Who is your favorite pair of brothers in a racing world

From the early days of motorsport, racing business was a family-related activity and there were numerous examples of father-son, brother-brother or other family combinations in different competitions, from the premium world championships to minor national leagues.

Now we would check out who are the most popular brothers in current car racing competitions worldwide. On the top of the list, there are few world champions.

Petter and Henning Solberg were rivals in the 2014 World RX Championship

Petter and Henning Solberg

Petter Solberg, two-time World RX champion and former WRC champion, for most of his career was competing against his older brother Henning, from early years in the Norwegian national rally events to Petter’s last WRC season in 2012.

After that, Petter Solberg switched his interest to the World Rallycross Championship, spending five full seasons in the competition. Henning followed him and competed in fourteen World RX events in 2014 and 2015.

Lewis and Nicolas Hamilton

Five-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton has a half-brother Nicolas. They never raced against each other because Nic has cerebral palsy and he had no chance to have a normal racing career.

However, he was active in different touring car competitions since 2011, most recently in the 2017 Renault UK Clio Cup. In 2015, Nic spent a season with AmD Tuning in the British Touring Car Championship, driving an Audi S3 Saloon.

Sebastian and Fabian Vettel

Another multiple Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel also has a brother who is active in racing. Fabian Vettel is eleven years younger and the season 2017 was his rookie season in car racing. He spent a season in the #55 Audi, competing in the Audi Sport TT Cup and finishing ninth in the points with one podium on his account.

Pedro and Nelsinho Piquet

Nelson Jr. and Pedro Piquet

One more world champion has a younger brother who is still at the beginning his racing career. The world champion is Nelson Piquet Jr and the brother (in a fact the half-brother) is Pedro Piquet.

Nelson Piquet Jr followed a path of his famous father in the Formula One but he reached a peak of his career in the inaugural season of the Formula E Championship, winning the title. Pedro Piquet most recently competed in the GP3 Series, previously winning two championship titles in the Brazilian Formula 3.

Jordan and Ricky Taylor

Ricky and Jordan Taylor

In North America, currently the greatest stars are Taylor brothers Ricky and Jordan who jointly captured the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in the #10 Cadillac DPi-V.R. The Taylor brother spent the most of their careers together but also raced a lot with other partners, so Jordan has more titles and wins on his account than Ricky. Back in 2013, Jordan Taylor was the Rolex Sports Car Series champion together with Max Angelelli. Jordan also has one Le Mans victory in his CV, winning the GTE Pro class in 2015 with Corvette Racing, sharing a Chevrolet Corvette with Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner. In 2018, Taylor brothers started to race against each other because Ricky joined Team Penske while Jordan stayed with Wayne Taylor Racing.

Kyle and Kurt Busch at 2017 Race of Champions

Kurt and Kyle Busch

There is one more pair of American brothers who have premium championship titles on their accounts. Brothers Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch are both the NASCAR Cup Series champions. Kurt won the 2004 Nextel Cup while his younger brother Kyle became the Sprint Cup champion in 2015.

During their respective careers, Busch brothers were mostly the rivals but they also competed together as teammates in NASCAR and at Race of Champions. When looking numbers, Kyle is more successful, scoring 51 Cup Series wins and 194 NASCAR wins in total, against 30 Cup Series wins (39 in total) of Kurt Busch.

Ty Dillon and Austin Dillon

Austin and Ty Dillon

The current NASCAR Cup Series grid has one more pair of brothers. Austin and Ty Dillon are grandsons of team owner Richard Childress and they are predetermined to compete in America’s premier stock car series. The season 2017 was the first in which they both competed full-time in the Cup Series.

It was a rookie season for Ty and he was far from the top results. On the other side, it was the fourth Cup Series season for Austin and he clinched his maiden victory at Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Earlier in a career, Austin was the 2013 Nationwide Series champion and the 2011 Truck Series champion.

Martin and Ryan Truex

The 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. also has a brother who is racing in NASCAR. Ryan Truex made 26 Cup Series starts earlier in a career (2013 and 2014). In 2018, he spent a season in the Xfinity Series.

Tom and Tim Coronel

Two brothers from the Netherlands doesn’t have world’s premier championship titles on their accounts but they definitely could be mentioned among the most popular racers in the world. Of course, we are talking about twin-brothers Tim and Tom Coronel. They both have an impressive career in circuit racing, winning many championship titles around the world. Tom was much more successful, even taking World Touring Car Championship Independents’ Trophy two times, in 2006 and 2009.

In 2009, Coronel brother started their Dakar Rally adventure, participating together at the world’s toughest race in the same car. In the following years, they returned many times to Dakar Rally separately but for 2018 edition of Dakar Rally they decided to compete together again.

