Dani Clos

Daniel Clos Álvarez
Born	(1988-10-23) October 23, 1988 Barcelona, Spain
Occupation(s)	Racing driver, YouTube content creator
Years active	2001–2012 (professional racing)
Known for	Test driver for HRT F1 Team in 2012 Formula One season

Daniel Clos Álvarez (born 23 October 1988) is a former professional racing driver from Spain and a content creator on YouTube. In 2012, he held the position of test driver for the now-defunct HRT F1 Team in Formula One.

Karting

Originating from Barcelona, Clos distinguished himself in karting, particularly at the ICA Junior level. In 2001, he secured the Catalan district title within the Spanish ICA Junior Championship, outperforming rivals such as Oliver Campos-Hull. The following year, he earned the Copa Campeones Trophy and ranked tenth in the Italian Open Masters, competing alongside future elite drivers including Nico Hülkenberg and Sébastien Buemi.

The year 2003 marked his most successful period in karting, capturing the esteemed Andrea Margutti Trophy with MGM Racing Birel—surpassing competitors like Miguel Molina and Jules Bianchi—while also winning the Spanish ICA Junior Championship. Additionally, he achieved sixth place in the Italian Open Masters and eleventh in the European Championship. Progressing to Formula A (KF1) in 2004, Clos simultaneously participated in Spain’s Formula Junior 1600 series. He earned one point in the Formula A European Championship before concluding his karting pursuits after competing in the 2005 Margutti Trophy.

Formula Junior 1600 Spain

In 2004, Clos transitioned to single-seater racing by joining the Formula Junior 1600 championship. Demonstrating rapid adaptation, he finished fourth overall behind Michael Herck, Marco Barba, and Arturo Llobell, securing one victory and four podium finishes.

Formula Renault 2.0

Following a season at the 1600cc level, Clos progressed to two-liter vehicles, competing simultaneously in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with Pons Racing and the Italian Formula Renault Championship for Facondini Racing. He faced challenges in the Eurocup, not breaking into the top ten throughout the season; his best placement was eleventh at Donington Park. In Italy’s series, despite missing three rounds due to Eurocup obligations, he amassed 28 points to finish sixteenth overall, surpassing teammate Oliver Campos-Hull. His highest results included seventh-place finishes at Imola and Spa. Clos returned to both championships in 2006.

In that year, Clos signed with Jenzer Motorsport for both competitions with ambitions of better outcomes. He ended seventh overall in the competitive Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series, securing three victories—second only to champion Filipe Albuquerque’s four wins. These triumphs were consecutive: a double win at Istanbul Park followed by a first-race victory at Misano. Although initially victorious in both Misano races, he was disqualified from the second due to a technical infringement concerning his car’s diffuser height, which awarded Chris van der Drift his inaugural win of the season.

Within the Italian championship, Clos began with consistent performances including a second place and two third places during the opening six races but lagged behind leader Adrian Zaugg, who dominated early with five wins and a third place finish. Nevertheless, Clos took control of the latter half of the season by winning eight out of nine remaining races to secure the championship by a margin of 36 points. His achievements included four double wins at Spa, Hockenheim, Misano, and Monza along with a second-place finish at Varano.

Formula Three Euroseries

Following his championship victory, Dani progressed to the Formula Three Euroseries for the 2007 campaign, competing with Signature-Plus. He concluded the season 13th in the overall standings, accumulating thirteen points. His top performance was a fourth-place finish during the reverse-grid event at round sixteen held at Barcelona. This particular race was notable for one of the most significant starting-line collisions in Euroseries history, which resulted in nine cars being eliminated. Additionally, he secured fifteenth place at the Masters of Formula 3 event at Zolder, finishing four seconds behind eventual Euroseries champion Romain Grosjean and 42 seconds behind winner Hülkenberg.

In 2008, Clos returned to the series, this time driving for Prema Powerteam. He ended the season 14th in the championship with 16.5 points, a slight drop from his previous year’s position. Throughout the year, he scored points in six races and achieved two podium finishes: third place at the Pau and second in a rain-affected race at Le Mans. If full points had been awarded at Le Mans, he would have matched Jon Lancaster’s total of 19 points. Clos also set the fastest lap during round two at Hockenheim and claimed pole position at round four in Mugello through the reverse-grid format.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

Clos made his debut in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series at Le Mans representing Epsilon Euskadi, stepping in for Adrián Vallés, who was engaged in Superleague Formula. Starting from 20th on the grid, Clos managed to finish tenth, earning one championship point along with an additional point for gaining the highest number of positions during the race. His participation continued at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, where he qualified third within his group and finished ninth overall—a weekend that also featured a collision involving teammate Chris van der Drift. For the remaining two rounds, Clos was replaced by Keisuke Kunimoto.

