Joel Sturm
Joel Sturm is a German racing driver. He was the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 champion, driving for Manthey Pure Rxcing.
Early career
GT4
Having begun his career in karts at the age of eight, Sturm progressed into racing cars in 2020, driving for Allied-Racing in the ADAC GT4 Germany. With Dennis Fetzer as his teammate, Sturm managed to score a podium at the season-finale and ended up seventh in the standings. The following year saw Sturm enter the GT4 European Series. He scored his first victory in sportscar racing at Spa-Francorchamps before winning in Barcelona, earning himself sixth place overall. Additionally, three rounds in ADAC GT4 yielded a win in Hockenheim, and Sturm finished third in class at that year's 24 Hours of Nürburgring.GT3 career
2022
Sturm progressed into GT3 competition in late 2021 where he drove in the final two races of the 2021 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup in the Silver category with Allied, where he came 39th and 43rd in the races.Sturm partnered up with Sven Müller to make his debut in the ADAC GT Masters where he drove for Allied Racing. The pair finished tenth in the championship, helped there by two podiums at the Nürburgring. In parallel, the German competed in the Silver Cup class of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup – also with Allied Racing – though he and his teammates would only score a best overall finish of 29th.
2023
After attaining one win in the Middle East Trophy and a podium in the Asian Le Mans Series over the winter, Sturm would join Pure Rxcing for a full campaign in the Bronze Cup class of the GTWC Endurance Cup, pairing up with Klaus Bachler and bronze-ranked Alex Malykhin. Despite winning the first race in class at Monza and finishing second at the 24 Hours of Spa, two retirements would jeopardise Pure Rxcing's campaign, as they finished fifth in the Bronze Cup standings. During the 2023–24 winter however, Sturm and his teammates would make good on the promise they'd shown over their European campaign, as they won the Asian Le Mans Series with two race victories and a further podium.2024
The 2024 season saw Sturm, Pure Rxcing, and his 2023 teammates stepping into the newly formed LMGT3 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship, as well as fielding a Pro-rated entry in the Endurance Cup. Their season in the former started out in extraordinary fashion, as a strong opening run from Malykhin allowed Sturm and Bachler to maintain their advantage to win the Qatar 1812 km race. Two further podiums followed, as Sturm and his teammates finished third to the WRT-duo at Imola before losing out on victory in Spa to their sister car on the final lap.At Sturm's first 24 Hours of Le Mans, his team started on pole for the race and were set to win but on hour 16 after a record-breaking four hour Safety Car, Bachler drove the car into the pit lane with a gear selection issue that took 25 minutes to fix. The stop left the car five laps down in class and undid their efforts as the trio finished the race in tenth.
The fourth round of the series – the 6 Hours of São Paulo – which was held exactly a month after Le Mans, would return on the calendar after a decade. Sturm, Malykin and Bachler bounced back after a difficult Le Mans and won the race, still dominating the top spot of the LMGT3 class.
After bagging two more second place finishes at Lone Star Le Mans and the 6 Hours of Fuji, they would clinch the LMGT3 title at Fuji just before the final round of the championship at 8 Hours of Bahrain, and finished the championship with 139 points.
At the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, they had a more difficult campaign, only getting three points finishes – two of them being eighths – and ended the pro classification in 19th with only 12 points.
2025
Throughout the tail end of 2024 and January 2025, Sturm would defend his title in the 2024–25 Asian Le Mans Series with Manthey Racing and teammates Klaus Bachler and Antares Au. As predicted they stormed to the championship title with one win and three podiums, – they would get podium points at the 2025 4 Hours of Dubai due to the team ahead being ineligible for them – finishing with a ten point margin to their Manthey sister car.Karting record
Karting career summary
Racing record
Racing career summary
* Season still in progress.Complete ADAC GT4 Germany results
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | DC | Points |
| 2020 | Team Allied-Racing | Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport | NÜR 1 4 | NÜR 2 10 | HOC 1 Ret | HOC 2 Ret | SAC 1 5 | SAC 2 14 | RBR 1 4 | RBR 2 9 | ZAN 1 17 | ZAN 2 4 | OSC 1 5 | OSC 2 2 | 7th | 100 |
| 2021 | Team Allied-Racing | Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport | OSC 1 | OSC 2 | RBR 1 | RBR 2 | ZAN 1 | ZAN 2 | SAC 1 6 | SAC 2 6 | HOC 1 3 | HOC 2 1 | NÜR 1 6 | NÜR 2 3 | 5th | 103 |
Complete GT4 European Series results
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pos | Points |
| 2021 | Allied-Racing | Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport | Silver | MNZ 1 31 | MNZ 2 15 | LEC 1 6 | LEC 2 13 | ZAN 1 3 | ZAN 2 12 | SPA 1 Ret | SPA 2 1 | NÜR 1 Ret | NÜR 2 28† | CAT 1 28 | CAT 2 1 | 6th | 87 |
Complete 24 Hours of Nürburgring results
Complete GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup results
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Pos. | Points |
| 2021 | Allied-Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Silver | MON | LEC | SPA 6H | SPA 12H | SPA 24H | NÜR 39 | CAT 43 | NC | 0 |
| 2022 | Allied-Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Silver | IMO 36 | LEC 29 | SPA 6H 41 | SPA 12H 33 | SPA 24H 29 | HOC 34 | CAT | 24th | 10 |
| 2023 | Pure Rxcing | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Bronze | MNZ 15 | LEC Ret | SPA 6H 25 | SPA 12H 21 | SPA 24H 15 | NÜR 26 | CAT Ret | 5th | 69 |
| 2024 | Pure Rxcing | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Pro | LEC 8 | SPA 6H 11 | SPA 12H 6 | SPA 24H Ret | NÜR 20 | MNZ 8 | JED 14 | 19th | 12 |
| 2025 | Herberth Motorsport | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Gold | LEC 20 | MNZ Ret | SPA 6H 50 | SPA 12H 31 | SPA 24H 51† | NÜR 23 | CAT | 10th | 30 |
Complete ADAC GT Masters results
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | DC | Points |
| 2022 | Allied-Racing | Porsche 911 GT3 R | OSC 1 DSQ3 | OSC 2 14 | RBR 1 4 | RBR 2 4 | ZAN 1 11 | ZAN 2 5 | NÜR 1 2 | NÜR 2 3 | LAU 1 15 | LAU 2 112 | SAC 1 16 | SAC 2 9 | HOC 1 12 | HOC 2 10 | 10th | 106 |
Complete Asian Le Mans Series results
| Year | Team | Class | Car | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pos. | Points |
| 2023 | Herberth Motorsport | GT | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 | DUB 1 4 | DUB 2 10 | ABU 1 2 | ABU 2 15 | 4th | 31 | ||
| 2023–24 | Pure Rxcing | GT | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 | SEP 1 6 | SEP 2 1 | DUB 1 | ABU 1 Ret | ABU 2 2 | 1st | 76 | |
| 2024–25 | Manthey Racing | GT | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 | SEP 1 Ret | SEP 2 2 | DUB 1 5 | DUB 2 4 | ABU 1 2 | ABU 2 1 | 1st | 86 |
Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results
| Year | Entrant | Class | Car | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pts | |
| 2024 | Manthey Pure Rxcing | LMGT3 | Porsche 911 GT3 R | Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6 | QAT 1 | IMO 3 | SPA 2 | LMS 10 | SÃO 1 | COA 2 | FUJ 2 | BHR 9 | 1st | 139 |
* Season still in progress.