# Markus Palttala

Markus Palttala (born 16 August 1977 in Nakkila) is a Finnish racing driver. After racing in karts, Palttala began racing cars in the Finnish Touring Car Championship in 1998. He competed in the 2001 European Super Production Championship, driving a Honda Integra. Palttala's first run in Grand Touring cars came in 2000 in the single-make Porsche Carrera Cup Germany. He moved to the FIA GT Championship beginning in 2002, competing sporadically in 2006, 2008, and 2009, and also competed in its successor championships, the FIA GT1 World Championship and FIA GT3 European Championship through 2011. Palttala's best seasons came in 2011 and 2012 in the Blancpain Endurance Series, where he finished 2nd in the championship each year, driving for Marc VDS Racing Team.
Palttala drove in the Le Mans Endurance Series for various teams from 2005 until 2010. In the 2010 season, he won the GT1 class at the 1000 km of Spa and participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He ran the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2012 (including another outing at Le Mans) and 2013. Palttala joined Turner Motorsport for the inaugural United SportsCar Championship season in 2014. He took his first GT-Daytona class win in the third race of the season at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and followed it up with a dominating win at the Six Hours of Watkins Glen.

## Complete motorsports results
### 24 Hours of Le Mans results

| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
| 2010 | Marc VDS Racing Team | Eric De Doncker Bas Leinders | Ford GT1 | LMGT1 | 26 | DNF | DNF |
| 2012 | JWA-Avila | Paul Daniels Joël Camathias | Porsche 911 GT3 RSR | LMGTE-AM | 290 | 33rd | 8th |
| 2014 | Prospeed Competition | François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard | Porsche 911 GT3 RSR | LMGTE-AM | 194 | DNF | DNF |

### Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Class | Make | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pos. | Points |
| 2014 | Turner Motorsport | GTD | BMW Z4 GT3 | BMW 4.4 L V8 | DAY 7† | SEB 7 | LGA 1 | DET 6 | WGL 1 | MOS 3 | IND | ELK 1 | VIR 1 | COA 3 | ATL 4 | | 6th | 287 |
| 2015 | Turner Motorsport | GTD | BMW Z4 GT3 | BMW 4.4 L V8 | DAY 12 | SEB 8 | LGA 10 | BEL 6 | WGL 9 | LIM | ELK 10† | VIR 4 | AUS 2 | ATL 11 | | | 11th | 200 |
| 2016 | Turner Motorsport | GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | BMW 4.4 L V8 | DAY 5 | SEB 7 | LGA 12 | BEL 11 | WGL 10 | MOS 13† | LIM 7 | ELK 9 | VIR 8 | AUS 14 | PET 3 | | 10th | 237 |
| 2018 | Turner Motorsport | GTD | BMW M6 GT3 | BMW 4.4 L V8 | DAY | SEB 11 | MOH | BEL | WGL 1 | MOS | LIM | ELK | VIR | LGA | PET 15 | | 20th | 100 |
| 2021 | NTE Sport | GTD | Audi R8 LMS Evo | Audi 5.2 L V10 | DAY | SEB | MDO | DET | WGL 4 | WGL | LIM | ELK | LGA | LBH | VIR | PET | 48th | 299 |
| 2022 | NTE Sport | GTD | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | Lamborghini 5.2 L V10 | DAY 16 | SEB | LBH | LGA | MDO | DET | WGL | MOS | LIM | ELK | VIR | PET | 66th | 163 |
$^†$ Palttala did not complete sufficient laps in order to score full points.

### 24 Hours of Spa results

| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
| 2000 | PSI Motorsport | Stéphane De Groodt Éric Bachelart | Honda Integra Type-R | SP | | DNF | DNF |
| 2001 | PSI Motorsport | Philippe Tollenaire Stéphane De Groodt | Porsche 996 GT3-R | Cat.2 | 499 | 10th | 1st |
| 2002 | PSI Motorsport | Eric Geboers Kurt Mollekens | Porsche 996 Bi-Turbo | GT | 312 | DNF | DNF |
| 2005 | Ice Pol Racing Team | Yves Lambert Christian Lefort Jean André | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | G2 | 486 | 17th | 4th |
| 2006 | PSI Experience | Bernard Dehez Pertti Kuismanen Vincent Radermecker | Chevrolet Corvette C5-R | GT1 | 530 | 11th | 7th |
| 2008 | Prospeed Competition | Mikael Forsten Wolf Henzler Geoffroy Horion | Porsche 997 GT3-RSR | GT2 | 183 | DNF | DNF |
| 2009 | Prospeed Competition | Niki Lanik David Loix Oskar Slingerland | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S | G3 | 517 | 9th | 3rd |
| 2010 | Marc VDS Racing Team | Eric De Doncker Renaud Kuppens | Ford GT GT3 | GT3 | 249 | DNF | DNF |
| 2011 | Marc VDS Racing Team | Antoine Leclerc Jonathan Hirschi | Ford GT GT3 | Pro Cup | 521 | 11th | 7th |
| 2012 | Marc VDS Racing Team | Bas Leinders Maxime Martin | BMW Z4 GT3 | Pro Cup | 507 | 4th | 4th |
| 2013 | Marc VDS Racing Team | Nick Catsburg Henri Moser | BMW Z4 GT3 | Pro Cup | 222 | DNF | DNF |
| 2014 | BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS | Lucas Luhr Dirk Werner | BMW Z4 GT3 | Pro Cup | 527 | 2nd | 2nd |
| 2015 | BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS | Nick Catsburg Lucas Luhr | BMW Z4 GT3 | Pro Cup | 536 | 1st | 1st |
| 2016 | Emil Frey Racing | Jonathan Hirschi Christian Klien | Jaguar XK Emil Frey G3 | Pro Cup | 446 | 49th | 25th |
| 2017 | Walkenhorst Motorsport | Matias Henkola Christian Krognes Nico Menzel | BMW M6 GT3 | Pro-Am Cup | 536 | 20th | 5th |
| 2018 | Emil Frey Racing | Stéphane Ortelli Norbert Siedler | Lexus RC F GT3 | Pro Cup | 196 | DNF | DNF |
| 2019 | Bentley Team M-Sport | Alex Buncombe Maxime Soulet | Bentley Continental GT3 | Pro Cup | 118 | DNF | DNF |