GP2 Series

After undergoing testing sessions with various teams across both GP2 and Formula Renault 3.5 categories, Clos secured a contract with Racing Engineering for the 2009 GP2 Series season on 8 February 2009. He earned his first podium and championship points in the final race held at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, ultimately ranking 21st in the overall standings. During the off-season, he participated in two rounds of the GP2 Asia Series with Trident Racing. Continuing with Racing Engineering into 2010, Clos became a consistent podium contender and scored points in every event except for one retirement at Monaco. He claimed his inaugural GP2 victory during the Turkish sprint race and was positioned third in the championship midway through the season. However, a compressed vertebra sustained from a crash at the Belgian round forced him to miss one sprint race.

Clos remained with Racing Engineering throughout 2011 alongside teammates Christian Vietoris and Álvaro Parente. That year marked Racing Engineering’s debut in the GP2 Asia Series, where Clos partnered with Nathanaël Berthon, achieving a race win at Imola and finishing ninth overall in the standings. In the main GP2 Series, he secured ninth place in the championship with two runner-up finishes.

Beginning 2012 without a confirmed seat, Clos joined Barwa Addax after the opening round, taking over from Josef Král alongside teammate Johnny Cecotto. After competing in four races, Král returned to reclaim his position within the team.

Formula One

Clos took on the role of test driver for the Williams F1 squad, initially conducting tests in September 2008 and returning for further sessions in December 2008 at Jerez, Spain. On 15 November 2011, he competed in the Abu Dhabi young drivers' test held at the Yas Marina Circuit, completing 68 laps behind the wheel of the HRT F1 Team's F111 car, ultimately securing 12th place with a best lap time of 1’45.329.

On 13 February 2012, Clos was confirmed as the test driver for HRT during the 2012 campaign. He made his first appearance during a race weekend at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix and participated in the opening practice sessions at the 2012 British Grand Prix, 2012 German Grand Prix, and 2012 Hungarian Grand Prix, stepping in for Narain Karthikeyan.

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results

(key) (Races shown in bold denote pole positions; races in italics indicate fastest laps)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	DC	Points
2005	Pons Racing	ZOL 1 Ret	ZOL 2 31	VAL 1 30	VAL 2 Ret	LMS 1 18	LMS 2 17	BIL 1 Ret	BIL 2 23	OSC 1 14	OSC 2 Ret	DON 1 11	DON 2 15	EST 1 26	EST 2 22	MNZ 1 15	MNZ 2 13	32nd	2
2006	Jenzer Motorsport	ZOL 1 11	ZOL 2 10	IST 1 1	IST 2 1	MIS 1 1	- MIS 2 DSQ	- NÜR 1 4	- NÜR 2 4

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Italia results

(key)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Final Position	Points
2005	Facondini Racing	VLL 1 16	VLL 2 14	IMO 1 7	IMO 2 16	SPA 1 8	SPA 2 7	MNZ1 1 Ret	MNZ1 2 21	MNZ1 3 31	MUG 1	MUG 2	MIS 1 9	MIS 2 17	MIS 3 9	VAR	MNZ2 1 15	MNZ2 2 Ret	16th	28
2006	Jenzer Motorsport	MUG < br >1 < br >6	MUG < br >2 < br >4	VLL < br >1 < br >2	VLL < br >2 < br >12	IMO < br >1 < br >3	IMO < br >2 < br >3	SPA < br >1 < br >1	SPA < br >2 < br >1	HOC < br >1 < br >1	HOC < br >2 < br >1	MIS < br >1 < br >1	MIS < br >2 < br >1	VAR < br >2	MNZ < br >1 < br >1	MNZ < br >2 < br >1		1st	378

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series Results

(key)

Year	Team	Car Chassis	Engine Manufacturer	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Final Position	Points Scored
2007	Signature-Plus	Dallara 305/029	Mercedes	HOC 1 9	HOC 2 9	BRH 1 11	BRH 2 20†	NOR 1 Ret	NOR 2 10	MAG 1 11	MAG 2 10	MUG 1 7	MUG 2 11	ZAN 1 Ret	ZAN 2 Ret	NÜR 1 7	NÜR 2 5	CAT 1 12	CAT 2 4	NOG 1 12	NOG 2 10	HOC 1 8	HOC 2 5	13th	13

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Final Standing	Total Points
2008	Prema Powerteam	Dallara F308/031	Mercedes	style="background:#EFCFFF;" |HOC < br />1 < br /> Ret	style="background:#CFCFFF;" |HOC < br />2 < br /> 7	style="background:#DFFFDF;" | MUG < br />1 < br /> 8	style="background:#CFCFFF;" | MUG < br />2 < br /> 9	style="background:#DFFFDF;" | PAU < br />1 < br /> 6	style="background:#FFDF9F;" | PAU < br />2 < br /> 3	style="background:#CFCFFF;" | NOR < br />1 < br /> 21	style="background:#EFCFFF;" | NOR < br />2 < br /> Ret	style="background:#CFCFFF;" | ZAN < br />1 < br /> 15	style="background:#CFCFFF;" | ZAN < br />2 < br /> 15	style="background:#EFCFFF;" | NÜR < br />1 < br /> Ret	style="background:#EFCFFF;" | NÜR < br />2 < br /> Ret	style="background:#CFCFFF;" | BRH < br />1 < br /> 16	style="background:#CFCFFF;" | BRH < br />2 < br /> 14	style="background:#DFFFDF;" | CAT < br />1 < br /> 6	style="background:#CFCFFF;" | CAT < br />2 < br /> 16	style="background:#DFFFDF;" | LMS < br />1 < br /> 6	style="background:#DFDFDF;" | LMS < br />2 < br /> 2	style="background:#CFCFFF;" | HOC < br />1 < br /> 9	style="background:#CFCFFF;" | HOC < br />2 < br /> 11	14th	16.5

