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James French (born May 21, 1992) is an American professional racing driver.

Racing career[]

Growing up in Wisconsin French started karting at age five at the Road America Motorplex.[1] In his final season at the Road America Kart Club French finished second in the 80cc Shifter class.[2]

Club racing[]

French made his debut in the C Sports Racer class at Road America in May 2008.[3] He also raced against his father Brian in the Central Division SCCA championship. The father-son duo also raced at the June Sprints with Brian winning the class, and James finishing in second place.[4] The following season James won the championship in a Swift 014.a with added bodywork.[5] The younger French won also the June Sprints and placed third at the prestigious SCCA National Championship Runoffs.

In 2010 French ran a partial Central Division SCCA club championship in both the CSR and Formula Atlantic classes. He also competed in the SVRA at Road America in a Ralt RT41. The following season French won again the Cen-Div CSR championship.[6] His strong result in the divisional championship earned him a third place in the SCCA Majors Tour.[7] The fast Wisconsin driver also finished third at the June Sprints.[8]

2013 SCCA National Championship Runoffs CSR third James French from Sheboygan

French racing to a third-place finish in C Sport Racer at Road America during the 2013 SCCA National Championship Runoffs

French again repeated his divisional championship in 2012.[9] He did not finish on the podium in the Majors Tour. He again won the June Sprints in 2014.[10] But as he did not win the Central Division championship he could not compete for the Majors Tour title. French competed at the SVRA Spring Vintage Festival winning his race in a Jordan 197.[11]

Sportscar racing[]

French first raced in the American Le Mans Series in 2011. Competing in the LMPC class French ran one race with Intersport Racing. In 2012 he ran again one race, this time landing on the podium. At the 2012 Road Race Showcase French, Kyle Marcelli and Chapman Ducote finished third in class. For 2013 French ran three races with BAR1 Motorsports. At the season finale, the 2013 Petit Le Mans, French, Tomy Drissi and Rusty Mitchell finished third in class.

For 2014 French joined Performance Tech Motorsports for the last five races of the season. He scored a second place at Virginia International Raceway with teammate David Ostella. The following season he raced a full season in the United SportsCar Championship. The team failed to finish at the 2015 24 Hours of Daytona. However, he scored three consecutive third-place finishes after the season opener. He later scored another two podium finishes securing the sixth place in the championship.

Indy Lights[]

In November 2015 French tested a Dallara IL-15 with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. He tested at Circuit of the Americas alongside Heamin Choi. During the Chris Griffis Memorial Test French was faster than Choi during all the sessions.[12] During the 2016 season French made his race debut in Indy Lights. As Belardi Auto Racing driver Felix Rosenqvist had other obligations, French replaced the Swede at the Road America round of the championship. French qualified twelfth in a field of fourteen. In both races he worked his way up to eighth place.[13]

Stock car racing[]

55JamesFrench2018Johnsonville180

French racing in 2018 during his first NASCAR start at Road America

In August 2018, French joined JP Motorsports for his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Road America.[14]

Racing record[]

SCCA National Championship Runoffs[]

Year Track Car Engine Class Finish Start Status
2009 Road America Swift 014.a Toyota CSR 3 3 Running
2010 Road America Swift 014.a Toyota CSR 3 4 Running
2011 Road America Swift 014.a Toyota CSR 4 4 Running
2012 Road America Swift 014.a Toyota CSR 8 5 DNF
2013 Road America Swift 014.a Toyota CSR 3 6 Running
2020 Road America Swift 014.a Toyota Prototype 1 1 1 Running
2021 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Ralt RT41 Toyota Formula Atlantic 1 1 Running

American open-wheel racing results[]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest race lap)

Indy Lights[]

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Rank Points
2016 Belardi Auto Racing STP STP PHX ALA ALA IMS IMS INDY RDA
8
RDA
8
IOW
TOR
TOR
MDO
MDO
WGL
LAG
LAG
20th 26

Xfinity Series[]

NASCAR Xfinity Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 NXSC Pts Ref
2018 JP Motorsports 55 Toyota DAY ATL LVS PHO CAL TEX BRI RCH TAL DOV CLT POC MCH IOW CHI DAY KEN NHA IOW GLN MOH BRI ROA
38
DAR IND LVS RCH CLT DOV KAN TEX PHO HOM 82nd 1 [15]

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship[]

Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Rank Points
2014 Performance Tech Motorsports PC Oreca FLM09 LS3 6.2 L V8 DAY
SEB
LGA
KAN
WGL
IMS
4
ELK
6
VIR
2
AUS
10
ATL
10
15th 111
2015 Performance Tech Motorsports PC Oreca FLM09 LS3 6.2 L V8 DAY
7
SEB
3
LGA
3
BEL
3
WGL
7
MOS
7
LIM
7
ELK
2
AUS
3
ATL
DNS
6th 233
2016 Performance Tech Motorsports PC Oreca FLM09 LS3 6.2 L V8 DAY
6
SEB
5
LBH
3
LGA
4
BEL
4
WGL
2
MOS
4
LIM
3
ELK
3
AUS
3
PET
2
4th 305
2017 Performance Tech Motorsports PC Oreca FLM09 LS3 6.2 L V8 DAY
1
SEB
1
AUS
1
DET
1
WAT
1
MOS
1
ELK
1
PET
3
1st 283
2018 Performance Tech Motorsports P Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 DAY
8
SEB
13
LBH
14
MOH
11
BEL
14
WGL
14
MOS
DNS
ELK LGA PET
14
21st 112
2019 Performance Tech Motorsports LMP2 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 DAY SEB MDO WGL MOS ELK
2
LGA PET 12th 32
2020 Performance Tech Motorsports LMP2 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 DAY
SEB
ELK
2
ATL
PET
LGA
SEB
16th 32
2021 Tower Motorsport by Starworks LMP2 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 DAY
SEB
WGL
4
WGL
ELK
LGA
PET
1
9th 686
2022 Performance Tech Motorsports LMP3 Ligier JS P320 Nissan VK56DE 5.6 L V8 DAY
SEB
MDO
WGL
MOS
ELK
6
PET
31st 276

References[]


  1. "Young race driver in "Rush" to go pro – James Hunt look-a-like". http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1040409. Retrieved August 16, 2016. 
  2. "Road America Kart Club 2005". http://www.roadamerica.com/media/wysiwyg/documents/RAKC/rakcpoints05.pdf. 
  3. "2008 POINTS FINAL". http://www.cendiv-scca.org/03racing/02points_standings/regional/2008rgnlpts/2008%20Regional%20points%20Final.pdf. Retrieved August 16, 2016. 
  4. "53rd Piggly Wiggly June Sprints Road America". http://junesprints.com/wp-content/uploads/2008group_2_official_results.pdf. Retrieved August 16, 2016. 
  5. "2009 National Points". http://www.cendiv-scca.org/03racing/02points_standings/national/2009/National%20Points%20as%20of%209-6%20Final%20revised.pdf. Retrieved August 16, 2016. 
  6. "2011 National Points". http://www.cendiv-scca.org/03racing/02points_standings/national/2011/National%20Points%20Final%202011.pdf. Retrieved August 16, 2016. 
  7. "National Points Championship Final 2011 Points". http://cdn.growassets.net/user_files/scca/downloads/000/007/498/11-club-natpoints-final.pdf?1434058401. Retrieved August 16, 2016. 
  8. "Final Race Results Group 4 - CSR DSR S2000". http://junesprints.com/wp-content/uploads/Grp4FinalRaceResults.pdf. Retrieved August 16, 2016. 
  9. "2012 National Points". http://www.cendiv-scca.org/03racing/02points_standings/national/2012/National%20Points%20as%20of%20Final.pdf. Retrieved August 16, 2016. 
  10. "Weather Tech 2014 Chicago Region June Sprints". http://junesprints.com/wp-content/uploads/2014-Group_6_Official_Feature_Results.pdf. Retrieved August 16, 2016. 
  11. "2014 SVRA Spring Vintage Festival". http://www.svra.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Group-9-Race-1.pdf. Retrieved August 16, 2016. 
  12. "2015 SEASON CHRIS GRIFFIS MEMORIAL TEST RESULTS". http://www.indylights.com/results/2015-season/chris-griffis-memorial-test. Retrieved August 16, 2016. 
  13. "2016 SEASON ROUNDS 9 & 10 RESULTS". http://www.indylights.com/results/2016-season/rounds-9-10. Retrieved August 16, 2016. 
  14. "9th Annual Johnsonville "180" - NASCAR XFINITY Series - Road America - 8/25/2018" (PDF). Jayski's Silly Season Site. http://www.jayski.com/nxs/2018/pdfs/nxs23ram2018entrylist.pdf. