Davy Jones (racing driver)

Davy Jones in the cockpit

TWR-Porsche WSC-95 with starting number 7; Davy Jones won the Le Mans 24-hour race with this vehicle in 1996

Davy Jones (born June 1, 1964 in Chicago ) is an American automobile racing driver .

Beginnings in monoposto sport

Jones began his career as a driver in the early 1980s in the small single- seater formulas Formula Vau and Formula 3 . He competed in two races for the British Formula 3 Championship in 1982 and was also involved in the US Formula Super Vau Championship in the same year, which he finished third in the championship. Until 1984 he drove regularly in Formula 3 races in Europe and in 1984 achieved third place overall in Formula Pacific, a racing series that is held in Australia and New Zealand. At almost 20 years of age, Jones was already active as a racing driver on three continents, the most important series being the British Formula 3 Championship, where he finished third in the overall standings in 1983 behind Ayrton Senna and Martin Brundle . The American did not succeed in making the leap to the next higher single posto class in Europe, however, in Oceania he was very successful. Twice, in 1984 and 1987 , he won the New Zealand Grand Prix , a race based on the Atlantic racing formula .

Success in sports cars

In 1986 Jones became a works driver at BMW Motorsport and competed in the IMSA GTP series . His teammate was his compatriot John Andretti . Together they won the championship run at Watkins Glen . It was BMW's only win in the 1986 IMSA season.

In 1988 he made a big career leap with the factory involvement in the Jaguar sports car team under the leadership of Tom Walkinshaw . For the British racing team, he drove the XJR prototypes in the IMSA GTP series and in selected races in the sports car world championship . In 1988 and 1989 he achieved top results in the US racing series and secured his first major victory in an international sports car race with his success at the Daytona 24-hour race in 1990 . His team partners were Jan Lammers and Andy Wallace . That same year he finished third in the Sebring 12 Hours and won the Portland 300km . In 1991 , together with Michel Ferté and Raul Boesel, he finished second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and won another five IMSA GTP races by the end of Jaguar's involvement in sports car racing.

In 1996 he was hired by Reinhold Joest to drive the TWR-Porsche WSC-95 in Le Mans . Together with Alexander Wurz and Manuel Reuter , he drove the prototype to overall victory and thus to his greatest success in international motorsport. After a training accident at the Indy Racing League race at Walt Disney World Speedway in the spring of 1997, which caused him to retire from professional motorsport, Jones had to forego a start at Le Mans and resigned from his contract with Joest Racing . His substitute was Tom Kristensen , who won his first Le Mans 24-hour race.

After his injuries healed completely, he occasionally competed in sports car races. His last appearance so far was the 2012 Daytona 24-hour race , which he finished 39th in a Porsche 997 GT3 RSR .

Champ Car and Indy Racing League

In addition to his sports car involvement, Jones was sporadically at the start in the Champ Car series from 1987 and here primarily at the 500-mile race in Indianapolis , where he made his debut in 1987 with a 28th place. In 1989 he came in seventh place for the first time in the top ten of the overall standings. In 1996 he almost made the sensation in Indianapolis. Jones was in the lead for the entire race and held the lead several times, which he had to give up to Buddy Lazier eight laps before the end , who was the first to be flagged 0.6 seconds ahead of Jones.

The American's career ended after a serious accident while training for the Indy Racing League race at Walt Disney World Speedway in January 1997. Jones lost control of his racing car in turn 3 and hit the boundary wall, making it difficult Suffered neck and back injuries. Although he was able to fully recover from these injuries, he had to end his professional career.

NASCAR

In 1995 he competed in seven races in the Winston Cup (today: Sprint Cup ). His best placement as 20th he achieved at the championship run at Darlington Raceway .

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1988	Silk Cut Jaguar	Jaguar XJR-9LM	Price Cobb	Danny Sullivan	Rank 16
1989	Silk Cut Jaguar	Jaguar XJR-9LM	Derek Daly	Jeff Kline	failure	Engine failure
1990	Silk Cut Jaguar	Jaguar XJR-12	Michel Ferté	Eliseo Salazar	failure	Engine failure
1991	Silk Cut Jaguar	Jaguar XJR-12	Michel Ferté	Raul Boesel	Rank 2
1996	Joest Racing	TWR-Porsche WSC-95	Alexander Wurz	Manuel Reuter	Overall victory

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1988	Castrol Jaguar Racing	Jaguar XJR-9D	Jan Lammers	Danny Sullivan	Rank 7
1989	Castrol Jaguar Racing	Jaguar XJR-9D	Jan Lammers		Rank 14
1990	Castrol Jaguar Racing	Jaguar XJR-12D	Jan Lammers	Andy Wallace	Rank 3
1991	Bud Light Jaguar Racing	Jaguar XJR-12D	Raul Boesel	John Nielsen	Rank 5
1992	Bud Light Jaguar Racing	Jaguar XJR-12D	David Brabham		Rank 4
1999	CJ Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	John Morton	John Graham	Rank 24

Web links

Commons : Davy Jones  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Biography at the Driver Database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Victory in the 1990 Daytona 24-hour race
2. ^ Victory in the 1990 Portland 300km race