Comprehensive GP2 Series Results

(Legend) (Events highlighted in bold denote pole position) (Events in italics signify 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	22	23	24	Final Position	Points Scored
2009	Racing Engineering	ESP FEA Retired	ESP SPR 19th	MON FEA Retired	MON SPR Retired	IST FEA 12th	IST SPR 7th	SIL FEA 13th	SIL SPR Retired	HOC FEA 16th	HOC SPR 8th	HUN FEA 11th	HUN SPR 11th	VAL FEA Retired	VAL SPR Retired	BEL FEA 10th	BEL SPR Retired	MNZ FEA 15th	MNZ SPR Retired	ALG FEA 9th	ALG < br/> SPR < br> 3rd					21st	4
2010	Racing Engineering	ESP < br/> FEA < br> 3rd	ESP < br/> SPR < br> 6th	MON < br/> FEA < br> 3rd	MON < br/> SPR < br> Retired	IST < br/> FEA < br> 8th	IST < br/> SPR < br> 1st	VAL < br/> FEA < br> 5th	VAL < br/> SPR < br> 7th	SIL < br/> FEA < br> 3rd	SIL < br/> SPR < br> 3rd	HOC < br/> FEA < br> 4th	HOC < br/> SPR < br> 6th	HUN < br/> FEA < br> 16th	HUN < br/> SPR < br> 7th	BEL < br/> FEA < br> Retired	style="background:#FFFFFF;"  2010 Belgian GP2 round BEL SPR					4th	51

Full GP2 Asia Series outcomes

(key) (Events shown in bold denote pole position) (Events in italics signify fastest lap)

Season	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Final Position	Points
2009–10	Trident Racing	YMC1 FEA	YMC1 SPR	YMC2 FEA Retired	YMC2 SPR 13th	BHR1 FEA	BHR1 SPR	BHR2 FEA 14th	BHR2 SPR 12th	27th overall	0 points
2011	Racing Engineering	YMC FEA Retired	YMC SPR 22nd	IMO FEA 7th	IMO SPR Winner					9th overall	8 points

Full GP2 Final outcomes

(key) (Events in bold represent pole positions) (Events in italics indicate fastest laps)

Season	Team	Race 1	Race 2	Final Standing	Points Scored
2011	Rapax	YMC FEA Retired	YMC SPR 9th place	12th overall	0 points

Full Formula Renault 3.5 Series outcomes

(key) (Races highlighted in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics denote fastest lap)

Year	Team Name	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Final Position	Points Total

|- | 2009 !nowrap| Epsilon Euskadi

| CAT
SPR
| CAT
FEA
| SPA
SPR
| SPA
FEA
| MON
FEA
| HUN
SPR
| HUN
FEA
| SIL
SPR
| SIL
FEA
|style="background:#DFFFDF;" | BUG
SPR

|style="background:#CFCFFF;" | BUG
FEA

|style="background:#EFCFFF;" | ALG
SPR 

|style="background:#DFFFDF;" | ALG
FEA

| NÜR
SPR
| NÜR
FEA
| ALC
SPR
| ALC
FEA
!25th position 
!5 points 

|}

Full Formula One Appearances

(legend) (Events highlighted in bold denote pole positions; events in italics represent fastest laps)

Year	Team	Car	Power Unit	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	WDC Position	Points
Template:F1	HRT Formula 1 Team	HRT F112	Cosworth CA2012 2.4L V8	AUS	MAL	CHN	BHR	ESP TD	MON	CAN	EUR	GBR TD	GER TD	HUN TD	BEL TD	ITA	SIN	JPN	KOR TD	IND	ABU	USA	BRA	-	-
Sources:

Complete European Le Mans Series Performance

(legend) (Bold font indicates pole position; italicized results signify fastest lap)

Year	Team	Category	Vehicle	Power Unit	1	2	3	4	5	6	Final Standing	Points Accumulated
2019	Inter Europol Competition	LMP2 Class	Ligier JS P217	Gibson GK428 4.2L V8	LEC 15	MNZ 13	CAT Ret	SIL	SPA	ALG	34th place	1 point
Sources:

External links

• Official website
• {{DriverDB driver|}