Juuso Puhakka (born 16 August 1998) is a Finnish road racing cyclist and former racing driver. He competed in three seasons of the GT World Challenge Europe between 2020 and 2022, and was successful in the Silver Cup for Toksport WRT and Attempto Racing. Since 2024, he is active in road cycling.
Career Puhakka began his single-seater career in 2015, competing in Formula Renault 1.6 Nordic for FinnDrive. In his rookie year in the series, Puhakka won at Falkenbergs Motorbana and Solvalla, as well as taking four other podiums to end the year third overall. Remaining in the newly-rebranded Formula STCC Nordic for 2016, Puhakka won at Skövde, Mantorp Park and Falkenbergs Motorbana en route to runner-up honours behind Linus Lundqvist. During 2016, Puhakka also raced part-time in the F4 Spanish Championship for MP Motorsport and Double R Racing, most notably taking a podium at Navarra with the former.
In 2017, Puhakka ventured to the Russian-based SMP F4 Championship with Lappalainen Team, taking a lone win at Smolensk Ring and three other podiums to end the season seventh in points. That year, Puhakka also made sporadic appearances in the F4 Spanish Championship for the Lappalainen-owned Kart in Club Driving Academy and SMP Racing, taking a best result of fourth at Aragón.
In 2018, Puhakka switched to sports car racing, joining Leipert Motorsport to compete in the Pro-Am class of Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia alongside Mikko Eskelinen. In his rookie season in the series, Puhakka began the year by winning at Buriram and Suzuka, before taking a win in each of the final three rounds to secure the Pro-Am title at seasons' end. At the beginning of 2019, Puhakka moved to FFF Racing Team to partner Takashi Kasai in Lamborghini Super Trofeo Middle East, scoring five podiums to take third in the Pro standings. Continuing with Kasai for Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia, as a member of the Lamborghini Young Drivers Programme, Puhakka scored three Pro class wins en route to runner-up honours.
Stepping up to GT3 for 2020, Puhakka returned to Europe and joined Toksport WRT in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup. Sharing a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo with Óscar Tunjo, Puhakka won once at Magny-Cours in Silver Cup to end the year fourth in points. That year, Puhakka also made his 24 Hours of Spa debut with fellow AMG customer team Madpanda Motorsport. Continuing with Toksport for his second Sprint Cup season in 2021, Puhakka and Tunjo won in class at Brands Hatch and took five other podiums to end the season fourth among the Silver Cup entries. Towards the end of the year, Puhakka made a one-off return to the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup for Madpanda at Barcelona.
In 2022, Puhakka graduated to the Pro class with Attempto Racing, partnering Audi works drivers Dennis Marschall and Markus Winkelhock in the GTWCE Endurance Cup. However, Puhakka was demoted to Silver Cup for the 24 Hours of Spa, where he finished second in class before parting ways with Attempto. Puhakka returned to action in an ADAC GT Masters cameo with Madpanda at the Lausitzring, alongside select appearances in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie's BMW M240i class for Schnitzelalm Racing. In 2023, Puhakka made three NLS starts for Schnitzelalm, including one in SP9, as his motorsport activity rapidly decreased.
In 2024, Puhakka began participating in road racing cycling events, primarily in Finland.
