Colin Braun

Colin Braun

Sports Car Driver
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Colin Braun, a four-time Rolex 24 winner and 2023 Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Pro-Am champion, has skillfully navigated racetracks spanning the U.S. to Asia and many places in between. Colin’s passion for racing began at an early age, growing up in a racing family in his hometown of Ovalo, Texas. From the first time he commanded the wheel of a go-kart with his father’s coaching, it was clear Colin’s future would involve anything with four tires and a motor. 

Colin’s sports car career is decorated with wins at IMSA’s famed endurance races, the Rolex 24, 12 Hours of Sebring, Six Hours of Watkins Glen, and Petit Le Mans. With a nod to his former NASCAR days, he’s credited with turning the fastest lap around the Daytona International Speedway oval at 222.971mph in the Ford Ecoboost-powered Daytona Prototype machine with Michael Shank Racing. Hand-picked by Ford, Colin’s 40.364-second lap broke Bill Elliott’s previous record, carving out another career milestone.

While impressive, this wasn’t the first time Colin left his mark in the racing history books. At just 16, Colin made his road racing debut at one of sports car racing’s crown jewels, the Rolex 24-Hour race in Daytona. The following year, he became the youngest driver to race in the top-tier Prototype class at just 17. And in 2006, Colin was the youngest driver ever to place on the podium at the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing second. His ascent was remarkable and caught the attention of top teams and manufacturers.

Before returning to Sports Car racing full-time, the standout moved to oval racing when NASCAR’s top team, Roush Fenway Racing, and Ford came calling in 2007. Competing in NASCAR’s Truck and Nationwide Series’ Colin accrued wins, poles, and Rookie-of-the-Year honors.

Colin has collected countless wins, poles, and podiums throughout his sports car career while racing in the ALMS, IMSA, and SRO series’. In what would become a bizarre year full of disrupted schedules due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Colin made his 16th consecutive start at the Rolex 24 in 2020 and mounted his third career win at the famed race with DragonSpeed. In 2022, Colin became a three-time IMSA champion with co-driver Jon Bennett. The duo raced to the LMP3 championship, adding to their back-to-back IMSA PC championship runs in 2014 and 2015. Colin also returned to CrowdStrike Racing in 2022 to pilot the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing/AWS machine for the fourth consecutive year in GT3 competition. Sharing driving duties with George Kurtz, the duo amassed three wins, including an overall win at Watkins Glen.

By all standards, the 2023 season was remarkable for Colin, who returned to Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS Pro-Am competition with George Kurtz and CrowdStrike Racing. The duo claimed the championship and a season-high six class wins in the Riley Motorsports prepared No. 04 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. James Allen joined the duo to pilot the CrowdStrike by APR’s Oreca 07 Gibson to a Le Mans LMP2 Pro-Am class win and an Asian Le Mans Series class win.

In the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship class, Colin embarked on a new journey in IMSA’s top GTP class with Meyers Shank Racing. The Texas native marked his 19th-consecutive Rolex 24 start with an overall win, his fourth career win at the legendary race. In the final race of 2023, he was able to check another box as he, along with co-drivers Tom Blomqvist and Helio Castroneves, took the overall win at Motul Petit Le Mans. By all accounts, it was a storybook year that earned him Driver-of-the-Year accolades by SportsCar365.com.

In 2024, Colin will pull double-duty racing again in GTWC and IMSA competitions. Colin will return to co-pilot the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing/AWS car for a full season with George as the team makes a run for back-to-back GT3 championships. In IMSA competition, Colin moves to the LMP2 class with George and CrowdStrike Racing by APR to vie for a championship title.

Teams


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CrowdStrike Racing by Riley