In 2007, at the age of 14, De Phillippi was selected as a member of Team USA to participate in the prestigious Brazilian Granja Viana 500 mile kart race.

With a field of 70 karts and star racers like Rubens Barrichello, Felipe Massa, Tony Kanaan, Nelson Piquet Jr. and a host of other Formula 1, Champ Car and Indy Racing League (now the IndyCar Series) drivers, De Phillippi worked Team USA up into 2nd place.

After handing the kart off to a teammate, a late night incident with lapped traffic ended Team USA’s chance at the podium.

In 2008, he made the move from karting to open wheel racing, winning the Skip Barber West Coast Series championship and Rookie of the Year honors.

In 2010, De Phillippi moved up to the Star Mazda Championship for JDC MotorSports, finishing third in points, capturing his first victory in the final race of the season at Road America, and Rookie of the Year honors.

[4] He also won the Night Before the 500 at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis, setting the track record (19.999 seconds), starting from pole, and leading all 85 laps.

In a field of drivers with vast experience on these circuits and in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, De Phillippi showed immediate pace and excellent consistency.

Despite a last round DNF, the consistency paid off and De Phillippi was crowned the 2013 Porsche Carrera Cup Germany Rookie of the Year.

He joined up with Swiss squad FACH Auto Tech in one of their Porsche 997 GT3R's, along with a trio of experienced racers in Sebastian Asch, Martin Ragginger and Otto Klohs for the 9th running of the Dubai 24 Hour endurance race.

After the half way point of the race, De Phillippi had the team in what looked to be podium contention, however they were struck by bad luck after a mechanical failure.