Kuno Wittmer's factory years with Dodge, BMW and McLaren

Kuno Wittmer is a former Canadian driver whose career spanned IMSA, the Michelin Pilot Challenge and Pirelli World Challenge. He worked as a works driver for Chrysler, BMW and McLaren, and in 2014 he became the first GTLM champion of the United SportsCar Championship with SRT Motorsports. The Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame honoured him in 2023.

Where did Wittmer's racing start?

Wittmer was raised in a family where motorsport was ordinary. His grandfather, father and uncle all rallied locally in Quebec, and he was given his first ATV at three. He moved on to ATVs and motocross by seven, and at fifteen he went to a driving school at Circuit Mont-Tremblant, which was the first step into circuit racing.

From there it was a short distance to the Canadian Formula Ford Championship, where his competitive record began in earnest.

A Quebec kid who started on ATVs ended up a champion in a Viper and a factory driver for three marques.

How did the Canadian years unfold?

A Rookie of the Year honour in the Canadian Formula Ford Championship in 1999 opened his competitive record. He tried the Atlantic series briefly, then returned to Quebec's Formula Ford and karting scene, and in 2002 he won the Quebec Sedan GT title, his first championship.

A Formula Renault year came next. In 2004 he switched to touring cars with the Honda Michelin Challenge in Canada, racing for de Sigi Autosport. In 2005 he took that crown with five victories and six podiums across nine events.

What did RealTime Racing bring him?

He spent 2006 with de Sigi Autosport in the Pirelli World Challenge, and it was not a memorable year. In 2007 he signed for RealTime Racing, a team he had admired since he was fifteen. He claimed a TC-class pole at home in Toronto and earned his only podium of the season at Laguna Seca, which left him third overall, trailing Jeff Altenburg and Randy Pobst.

That same season he drove part-time in the Koni Sports Car Challenge with Georgian Bay Motorsports.

The 2008 campaign gave him his first World Challenge victory, at VIR in the TC class, and two more wins at Lime Rock and Mid-Ohio. Five podiums and another third-place championship finish were the result. He also took a full-time ST-class seat with the i-Moto squad in the Koni series, where he finished third.

The 2009 season was his third with RealTime. It produced one win, at home at Mosport, and a sixth place in the points.

How did Wittmer become a Dodge factory driver?

The Dodge association started in late 2009 with a one-off World Challenge GT outing for Woodhouse Performance. In 2010 he raced full time in the GT class, in a Dodge Viper Competition Coupe run by SRT Motorsports, and he secured his first GT win at Long Beach.

The early rounds were modest, with sixth and fifth at St. Petersburg. At Long Beach he led from the start to the flag, and he had already set a track record in qualifying. Second at Mosport and a victory at the final round in Utah followed.

The season finished with him second in the GT standings, a margin of just under 200 points to Pobst. It was the beginning of a long factory connection with the Viper.

What did the 2011 test and development work involve?

During 2011 Wittmer worked as a test driver for the LMGTE Viper programme, which was being readied for 2012. He drove a one-off in ADAC GT Masters and took one start in the one-make Viper Cup.

He also posted a production-car lap record at Utah, driving a Dodge Viper ACR. Alongside that, he worked with the SCCA on the technical rules for its new B-spec class for 2012.

How did the Viper reach the American Le Mans Series?

The Viper made its American Le Mans Series bow at Mid-Ohio in August 2012, with Wittmer sharing the No. 91 GTE car with Dominik Farnbacher. They finished tenth on debut, followed by another top-ten at Road America. The best result of that year was eighth at Petit Le Mans.

In 2013 the effort went full time. Wittmer drove the No. 93 alongside Jonathan Bomarito, and Tommy Kendall joined them for the endurance rounds. The Viper was back at Le Mans that year after a gap stretching to the early 2000s, and Wittmer made his own debut there, which he described as a dream come true.

At Le Mans the entry finished ninth in class, five laps down on its sister car and 14 laps behind the Porsche 911 RSR that won the class.

The rest of the 2013 season had its high points. Mosport gave the entry a third-place finish in class, its first podium of the year, and at COTA the car took second in class, the final ALMS podium of Wittmer's career.

What did the 2014 GTLM crown require?

