In less than a decade, Kvamme has raced in all current IMSA-sanctioned racing series.
- Mark Kvamme began an intriguing sports car challenge as a gentleman driver in 2014.
- Kvamme has raced a car currently used in all classes of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, both IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge classes, the IMSA Prototype Challenge, Ferrari Challenge North America, Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America and Porsche Carrera Cup North America.
- “I’ve become addicted and I love it,” Kvamme said of IMSA racing.
Mark Kvamme is making up for lost time in a sports car … any sports car.
Last weekend at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, the 61-year-old gentleman racer checked off the final box necessary to race in every class available across all seven IMSA-sanctioned series.
Considering he didn’t even start what has become this quest until beginning as a gentleman driver in 2014, the feat is all the more amazing. Since then, Kvamme has raced a car currently used in all classes of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, both IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge classes, the IMSA Prototype Challenge, Ferrari Challenge North America, Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America and Porsche Carrera Cup North America.
The last series for the Columbus, Ohio, native to tackle was the Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich Tires. One Sept. 29, Kvamme finished 20th out of 24 in the Mazda MX-5 Cup race at Road Atlanta to complete the quest.
Mark Kvamme has checked every box available to a gentlemen racer in IMSA.
IMSA
“I’ve become addicted and I love it,” Kvamme said of IMSA racing, “and the series are so well done.”
The journey began with a dream Kvamme held for racing in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. A motocross and off-road truck racer prior, the opportunity arose in 2014 with Muehlner Motorsports in a GT Daytona (GTD) class Porsche—the first of five GTD races for him that season.
The following year, Kvamme found his way into a Daytona Prototype owned by Columbus friend Rob Gerwitz at the Rolex 24 and raced the full Ferrari Challenge season. Next in 2016 was a full WeatherTech Championship campaign in the Prototype Challenge class, where future star Renger van der Zande was a Starworks teammate.
The following year became an inflection point for Kvamme. “I started to get better and started taking it more seriously and did more races,” he said of his 2017 campaign.
It paid off. Racing for BAR1 Motorsports in a lineup that featured 2004 Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice, they finished on the Rolex 24 podium in the Prototype Challenge class.
In addition to racing in the Porsche GT3 Challenge Cup USA (predecessor of the Porsche Carrera Cup) from 2017-19, Kvamme added the WeatherTech Championship’s Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) and Michelin Pilot Challenge Touring Car (TCR) classes to his résumé.
Kvamme truly spread his racing wings in 2021, wheeling a Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) in the WeatherTech Championship, a Mercedes-AMG in the Grand Sport (GS) class of the Michelin Pilot Challenge and winning the LB Cup championship with co-driver Terry Olson in Lamborghini Super Trofeo.
This year, Kvamme won the Porsche Carrera Cup Am class standings with 10 class wins, including the season-ending race at Road Atlanta on the finale weekend. He added that to an earlier IMSA Prototype Challenge series start in addition to WeatherTech Championship LMP3 and Michelin Pilot Challenge GS appearances.
Kvamme realized another dream by racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, teaming with van der Zande in a Ferrari 488 GTE that would be the equivalent of the former GT Le Mans (GTLM) class in the WeatherTech Championship.
“Racing Le Mans and finishing Le Mans was un-effing believable with Renger,” Kvamme said. “That was amazing. In the IMSA paddock, obviously getting third at Daytona (in 2017) was incredible. Getting third at Watkins Glen (in 2016 with Maro Engel) was a big one. Quite frankly, winning LB Cup last year with Terry was a ton of fun.”
Mark Kvamme and Renger van der Zande raced at Le Mans earlier this year.
Ker RobertsonGetty Images
In addition to the special results, Kvamme said he’s thoroughly enjoyed racing with the who’s who list of co-drivers including van der Zande, Engel, Felix Rosenqvist, Randy Pobst and Earl Bamber, the latter his teammate when Kvamme made his 2014 debut.
“I’ll never forget going over data with Earl and I literally thought he was speaking a foreign language,” Kvamme said with a sheepish laugh. “I had no idea.”
After adding MX-5 Cup to his list, Kvamme has no intention of slowing down. He started his own team (MDK Motorsports) this year in Porsche Carrera Cup, with plans to expand with a WeatherTech Championship GTD entry in 2023.
“As I looked at all of this, I said to myself, ‘You know, there’s a lot of great teams out there, but I think for the gentleman driver, I’d like to do something different,’” he said. “That’s why I decided to start our team.”
If he starts in January’s Rolex 24, it will be the 10th straight year for Kvamme in the iconic race.
“What’s really fun is my 10th one next year,” he said, “will be with my own team in my own car.”
Keyword: Gentleman Racer Mark Kvamme Completes IMSA Mission Improbable at Petit Le Mans