Philipp Eng

Philipp Eng is an Austrian professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver.

Life

Eng initially grew up in Salzburg before frequent relocations became necessary due to his involvement in motorsport. At the age of 13, he moved to Italy, where, following victory in the 2004 Italian Open Masters karting championship, he was accepted into the Red Bull Junior Team. With Red Bull, Eng gained his first sponsor, providing the support that enabled him to establish himself in motorsport. In 2009, he relocated to Mannheim, before moving his main residence to Stuttgart in 2011. In the same year, Eng qualified for the FIA Young Driver Academy, where junior drivers were trained not only in terms of driving ability but also in areas such as technical knowledge and media relations. Before Eng was able to make a sufficient living from motorsport alone, he also worked for a period as an instructor and driver coach.
Since 2021, Eng has appeared regularly on ServusTV, serving as an expert commentator on motorsport events such as Formula One, Formula E and DTM broadcasts.
Eng lives in Austria, is married and has a son. In addition to his television work in motorsport, he is also active as a road cyclist.

Career

Karting

Eng started karting in 1998, by competing in Intercontinental A Junior karts, competing in the Andrea Margutti Trophy and the Italian Open Masters. Eng finished 18th in the Margutti Trophy, leading home Marco Wittmann, while he finished 30th in the Italian Open Masters. Eng continued at JICA level in 2004, finishing seventh in the Margutti Trophy, and 31st in the European Championship. One highlight however was that Eng won the Italian Open Masters, holding off Wittmann again by five points. He moved to ICA level in 2005, but only contested the Italian Championship and the Open Masters. Eng finished in the top ten of both series, ranking ninth in the Open Masters and tenth in the Italian Championship.

Formula BMW

Eng made his car racing debut for ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg in the Formula BMW ADAC series in 2006. Eng finished tenth in the championship and runner-up behind Jens Klingmann in the Rookie Cup, with a podium coming at the third round at Lausitz. He also competed in a solitary round of the British series for Carlin Motorsport at Silverstone. He finished fourteenth in the second race, having retired from the first. Eng continued in the ADAC series in 2007, and would go on to finish third in the championship behind the Eifelland Racing cars of Klingmann and Daniel Campos-Hull who took twelve of the eighteen race wins between them. Eng did take one win at Barcelona but only after Klingmann was given a ten-second penalty for dangerous driving.
Eng did make up for this in some aspects by winning the end of season World Final from pole position. Having switched to Mücke Motorsport, Eng dominated the race before leading home Wittmann, Klingmann and Sebastián Saavedra. This earned him a test for the BMW Sauber Formula One team, which he undertook in. Eng completed his FBMW career by driving for Mücke in the inaugural season of the Formula BMW Europe championship. As he was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points. His best finish came at Spa, when he finished fourth in a wet race.

Formula Three

Eng competed in four rounds of the 2008 German Formula Three season with HS Technik at the season-opening round at Hockenheim, and also with Ombra Racing at the season-closing round at Oschersleben. Eng finished eleventh in the championship, including a third-place finish at Oschersleben, and a pole and fastest lap coming at Hockenheim.

FIA Formula Two

FIA Formula Two Championship season|2009] saw Eng move up to the FIA Formula Two Championship, driving car number 33. He finished eighth in the championship, including a win from pole position at Brands Hatch, taking the first win by an Austrian driver since Jo Gartner did so at Pau in.
Eng had a tests in GP2 Series for Ocean Racing Technology, but remained in Formula Two for 2010. On the second race of the opening round at Silverstone Circuit, he started from pole and took his second win. He scored a further two wins, improving his championship position to sixth.

GT Racing

In 2011, Eng switched to GT racing, joining Callaway Competition alongside Toni Seiler in the ADAC GT Masters. The pair concluded the season 39th in the drivers’ standings. In 2012, Eng contested only six of the sixteen championship races with Fredy Barth for MRS GT-Racing, but nevertheless managed to score points in one race.
In the following years, 2012 and 2013, Eng competed in the Porsche Carrera Cup for MRS GT-Racing. In 2014 and 2015 he raced for Deutsche Post by Project 1, securing the championship title in both seasons. In 2015, Eng also triumphed in the international Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. He became the first driver to successfully defend his title in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany. For Rowe Racing, Eng drove a BMW M6 GT3 in the 2016 24 Hours of Nürburgring, finishing in fifth place. In the same year, he claimed victory in the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps alongside Alexander Sims and Maxime Martin in the Rowe BMW. In total, Eng has won this 24-hour race three times. After his 2016 success, he added a second victory in 2018 with Tom Blomqvist and Christian Krognes in the Walkenhorst BMW M6 GT3 carrying the number 34, before taking his third win in 2023, partnering Marco Wittmann and Nick Yelloly again in a Rowe BMW. Eng is regarded as the youngest three-time winner in the history of the event.

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

From 2018 to 2020, Eng competed in the Class 1 DTM for BMW. He claimed his first podium in the third round of the 2018 season at the Lausitzring. In 2019, he secured his maiden DTM victory in the fourth race at Zolder in Belgium. In addition, he collected two further podium finishes that year. Eng concluded the 2019 season sixth in the overall standings. In 2022, he returned to the DTM with Schubert Motorsport.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

Since 2023, Eng has been competing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. In 2024, together with his team-mate Jesse Krohn, he claimed victory in the eighth of nine season races in the GTP class of the North American IMSA series. With this achievement, he became the first Austrian driver to win a top-category race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In 2025, Eng and his team-mate Dries Vanthoor secured BMW’s first win of the season in the M Hybrid V8 at the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Road America.