Hanna Zellers

 

Hanna Zellers is a versatile American driver who has competed in single-seaters, stock cars and sportscars.

She began her career in cars in 2013 at the Skip Barber Racing School, after racing karts from 2007 until then.

After a part-season spent campaigning a Mazda Miata (MX-5) in SCCA races, she moved on to open-wheel competition in 2015. She raced in the SCCA Formula Enterprise series in 2015 and 2016, winning two events. She was eleventh in the 2015 championship after an accident in the end-of-season runoffs, but bounced back the following year with a second place overall. Her car was the Mazda-engined Van Diemen DP06 sanctioned by the championship. 

Her single-seater career stalled temporarily In 2017. She attempted to branch out into stock cars, taking part in the NASCAR K&N Series race at Millville. She did not finish. 

It was back to single-seaters in 2018 and she did the second half of the US Formula 4 championship, supported by Jay Howard Driver Development. She recorded a best finish of 20th at the Circuit of the Americas. She also guested in the F1600 championship at Bowmanville, finishing twelfth once. Bowmanville was also the scene of her IMSA Prototype Challenge debut a month later, earning a ninth place. She did the next two rounds at Virginia and Road America, driving a Norma run by Five Miles Out Racing. 

After failing to get through the initial driver assessments for the all-female W Series, she raced several cars in 2019. She did some rounds of the US touring car (TC America) championship in a BMW, scoring best finishes of seventh and eighth at Las Vegas towards the end of the season. Sometimes doubling up over a race weekend, she also competed in the one-make Saleen Cup, winning the Young Driver class at Road America once. 

A break from top-level racing followed, although she still did some events with the World Racing League. In 2022, she raced in the IMSA Prototype Challenge, driving a Ligier LMP3. She was tenth in the championship with George Staikos, with a best finish of seventh at Mosport. Despite a dramatic accident where she rolled the car at Virginia, she came back to finish the season. The accident looked nasty but she was unhurt.

At the beginning of the year, she was third in class in the Dubai 24 Hours, driving a BMW M2 for the Yeeti team.

The IMSA MX5 Challenge was her destination for 2023, although the season did not start as well as she hoped. Her car had problems with its differential in its first race at Daytona, then an engine mount broke. Hanna was also suffering from a severe sinus infection which required surgery. She did not plan on missing much of the championship, but in the end only did six races.

(Image copyright Hanna Zellers)