Karting record Karting career summary SeasonSeriesTeamPosition 2011Finnish Cup — Raket7th2012Finnish Championship — KF316thBridgestone Cup Europe — KF39thViking Trophy — KF3Hemet Racing15th2013Finnish Championship — KF35thDeutsche Kart-Meisterschaft — KF3Karting European Championship — KF-JKohtala Sports78th2014WSK Super Master Series — KFKohtala Sports46thKarting European Championship — KF49thKarting World Championship — KF19thSources:
Racing record Racing career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position2015 Formula Renault 1.6 Nordic FinnDrive 15 2 1 1 6 1953rd Formula Renault 1.6 NEZ Championship 4 0 0 0 1 52 4th2016 Formula STCC Nordic FinnDrive 14 3 6 3 9 2142nd F4 Spanish Championship MP Motorsport 3 0 0 0 10NC† Double R Racing 6 0 0 0 02017 SMP F4 Championship Lappalainen Team 21 1 0 3 4 136 7th F4 Spanish Championship SMP Racing 3 0 0 0 01114th Kart in Club Driving Academy 3 0 0 0 02018 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia – Pro-Am Leipert Motorsport 12 5 3 1 11 1311st Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Finals – Pro-Am 2 0 0 0 1 4th2019 Lamborghini Super Trofeo Middle East – Pro FFF Racing Team 6 0 0 0 5 3rd Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia – Pro 12 3 2 3 12 1312nd Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Finals – Pro 2 0 0 0 0 5 9th2020 GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup Toksport WRT7 0 0 0 0 14 18th GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup – Silver 1 0 0 5 69 4th GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Madpanda Motorsport1 0 0 0 0 0 NC GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup – Silver 0 0 0 0 16 20th2021 GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup Toksport WRT10 0 0 0 0 25 10th GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup – Silver 1 1 0 6 80 4th GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Madpanda Motorsport1 0 0 0 0 0 NC GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup – Silver 0 0 0 0 2 32nd2022 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Attempto Racing 3 0 0 0 0 1 35th GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup – Silver 1 0 0 0 1 31 11th Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie – BMW M240i Schnitzelalm Racing 2 0 0 0 0 ADAC GT Masters Madpanda Motorsport 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC2023 Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie – BMW M240i Schnitzelalm Racing 2 0 0 0 2 19 13th Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie – SP9 Pro-Am 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC GT Cup Open Europe – Pro-Am GDL Racing 1 0 0 0 0 0 15thSources: Season still in progress.
† As Puhakka was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
Complete Formula Renault 1.6 Nordic results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 DC Points 2015 FinnDrive SKÖ1 SKÖ2 AND1 AND2 AND3 AHV1 AHV2 FAL1 FAL2 FAL3 KIN1 KIN2 SOL KNU1 KNU23rd195 2016 FinnDriveSKÖ1SKÖ2MAN1MAN2AND1AND2FAL1FAL2KAR1KAR2ALA1ALA2KNU1KNU2 2nd 214
Complete F4 Spanish Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pos Points2016 MP Motorsport NAV1 NAV2 NAV3NC†0† Double R Racing ARA1 ARA2 ARA3ALG1ALG2ALG3VAL1VAL2VAL3CAT1CAT2JAR1JAR2JAR3 JER1 JER2 JER32017 SMP Racing ARA1 ARA2 ARA3NAV11NAV12NAV13CAT1CAT2JER1JER2JER314th11 Kart in Club Driving Academy NAV21 NAV22 NAV23NOG1NOG2NOG3EST1EST2EST3
† As Puhakka was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points
Complete SMP F4 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Pos Points 2017 Lappalainen Team SOC1 SOC2 SOC3 SMO1 SMO2 SMO3 AHV1 AHV2 AHV3 AUD1 AUD2 AUD3 MSC11 MSC12 MSC13 MSC21 MSC22 MSC23 ASS1 ASS2 ASS3 7th 136
Complete GT World Challenge Europe results GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pos. Points 2020 Toksport WRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Silver MIS1 MIS2 MIS3 MAG1 MAG2 ZAN1 ZAN2 CAT1 CAT2 CAT3 4th 69 2021 Toksport WRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Silver MAG1 MAG2 ZAN1 ZAN2 MIS1 MIS2 BRH1 BRH2 VAL1 VAL 2 4th 80
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Pos. Points 2020 Madpanda Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Silver IMO NÜR SPA6H SPA12H SPA24H LEC 20th 16 2021 Madpanda Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo Silver MNZ LEC SPA6H SPA12H SPA24H NÜR CAT 32nd 22022Attempto RacingAudi R8 LMS Evo II Pro IMO LEC 35th 1 Silver SPA6H SPA12H SPA24H HOC CAT 11th 31
Complete ADAC GT Masters results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 DC Points 2022 Madpanda Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo OSC1 OSC2 RBR1 RBR2 ZAN1 ZAN2 NÜR1 NÜR2 LAU1 LAU2 SAC1 SAC2 HOC1 HOC2 NC 0
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