Rick and Todd Kelly

From the deserts and mountains of South America, we are going ‘down under’, to Australia. Probably the most popular racing brothers in Australia are Rick and Todd Kelly, successful V8 Supercars competitors with family team Kelly Racing, which is currently operating Nissan’s Supercars programme.

Rick has a more impressive record, with one championship title (in 2006) and two Bathurst 1000 wins (2003 and 2004). Todd Kelly has no championship titles, the highlight of his career is a victory at 2005 Bathurst 1000.

Will and Alex Davison

Another V8 Supercars regular who is sharing the Supercars experience with his brother is Will Davison. In 2018, Will was active in the Supercars Championship with 23Red Racing while his brother Alex served as Will’s endurance co-driver and competed in many other championships all over the world (FIA WEC, ELMS, Carrera Cup Australia). Alex was the Australian Carrera Cup champion in 2004. On the other side, Will Davison was pretty successful in the Supercars, finishing as a championship runner-up in 2009 and scoring two Bathurst 1000 wins (2009 and 2016).

Daisuke and Kazuki Nakajima

Kazuki and Daisuke Nakajima

In Japan, one of the greatest racing stars is Kazuki Nakajima, the former F1 driver and current Toyota’s driver in the FIA WEC, Super Formula and Super GT. In his shadow is younger brother Daisuke, who competed against a brother in the Super Formula Championship and Super GT Series, driving for Honda.

There are many European GT racing drivers who are sharing a racing experience with their brothers in the same competitions, sometimes even in the same teams.

Laurens and Dries Vanthoor

Dries Vanthoor is a young star from Belgium who sensationally won GTE Am class at 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours, driving a Ferrari for JMW Motorsport. Dries is a younger brother of Laurens Vanthoor, who is one of the world’s most successful GT racers in recent years. In 2017, Laurens joined Porsche GT Team but he was previously driving for Audi, being in the same team with a younger brother.

Kelvin and Sheldon van der Linde

Another young and perspective racer who is following more experienced brother is South African Sheldon van der Linde. In 2018, Sheldon finished second in the ADAC GT Masters, sharing a car with his older brother Kelvin van der Linde, who was a champion in the same competition in 2014. Both brothers are serving as Audi factory drivers in GT racing competitions.

Johnny Jr and Jonathan Cecotto

Jonathan Cecotto is a young Venezuelan driver whose role model is his older brother Johnny Cecotto Jr but also their father Johnny Cecotto, a former MotoGP and Formula 1 driver. Johnny Jr ended his career in 2017 while Jonathan raced in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo in 2018. Previously, both brothers races with Lamborghinis in 2017. In 2018, they raced with the same team (Attempto Racing) in the Blancpain GT Series.

Pieter and Steijn Schothorst

Another brothers who competed against each other in 2017, at least for a part of the season, were Pieter and Steijn Schothorst in the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup. Pieter spent a full season with Team WRT while Steijn participated in one round with Strakka Racing. In the previous two seasons, they participated together in the Renault Sport Trophy series. In 2018, they raced with the same team (Attempto Racing) in the Blancpain GT Series.

Jeroen and Sebastiaan Bleekemolen with their father Michael

Jeroen and Sebastiaan Bleekemolen

Jeroen Bleekemolen is one of the most experienced sports car racers in the world, whose main competition in recent years is the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Earlier in a career, he spent much more time with his older brother Sebastiaan in the family-run Team Bleekemolen. Sebastiaan’s current occupation is in the Renault Clio Cup.

Dominik and Mario Farnbacher

Dominik and Mario Farnbacher are a pair of brothers who spent a big part of their careers with family-run Farnbacher Racing. In 2017, both brothers were driving a Lexus RC-F GT3 for the team in the International GT Open but they were also rivals at Daytona 24 Hours, where Dominik was driving Lexus for 3GT Racing while Mario was driving Mercedes for Riley Motorsports. In 2018, Mario spent a season in the IMSA SportsCar Championship while Dominik had no full-time arrangement.

Robert and Alfred Renauer

We will finish this story with German twin-brothers Robert and Alfred Renauer, who spent most of the career sharing cars. In 2017, Robert was driving Porsche for Herbert Motorsport in the ADAC GT Masters, Blancpain GT Series and 24H Series and another Porsche for Manthey Racing in the VLN series. Alfred was a co-driver to his brother’s only in the 24H Series and Blancpain GT Series. In 2018, Robert became ADAC GT champion, together with Mathieu Jaminet, while Alfred was most successful in the 24H Series.

Photos: coroneldakar.nl, fiaworldrallycross.com, Daimler, kurtbusch.com, Jared C. Tilton, Georges de Coster,