou, from pole, suffered electrical problems. Over the year he won three races, took five poles and six podiums, and finished runner-up to Mick Schumacher, who was also in the Ferrari Driver Academy.
Ahead of the final round he announced that he would not race in Formula 2 or Formula One in 2021. He then became a test driver for Scuderia Ferrari and, in April 2021, an Alfa Romeo reserve driver. Alfa called him up as a reserve for the 2022 Miami Grand Prix.
How did Ilott's IndyCar career develop?
Ilott joined Juncos Hollinger Racing for the final three races of the 2021 IndyCar season. He made his debut at Portland, finishing 25th after a mechanical failure, and he crashed during the warm-up at Monterey before finishing 22nd. He retired with a mechanical problem at Long Beach and finished 26th.
He stayed with Juncos for 2022 and was involved in a crash at the 106th Indianapolis 500 that broke his right hand. He missed the following weekend's race at Detroit, returned at Road America to finish eleventh, and qualified on the front row at Laguna Seca, though he retired there with engine problems.
In 2023 he finished fifth at St Petersburg, his best finish in the series. At Indianapolis he qualified 28th after the team switched chassis, led a few laps and finished twelfth. He parted ways with Juncos in October 2023 after more than two seasons together.
He deputised for David Malukas at Arrow McLaren in 2024, opening the season at St Petersburg, and drove the team's car at that year's Indianapolis 500, where he finished eleventh. In 2025 he moved to Prema full-time, alongside Robert Shwartzman. He finished 12th at Indianapolis from 21st on the grid, though the car was later found to have an illegal front wing and he was demoted to last.
What did Ilott achieve in endurance and sports car racing?
In 2021 Ilott made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Iron Lynx, driving a Ferrari 488 GTE. He finished third in GTE Am and 27th overall, taking a podium on his first attempt. He had earlier started the season with the same team in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.
His 2021 Spa 24 Hours ended after a four-car accident early on, and later that year he drove for AF Corse at the Indianapolis 8 Hours. In 2024 he moved into endurance racing with Jota Sport, piloting the No. 12 car alongside Will Stevens and Norman Nato.
The Jota team scored its first top-class podium at the opening race in Qatar, where Ilott's car finished second. Two rounds later he and Stevens won at Spa-Francorchamps following a mid-race red flag, Jota's first win in the Hypercar category. Ilott also finished eighth at Le Mans, the team's original starting position, after a chassis change caused by an earlier crash.
In 2026 he joined Wright Motorsports for the IMSA SportsCar Championship, piloting the No. 120 Porsche 911 GT3 R. The move followed the end of his Prema programme, which was removed from the 2026 entry list after financial problems and the exit of the Rosin family in January.
Career summary at a glance
| Season | Series and team | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | FIA Formula 3 European (Carlin) | Twelfth overall; podium at the Nurburgring |
| 2016 | FIA Formula 3 European (Van Amersfoort Racing) | Two wins; sixth overall |
| 2017 | FIA Formula 3 European (Prema Powerteam) | Fourth overall; six wins |
| 2018 | GP3 (ART Grand Prix) | Third overall; seven podiums including two wins |
| 2019 | Formula 2 (Trident) | Eleventh overall; maiden pole at Monza |
| 2020 | Formula 2 (UNI-Virtuosi Racing) | Runner-up to Mick Schumacher; three wins |
| 2021 | IndyCar (Juncos Hollinger Racing) | Three final-round starts, best 22nd |
| 2021 | 24 Hours of Le Mans (Iron Lynx) | Third in GTE Am; 27th overall |
| 2023 | IndyCar (Juncos Hollinger Racing) | Fifth at St Petersburg; twelfth at Indianapolis |
| 2024 | FIA World Endurance Championship (Jota Sport) | Second in Qatar; win at Spa-Francorchamps |
| 2025 | IndyCar (Prema) | Back-to-back sixth places at Laguna Seca and Portland |
| 2026 | IMSA SportsCar Championship (Wright Motorsports) | Porsche 911 GT3 R, No. 120 |
Where does Ilott's career stand now?
Ilott's career has been defined by strong junior results and a long relationship with Ferrari, but few of those results led to a full-time Formula One seat. He has instead built a reputation as a versatile driver who moves between single-seaters and prototypes.
His current seat is with Wright Motorsports, where he races a Porsche in IMSA. The move gives him a fresh challenge after the difficulties of his final Prema season.
Team and contract details from 2017 to 2024
The 2017 Prema team went on to win the teams' title for the fifth consecutive season, and Ilott's fourth place in the drivers' standings was part of that success. In 2020 he rejoined his former Charouz team for the first day of the post-season Formula 2 test in Bahrain.
Juncos Hollinger Racing kept him in the car after 2021. He announced in September 2021 that he would stay for 2022, and in July 2022 he signed a two-year extension running through 2024.
In 2023 he matched his top result of fifth, in the final round at Laguna Seca. In 2024 his WEC campaign was harder. He crashed out after leaving the pits at the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, and an electrical problem two hours into the race at the Circuit of the Americas could not be fixed in time.
Le Mans, Indianapolis and the 2024 season in detail
At the 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours Ilott replaced Andrea Piccini in the Iron Lynx Ferrari, because Piccini chose to stop driving and concentrate on his duties as team principal. Ilott's podium on debut came in GTE Am.
His 2024 Indianapolis 500 came after Arrow McLaren released David Malukas in late April, and he finished eleventh. In 2025 his Prema team-mate was Robert Shwartzman.
The Juncos Hollinger races of 2021
At Portland in 2021 Ilott completed only 77 of the 110 laps because of a mechanical failure mid-race. At Long Beach he had qualified eighteenth, but he completed 47 of the 85 laps before retiring with a mechanical issue.
