Kenton Koch

Kenton Koch (born July 5, 1994) is an American racing driver who competes in the GT4 America Series, Michelin Pilot Challenge, and IMSA SportsCar Championship.

Koch's interest in motorsport began at an incredibly young age, through avenues such as karting and watching his father compete in off-road racing competitions on the weekends.

At age six, Koch attended the LA Auto Show with his father, where he was introduced to karting.

Although he was too young to compete at the time, once Koch turned eight, his parents presented him with his own kart.

Koch's transition into cars began in 2010.

He himself stated that karting wasn't initially a career path, but after a strong performance in a Skip Barber-promoted karting shootout, Koch earned a half-scholarship to compete in the Skip Barber Western Regional Series.

During the opening weekend of the season at Laguna Seca, Koch claimed two podiums and a race victory, leaving the event joint-top of the points standings alongside Thomas McGregor.

However, Koch wouldn't compete beyond the first weekend.

In 2011, Koch graduated to the Skip Barber Summer Series, where he would claim three podiums and one race win through 12 races, taking seventh in the championship.

2012 saw Koch transition into sports car racing, taking part in the Skip Barber-sanctioned Skip Barber Mazdaspeed Challenge, which ran as a support series to the overall SCCA Pro Racing Mazda MX-5 Cup.

He had a strong rookie season, claiming 17 victories through 20 races and taking a podium in every race.

Owing to his championship success and subsequent funding, Koch advanced to the Pro Challenge for 2013 – the top class of the Skip Barber Mazda series.

It was another successful season, where Koch claimed nine victories through 11 races, setting five track records and claiming his second consecutive championship.

His championship title came with a $75,000 scholarship, as well as acceptance into the Mazda Sports Car Racing Academy.

Koch also took on a coaching role at Skip Barber Racing School's Monterey, California facility.

For 2014, Koch utilized his scholarship to compete in the SCCA Pro Racing Mazda MX-5 Cup.

He joined Alara Racing, who had claimed the most recent series title with driver Christian Szymczak.

Koch once again enjoyed a strong season, winning six of the first eight races, including a weekend sweep at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, culminating in a championship title at year's end – his third in three years.

At the conclusion of the season, Koch traveled to Auto Club Speedway to take part in the Team USA Scholarship shootout.

At the conclusion of the season, Koch traveled to Mexico to take part in the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy.

Following his MX-5 Cup championship in 2014, Koch graduated to the next level of the Mazda pyramid for 2015, taking part in the Mazda Prototype Lites championship thanks to a Mazda-provided scholarship.

In his first season of prototype racing, Koch once enjoyed a successful season, winning the opening race at Sebring and sweeping the weekend at Road America en route to 11 race victories and a season championship.

Koch's victory tally tied Tristan Nunez's single-season Prototype Lites wins record.

At the conclusion of the season, Koch set his eyes on a drive in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for 2016, owing to his $100,000 prize package for winning the 2015 championship.

JDC had already confirmed Mikhail Goikhberg and Stephen Simpson as their full-time drivers for the season, restricting Koch to an Endurance Cup-only role for 2016.

His first race of the season, the 2016 24 Hours of Daytona, saw the entry claim the PC class victory.

Koch himself rebounded from an earlier incident to bring the car home in the final stint.

Following the race, Koch claimed that he'd "never driven so slow in [his] life" during that final stint, as he aimed to maintain the multiple-lap gap the entry had to the second PC class car.

After returning to the team for a fourth-place finish at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Koch was left without a seat for the immediate future.

For the final two Endurance Cup events of the season, Koch joined fellow Prototype Challenge competitors Performance Tech Motorsports, joining full-time drivers James French and Kyle Marcelli.

After a runner-up finish at Watkins Glen, Koch entered the final round of the season at Road Atlanta in contention for the Endurance Cup title in the PC class.

However, despite a second place finish in the season finale, Koch finished runner-up in the championship.

Koch began the 2017 season with a part-time IMSA drive, competing in the Prototype Challenge class with JDC-Miller MotorSports, his IMSA Prototype Lites employer.

For 2017, Koch returned to the newly-christened IMSA Prototype Challenge as his principal drive for the season.

From 11 races, Koch claimed ten podiums and seven race victories, including his first race of the season at Barber alongside weekend sweeps at Mosport, Trois-Rivières, and Road Atlanta.

However, as he didn't compete in the opening round of the season – a double-header at Sebring – Koch fell eight points short of champion Colin Thompson and would settle for second in the championship.

Although the series was a step down from the IMSA SportsCar Championship, Koch viewed the season as an opportunity to "stay current," maintaining his presence in the IMSA-sanctioned paddock.

Koch also supplemented his 2017 program with one-off events in the Le Mans Cup, where he paired with Joël Janco in a Ligier JS P3, the IMSA SportsCar Championship, where he featured in PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports' lineup for the Detroit event, and the Pirelli World Challenge, where he and George Kurtz claimed pole for the SprintX GTS Pro-Am event at Mosport before retiring.

Koch's 2018 season began again at Daytona, where he embarked on a pair of programs for P1 Motorsports.

Koch took on a full-time drive alongside Janco in the 2018 IMSA Prototype Challenge, with the entry capturing a season-best sixth place finish in the opening race of the season.