James French (racing driver)

James French, 2018

James French (born May 20, 1992 in Sheboygan , Wisconsin ) is an American automobile racing driver .

Career

French began his motorsport career in 1997 in karting , in which he remained active until 2007. With 2008 French got into club racing and participated in sports car races of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). From 2009 to 2013 he qualified for the national final of the C-Sports-Racer -class and reached the third place in 2009, 2010 and 2013.

In 2011, French made his professional sports car debut in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). For Intersport Racing he took part in a race in the LMPC class. In 2012, French took part in an ALMS race for Merchant Services Racing and took third place in the PC standings. In 2013, French competed in three ALMS races for BAR1 Motorsports . He achieved third place in the PC classification at the Petit Le Mans .

In 2014 , French drove at Performance Tech Motorsports in the newly founded United SportsCar Championship (USCC), in which the ALMS was absorbed. In 2015 , French was a regular driver at Performance Tech Motorsports in the United SportsCar Championship. In the ten races he reached the podium five times in the PC class and finished the season in sixth place overall. In 2016 , French remained a regular driver at Performance Tech Motorsports in the sports car championship renamed the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC). He finished on the podium in six of eleven races and moved up to fourth place in the PC class. In addition, French made his debut in professional formula racing in 2016 and drove two Indy Lights races in Elkhard Lake for Belardi Auto Racing . He was selected to represent Felix Rosenqvist because he had track experience from club racing and private drives. He finished eighth in both races.

Personal

French is studying motorsport engineering at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis .

Others

The French family owns a copy of the Jordan 197 Formula 1 car . French has already driven the Formula 1 racing car several times on private trips.

statistics

Career stations

1997-2007: karting 2008–2013: club racing 2011: ALMS , LMPC (19th place)

2012: ALMS, PC (23rd place) 2013: ALMS, PC (16th place) 2014 : USCC , PC (15th place)

2015 : USCC, PC (6th place) 2016 : IWSC, PC (4th place) 2016 : Indy Lights (20th place)

Individual results in the Indy Lights

year	team	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	Points	rank
2016	Belardi Auto Racing	STP		PHO	BAR		INDY			ROA		IOW	GOAL		MDO		WGL	LAG		26th	20th
										8th	8th

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2015	Performance Tech Motorsports	Oreca FLM09	Jerome Mee	Conor Daly	Rank 9
2016	Performance tech	Oreca FLM09	Josh Norman	Kyle Marcelli	Rank 9
2017	Performance Tech Motorsports	Oreca FLM09	Patricio O'Ward	Kyle Masson	5th place and class win
2018	Performance Tech Motorsports	Oreca 07	Patricio O'Ward	Kyle Masson	failure	malfunction

Web links

• Career Stats James French (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ James French. (No longer available online.) Imsa.com, archived from the original on October 31, 2016 ; accessed on October 31, 2016 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ^ ^{A b} Young race driver in “Rush” to go pro - James Hunt look-a-like. cnn.com, September 26, 2013, accessed October 31, 2016 . 
3. ↑ Continental Tire IMSA Driver Spotlight: James French. sportscar365.com, May 26, 2015, accessed October 31, 2016 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Belardi Auto Racing Adds James French for Road America. indylights.com, June 23, 2016, accessed October 31, 2016 .