Ricky Collard (born July 30, 1996) is a British racing driver currently competing in the British GT Championship. He is the son of former BTCC driver Rob Collard and the grandson of Hot Rod racer Mick Collard.
Collard started his racing career in karts in 2006, finishing fourth in the British Cadet Championship in 2009, sixth in the Kartmasters British Grand Prix KF3 category in 2011, and eighth in the U18 Karting World Championship in 2012. That season he also made his car racing debut in the Ginetta Junior Championship.[2]
For the 2017 season, Collard switched to sportscar racing, competing in the opening three events of the ADAC GT Masters as a BMW junior driver.[3] He and factory driver Philipp Eng won during the first round at Oschersleben and scored a further podium at the Red Bull Ring, before Collard withdrew from the subsequent round in lieu of a BMW-organised viewing experience in the DTM.[4][5]
Collard entered the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup in 2018, driving for Rowe Racing.[6] The campaign proved to be disappointing, as he and the team were forced to retire from all four events he entered. During the same year, Collard made his British Touring Car Championship debut at Rockingham, substituting his father Rob who was ruled out on medical advice following concussion suffered at the previous round. He drove the BMW 125i M Sport for the remaining four rounds of the season, scoring his maiden podium at Silverstone with a third place finish.[7]
In 2019, the Briton entered the sprint-formatted GT World Challenge Europe together with Marvin Kirchhöfer, driving an Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 for R-Motorsport.[8] With points scored in the majority of races, Collard and Kirchhöfer ended up eighth in the standings, highlighted by a win at the Nürburgring.[9] Despite this success, 2020 proved to be a patchy season for Collard, who raced in individual events of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. The peak of his year came at the 24 Hours of Spa, where he helped Barwell Motorsport, in a lineup which included Sandy Mitchell, Leo Machitski, and Collard's father Rob, towards victory in the Pro-Am class.[10][11] Collard continued without a full-time schedule in 2021, racing in two Endurance Cup events.
In 2022, the Briton returned to the BTCC, driving for Toyota Gazoo Racing UK.[12] After struggling early on, Collard's form improved in the second half of the year, as he scored a best result of fourth on his way to 16th in the championship. Following the season, Collard announced that he would be retiring from racing.[13] The Briton reversed his decision however, instead re-signing with the team for the 2023 season.[14] At Brands Hatch, Collard crossed the finish line first during race 3, but was penalised for a track-limit infringement on the final lap, demoting him to eighth.[15] He eventually scored his sole podium of the year at Knockhill, which helped him towards eighth place in the standings.[16][17]
For the 2024 campaign, Collard partnered with his father Rob to race in the GT3 class of the British GT Championship.[18]
Complete British Formula Ford Championship/MSA Formula Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded in first race; races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races; * signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded all races)
Complete BRDC British Formula 3 Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded in first race; races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races; * signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded all races)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded in first race; races in italics indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races; * signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded all races)
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