### 24 Hours of Nürburgring results

| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
| 2012 | Marc VDS Racing Team | Bas Leinders Maxime Martin | BMW Z4 GT3 | SP9 GT3 | 154 | 4th | 4th |
| 2013 | Marc VDS Racing Team | Richard Göransson Bas Leinders Henri Moser | BMW Z4 GT3 | SP9 GT3 | 39 | DNF | DNF |
| 2014 | BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS | Dirk Adorf Nick Catsburg Bas Leinders | BMW Z4 GT3 | SP9 GT3 | 60 | DNF | DNF |
| 2015 | BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS | Lucas Luhr Maxime Martin Richard Westbrook | BMW Z4 GT3 | SP9 GT3 | 156 | 2nd | 2nd |
| 2016 | Rowe Racing | Nicky Catsburg Klaus Graf Richard Westbrook | BMW M6 GT3 | SP9 GT3 | 57 | DNF | DNF |
| 2017 | Rowe Racing | Nick Catsburg Alexander Sims Richard Westbrook | BMW M6 GT3 | SP9 GT3 | 158 | 2nd | 2nd |
| 2018 | BMW Team Schnitzer | Augusto Farfus Christian Krognes Fabian Schiller | BMW M6 GT3 | SP9 GT3 | 131 | 13th | 12th |
| 2019 | GetSpeed Performance | Janine Hill Fabian Schiller John Shoffner | Mercedes-AMG GT3 | SP9 GT3 | 150 | 13th | 12th |
| 2020 | GetSpeed Performance | Janine Shoffner John Shoffner Maxime Soulet | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | SP9 GT3 | 79 | 17th | 16th |
| 2021 | GetSpeed Performance | Moritz Kranz John Shoffner Maxime Soulet | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | SP9 GT3 | 58 | 14th | 14th |
| 2022 | KTM True Racing | Reinhard Kofler Ferdinand Stuck Johannes Stuck | KTM X-Bow GT2 Concept | SP-X | 144 | 20th | 2nd |

### NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

#### Whelen Euro Series - Elite 1

NASCAR Whelen Euro Series - Elite 1 results :
| Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | NWES | Points |
| 2014 | Racing Club Partners – Marc VDS | 46 | Toyota | VAL | VAL | BRH 8 | BRH 9 | TOU | TOU | NUR 6 | NUR 21 | UMB | UMB | LEM | LEM | 22nd | 178 |

### 24 Hours of Zolder results

| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
| 2000 | PSI Motorsport | Marc Goossens Philippe Tollenaire | Porsche 996 Bi-Turbo | GTA | | DNF | DNF |
| 2003 | RTM Racing | Leo Van Sande Risto Virtanen | Porsche 996 Bi-Turbo | GTA | 165 | DNF | DNF |
| 2004 | PSI Motorsport | Marc Duez Leo Van Sande | Porsche 996 Bi-Turbo | GTA | 426 | DNF | DNF |
| 2005 | PSI Motorsport | Kurt Mollekens Vincent Radermecker Leo Van Sande | Porsche 996 Bi-Turbo | GTA | 746 | 7th | 2nd |
| 2007 | G-Force Racing | Frank Hahn Val Hillebrand Leo Van Sande | Porsche 997 GT3 Cup | Belcar 1 | 773 | 6th | 4th |
| 2008 | MPM Racing by Verbist | Armand Fumal Jos Menten Michel Pulinx | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | Belcar 3 | 773 | 3rd | 2nd |
| 2011 | Prospeed Competition | Marc Goossens David Loix Maxime Soulet | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | GTO+ | 800 | 2nd | 1st |
| 2012 | Marc VDS Racing Team | Nick Catsburg Bas Leinders Henri Moser | BMW Z4 GT3 | GT-1 | 291 | DNF | DNF |
| 2015 | Skylimit Yokohama Racing Team | Dale Lomas Simon Podhalicz Robin Put Davy Suffeleers | BMW Clubsport | T-6 | 639 | 30th | 3rd |
| 2016 | Skylimit Yokohama Racing Team | Kata Bozó Nicolas Hermans Ines Lammens Jo Lammens | BMW E90 325i | Belcar 5 | 603 | 32nd | 7th |
| 2017 | Skylimit Yokohama Racing Team | Kata Bozó Nicolas Hermans Ines Lammens Jo Lammens | BMW E90 325i | Belcar 5 | 645 | 24th | 3rd |
| 2019 | JJ Motorsport/Xwift Racing | Pieter Denys Gregory Eyckmans Jamie-Jason Vandenbalck | BMW E90 325i | Belcar 6 | 668 | 15th | 1st |