Mardenborough was born in Darlington, where his father, English footballer Steve Mardenborough, was playing for Darlington F.C. He grew up in Cardiff, Wales. His family did not have the money for a motorsport career and he knew no potential sponsors, so he set the idea aside. He began playing racing video games at eight, when a friend introduced him to Gran Turismo on the original PlayStation; he was eventually given the console and game and played subsequent titles on the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, later with a force feedback steering wheel and pedals. In 2010 he enrolled at university to study motorsport engineering but dropped out after three weeks as it was too maths-based.
During a gap year, Mardenborough noticed an online time trial for the GT Academy competition on Gran Turismo 5 and made a serious attempt, qualifying in the top 20 in his region from over 90,000 entrants. He progressed through physical and racing challenges to reach the final — a 20-minute race at the Silverstone National Circuit in Nissan 370Z sports cars — and won by eight seconds. Before GT Academy, he had never driven a high-performance car or been on a racetrack.
After completing a driver training programme, Mardenborough made his professional debut at the 2012 Dubai 24 Hour in a factory-backed Nissan 370Z GT4, sharing with fellow GT Academy winners Lucas Ordóñez, Jordan Tresson, and Bryan Heitkotter; the crew finished third in class and 26th overall. For the remainder of 2012, he raced for RJN Motorsport in the British GT Championship in a Nissan GT-R GT3 alongside Alex Buncombe, winning a race at Brands Hatch and finishing sixth in the GT3 championship; a late-race damper failure ended their title challenge in the final round. He also contested four rounds of the Blancpain Endurance Series that year.
In 2013, Mardenborough switched to formula cars, first contesting the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand as best-placed rookie and finishing tenth. He then joined Carlin Motorsport for both the FIA European Formula Three Championship and the British Formula 3 Championship, scoring two podiums and finishing sixth in the British series. He also made his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut in 2013 with Greaves Motorsport, sharing a Zytek Z11SN-Nissan with Ordóñez and Michael Krumm in LMP2; the crew finished third in class and ninth overall after a rival car was disqualified post-race.
In 2014, Mardenborough returned to the Toyota Racing Series and finished second overall, eight points behind the champion. He then joined Arden International for the GP3 Series, was signed into the Red Bull Racing driver development programme, and won his first GP3 race in Germany from pole position with the fastest lap in the reversed-grid sprint race. He finished ninth in the standings. He also returned to Le Mans with OAK Racing, co-driving a Ligier-Nissan LMP2 with Alex Brundle and Mark Shulzhitskiy; the trio led the LMP2 class for 14 hours before a spark plug issue with two hours remaining dropped them to fifth in class. At the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed, he set the fastest-ever supercar time up the Goodwood Hill in a Nismo Nissan GT-R.
For 2015, Mardenborough was selected for Nissan Motorsports' entry into the LMP1 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship in the front-engined GT-R LM Nismo. The car missed the first two WEC rounds, made its debut at Le Mans — where Mardenborough's car broke down with an hour remaining — and Nissan withdrew from the rest of the season before eventually cancelling the programme. He also continued in GP3 with Carlin, claiming two podiums and six points finishes to finish ninth, ahead of future IndyCar champion Álex Palou.
On 28 March 2015, during a VLN series outing at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, Mardenborough's GT3-class Nissan GT-R Nismo became airborne at the Flugplatz section, cartwheeled over the spectator fence, and killed one spectator while injuring several others. Mardenborough was not seriously injured. He later gave permission for the crash to be depicted in the 2023 Gran Turismo film, saying "it would have been a disservice for the audience for that not to be in there."
In 2016, Mardenborough moved to Japan and competed in the GT300 class of Super GT for NDDP Racing alongside co-driver Kazuki Hoshino in a Nissan GT-R GT3. He scored a maiden win in the second round — the Fuji 500 km — and an additional podium at Buriram; the pair entered the final double-header at Motegi just two points off the championship lead but finished fourth overall. Simultaneously in the Japanese Formula 3 Championship with B-Max Racing he won four races and added eight podiums, finishing runner-up to future Super GT GT500 champion Kenta Yamashita by three points.
For 2017, Mardenborough moved to Super GT's GT500 class with the Calsonic-sponsored Impul team alongside Hironobu Yasuda. He and Yasuda finished 15th in the standings; at the penultimate round at Buriram they had been in contention for the win until a slow pit stop dropped them to third and car problems in the final two laps forced retirement. Also in 2017, Nissan permitted him to compete in Super Formula for the Toyota-powered Impul team; with three top-eight finishes in seven races he finished 14th overall. He took pole position for the second race of the Suzuka season finale, determined by the second-best time in a damp, red-flag-affected session, but both races were cancelled due to Typhoon Lan.
Mardenborough remained at Impul for the 2018 Super GT season alongside new co-driver Daiki Sasaki. After three top-six finishes in the first four races, he appeared set for his first GT500 win at the Fuji 500 mile race until a loose intercooler pipe while leading by 25 seconds forced retirement. At the following round at Sugo, he took his first GT500 podium finish, having passed the Team Kunimitsu Honda NSX-GT of Naoki Yamamoto and Jenson Button for the lead, before overheating caused by Sasaki picking up grass limited them to third. The pair finished 12th in the standings.
For 2019, Mardenborough moved to Kondo Racing, partnering Mitsunori Takaboshi. Kondo used Yokohama tyres rather than the benchmark Bridgestone rubber. Despite this disadvantage, the duo finished 14th — half a point behind the Impul crew — with five points finishes and a best result of fourth. In 2020, with both the new GT-R and the Yokohama tyres proving uncompetitive, the pair finished 19th with four points. Mardenborough had qualified fourth for round five at Fuji but a gear selector problem denied a potential podium. He was not retained by Nissan for 2021, with Nobuharu Matsushita taking his seat.
Following his GT500 exit, Mardenborough was offered seats in GT300 and Super Formula but they required him to bring a budget he could not provide. In 2021 and 2022 he worked as a simulator and car development driver for Nissan e.dams and its customer team McLaren in Formula E. He also served as a stunt driver and co-producer on the Gran Turismo film and consulted on its production.
In May 2023, Mardenborough returned to racing at the Fuji 24 Hours in the Super Taikyu Series, driving Helm Motorsports' Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3; the crew took pole and led for significant portions before finishing fourth with brake issues. In 2024, he contested the Silverstone 500 round of the British GT Championship with Team RJN in a McLaren 720S GT3 Evo alongside Chris Buncombe, claiming a Pro-Am class win and an overall podium. For 2025, he was signed by HRT Ford Performance to drive a Ford Mustang GT3 in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.
In 2015, Sports Pro Media ranked Mardenborough 50th on their list of the 50 most marketable athletes in the world. The 2023 feature film Gran Turismo is loosely based on his career; he is portrayed by Archie Madekwe and served as co-producer, stunt driver, and consultant.
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