Collin Pratchett

Collin Pratchett (born 25 July 1982 in Pasadena, California) is an American racing driver who competed in the F1RWRS. He raced for American Racing Conglomerate and scored several points for the team, including two podiums, enough to score 13 championship points and finish 12th in his second season. Pratchett also finished fifth in the 2013 F1RWRS Indianapolis 500. Pratchett was fired from ARC in the middle of the 2014 F1RWRS season after he went to the press and complained about the team's management.

Pre-F1RWRS Career
Collin Pratchett's first taste of racing came when his father took him to a NASCAR race at Fontana at the age of eight. Pratchett begged his parents to let him race but they pushed him away from oval racing after the death of California native J.D. McDuffie in 1991. Pratchett entered American karting but was initially unsuccessful. His parents made one last effort to stave him off a racing career but Pratchett refused. He won his last race in the USF2000 series and gained the attention of several teams and sponsors.

Career in American Junior Formulas
Pratchett went to the Star Mazda Series in 1997 at the tender age of fifteen. He nearly won the 1998 championship but he lost to Simon Redman. Pratchett then moved to Toyota Atlantic for 1999. Pratchett came in fifth place that year and returned to Lynx Racing for 2000. Pratchett won four races in the 2000 Atlantic Championship season but he was not able to take the title. His success earned him a spot on the International Formula 3000 grid for 2001.

F3000, IndyCar, Champ Car and A1GP
Collin Pratchett joined Durango in 2001. As the only American driver on the field, Collin received attention from the press and was touted as the next American F1 driver. However, his F3000 did not go well, picking up only one podium over two seasons. Pratchett left F3000 for IndyCar in 2003. Pratchett drove the #13 car for Access Motorsport. Pratchett's best finish was a fifth place at Motegi. Pratchett did not excel on ovals and decided to move to Champ Car for 2005. Pratchett took a stunning win at Monterrey but the rest of his season was disappointing. Pratchett was retained for 2005 and performed well, finishing third in the championship. Pratchett also drove in A1GP as the driver for the Team USA over the 2005 off-season.

First Retirement
Despite his success, Pratchett had lost the desire to race and he decided to retire from racing at the age of 24. Pratchett stayed out of racing until the end of 2007 when he competed in the Race of Champions. In the meantime, Pratchett took a position at a California auto shop. Pratchett also had a minor cameo in the film Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. After 2007, Pratchett decided to return to racing in 2008 in the reunified IndyCar series.

IndyCar and GP2
Pratchett was picked up by Pacific Coast Motorsport for the 2008 IndyCar season. Pratchett was only able to race on road courses; his best finish was a fourth place at Long Beach. Pacific Coast went bankrupt after 2008 and Pratchett left for the GP2 Series to reunite with his old friends at Durango. Pratchett competed at Durango for 2009 but was unable to achieve any substantial results. Pratchett was left out of GP2 after Durango folded and he decided to race in Superleague Formula along with a part-time drive in IndyCar. Pratchett qualified 33rd for the 2010 Indy 500 but did not finish the race. Pratchett returned to GP2 for Rapax in 2011 and won his first GP2 race, a sprint race at the Spa-Francochamps Circuit. Pratchett continued at Rapax for 2012 but left the team near the end of the season to race for American Racing Conglomerate

2012
After ARC took over Hemogoblin Autowerks, they had to find a driver after Ashley Watkinson decided to leave the team. Pratchett was immediately considered and Collin jumped at the chance to drive in a top-flight series. He qualified for his first F1RWRS race, the 2012 New South Wales Grand Prix and finished twenty-first. Pratchett did not score any points in the six races he entered at the end of 2012 (he only qualified for three races). Pratchett was kept on for the 2013 F1RWRS season. 2013 was a remarkable year for Pratchett. The beginning of the year saw ARC confined to pre-qualifying. However, Jesus Plaza scored a podium at the 2013 British Grand Prix which enabled Pratchett to get out of pre-qualifying.

2013
Pratchett made a splash in his first real crack at an F1RWRS race, finishing sixth at the 2013 Dutch Grand Prix. Pratchett then achieved the finest achievement of his career, taking back-to-back second places at the 2013 Macau Grand Prix and the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix. Pratchett could have won the Macau race but Douglas Mann managed to bring Foxdale's to their only win and second finish of the year, continuing the BH Curse. Pratchett's success earned him eleventh place in the Drivers' Championship and ARC seventh in the Constructors' Championship. Pratchett capped off his year with a spectacular fifth in the 2013 F1RWRS Indianapolis 500.

2014
The 2014 F1RWRS season looked to be promising for Pratchett and ARC. However, the car was not developed to the standards of the others and Pratchett did not finish any races to start the season. After a terrible home race at Long Beach, Pratchett expressed his disdain at the team's performance to the press. The temperamental ARC management decided to immediately release Pratchett for pay-driver Fredo Mestolio. Pratchett was left out of job and decided to retire from F1RWRS in disgust.

2015
After over a year away from European motorsports, Pratchett was picked up by Rejects of LFS team Takagi Racing Enterprises to replace the suspended Yui Megumi for the Aston round. Pratchett scored a podium in his first heat at Aston. After Tristan Jung was banned from the Rejects of LFS, Pratchett subbed in for Jung at the Nippon Super 200.

Rejects of LFS

 * * Denotes a season currently in progress.
 * † Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.