About Alex MacDowall

Professional racing driver Alex MacDowall races with Lamborghini power once again in 2022 in the hugely competitive Fanatec GT World Challenge Powered by AWS Endurance Cup, after rejoining crack team Barwell Motorsport – the squad with which he won the Silver Cup crown two years ago.

This year, the 30-year-old from Carlisle will compete in the newly created Gold Cup class in GTWCE which features teams of three differently graded drivers – Bronze, Silver and Gold – battling it out at Europe’s greatest race tracks. Rekindling the relationship with Barwell, Alex is hungry to win again.

Beginning his racing career aged just 14 in the UK-based T-Car Championship, with no previous karting experience behind him, Alex then stepped-up into the Renault UK Clio Cup with Total Control Racing where he was third in the end-of-year Winter Series in 2007. Staying in the championship in 2008 and 2009, during his final season he secured four wins and was Vice-Champion.

Impressing several of the top British Touring Car Championship teams during his Clio Cup tenure, in March 2010 it was confirmed Alex would graduate into the UK's biggest motor racing category after signing for the RML-run Silverline Chevrolet factory-supported BTCC entry.

As team-mate to Jason Plato, Alex’s rookie BTCC year was a great success – he claimed two podiums, two pole positions and a fastest lap on his way to an overall top 10 finish in the championship. The following season he secured three podium finishes and ended the year in ninth place.

In 2012 and 2013, Alex moved onto the international stage in the FIA World Touring Car Championship and during his second year in the WTCC he was Vice-Champion in the Independents Trophy with five victories and eight podiums – including an impressive win at the world-famous Guia street circuit in Macau on the Macau Grand Prix weekend.

Moving from touring cars to GT endurance competition in 2014 as a factory driver for Aston Martin Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Alex contested two full seasons in the GTE Class in the Pro category and secured a podium in his maiden season with team-mates Darryl O'Young and Fernando Rees. During this time, Alex also competed in the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours.

In 2015, he became a race winner in FIA WEC and also a podium finisher in both the Liqui Molly Bathurst 12 Hours in Australia and at the European Le Mans Series ‘4 Hours of Estoril’ event. His first international championship title then came in the ELMS in 2016 as team-mate to Andrew Howard and Darren Turner, sharing an Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

From there, Alex debuted in the ADAC GT Masters racing a Porsche 911 GT3R with Klaus Bachler in 2017 before returning to the ELMS the following season. Joining the JMW Motorsport team, he piloted a Ferrari F488 GTE and achieved two race wins in LMGTE on his way to the Vice-Champion’s position in the standings with Liam Griffin and Miguel Molina.

Making his bow in GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup in 2019 [then known as the Blancpain Endurance Cup], Alex piloted an Audi R8 LMS GT3 for Belgian Audi Club Team WRT. Following a switch to Barwell Motorsport for 2020, he took a famous Silver Cup title triumph with team-mates Frederik Schandorff and Patrick Kujala in a near-perfect season.

In 2021, he returned to Aston Martin with Garage 59 but a challenging season for the team left Alex frustrated and a move back to Barwell and Lamborghini beckoned for 2022.

Nationality: British
Born: 22/01/1991
Age: 31
Residence: Carlisle, Cumbria
Profession: Racing Driver
Marital Status: Single