The Philippaerts family has always loved motorcycling for a long time. The paternal grandfather was also twice Belgian Champion while the father was a mechanic for professional pilots.

At the age of three and a half, David made his debut on two wheels. The "bambino" took to the game and competed in his first minicross competitions at 10 years old. In 1995, David finished second in the Minicross Championship and two years later, 4th in the Italian Championship in the Cadet category. In 2002, he finished 3rd in the European Motocross Championship and second in the national.

In 2005, with a 250 4T, David won three races, two GPs and 14 podiums in total. He finished in 4th place in the Championship, which allowed him to join the official KTM team the following year. David joined MX1 in 2007 and finished 6th in the MXGP for his first year and became champion the year after.

 The motocross rider rides in the Italian championship.