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.[1]

Markus Palttala
Nationality	Finnish
Born	(1977-08-16) 16 August 1977 Nakkila, Finland
United SportsCar Championship career
Debut season	2014
Current team	Turner Motorsport
Starts	4
Wins	2
Previous series
1998–1999 1999 2000 2001 2002, '06, '08, '09 2003, 2006 2005–2010 2005, '08, '11 2009–2011 2009 2010–2011 2011–2013 2012–2013	Finnish TCC Dunlop Tourenwagen Cup Light Porsche Carrera Cup Germany European Super Production FIA GT Championship FFSA GT Championship Le Mans Endurance Series Belcar FIA GT3 Finnish GT3 Championship FIA GT1 World Championship Blancpain Endurance Series FIA WEC
24 Hours of Le Mans career Years 2010, 2012, 2014 Teams Marc VDS Racing Team, JWA-Avila Best finish 33rd (2012)

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.[2]