Wittmer raced the complete 2014 United SportsCar Championship with SRT Motorsports, again alongside Bomarito. Petit Le Mans decided the GTLM title, and he became the first champion in that class of the new series.

The season opened with sixth at Daytona and a second place at the 12 Hours of Sebring, a near miss for a first win there. A third at Watkins Glen came next, and at Mosport he took pole and finished second in GTLM behind a Corvette.

A brief trip into Pirelli World Challenge yielded a second place on the Saturday at Toronto and a win on the Sunday, as the Viper GT3 customer car made its debut.

His maiden IMSA victory came at Indianapolis in late July, the first for SRT that year. Road America brought a podium and VIR a fifth. A Viper one-two at COTA kept the title fight alive into the final rounds.

Petit Le Mans was the decider. Wittmer and Bomarito were both in contention, so the pair were split for the final race. Wittmer drove the No. 91 with Marc Goossens and Ryan Hunter-Reay, and a podium there was enough to take the title.

Chrysler ended its factory Viper project for 2015 less than 48 hours later, and Wittmer was left without a seat.

How did Wittmer find a seat in 2015?

With no factory drive, Wittmer returned to a Viper for the 24 Hours of Daytona, where he won the GTD class alongside Farnbacher, Al Carter, Cameron Lawrence and Ben Keating. It was an unexpected return to the top step.

He then made a one-off appearance for HART at Sebring in the Continental Tire series, his first touring-car outing with Honda since 2008. Later that season he replaced TRG driver James Davison at Watkins Glen, then took the full-season ride, with a development role for Christina Nielsen.

A Lime Rock podium followed, then second places at Road America and VIR. He missed three races but still placed tenth in GTD. Over the winter he set up the Kuno Wittmer Trophy, a grassroots scholarship in Quebec.

What was the BMW period like?

BMW brought Wittmer back as a works driver in 2016, both in its GTLM team and in customer racing. He co-drove the M6 GTLM for BMW Team RLR with John Edwards and Lucas Luhr, and the best results were sixth places at Sebring and Road Atlanta.

He also joined Michael Mills in the first SprintX GT Championship season, and the pair swept the opening weekend at Mosport. Mills went on to take the Sportsman title by the end of the year.

In 2017 he shared endurance duties, driving the No. 24 at the Rolex 24 and the No. 25 in the later endurance rounds. His only victory in the BMW programme came at Petit Le Mans, the last race for the M6 GTLM, with Bill Auberlen and Alexander Sims.

That year he also made his Nurburgring 24 Hours debut with Schubert Motorsport, alongside Jesse Krohn, Bruno Spengler and Jorg Muller. After two part-time seasons in BMW machinery he left the manufacturer, hoping to land a full-time seat for 2018.

How did the TCR and McLaren years develop?

For 2018 Wittmer drove a TCR car for Compass Racing in the Continental Tire series, alongside Rodrigo Sales. They won two of the first three rounds, at Sebring and Mid-Ohio, and added a third win at Road America. An early accident in the final race left them second in the title race.

In 2019 he moved up to the GS class with the same team, driving a McLaren 570S GT4 with Paul Holton. The pair started the year with pole and victory at Daytona. That February he was named a McLaren factory driver, and he focused on the Michelin Pilot Challenge. They added second at Road America, and he finished 13th in the championship.

In 2020 he joined AWA Racing's McLaren in the Grand Sport class and took pole in his first race. Travel restrictions tied to the pandemic limited him to that one appearance.

He returned in 2021 with a victory at Daytona, two more rounds and a podium at Road Atlanta, which took him to fifth in the drivers' championship.

Why did Wittmer turn to LMP3 in 2022?

In 2022 Wittmer raced in the IMSA LMP3 class with Orey Fidani, after growing frustrated with the balance-of-performance rules in GT4. They tested a Duqueine D08 in late 2021 and were immediately taken with it.

He was tabbed as a full-time driver for the entry at first, but he stepped away after Mid-Ohio. Later that year he made his rallying debut at the Rallye de Charlevoix.

How did his career come to an end?

He announced his retirement from professional racing in August 2023. The honour that followed in November, a place in the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame, recognised a career that had run through three manufacturers' programmes.

Racing record at a glance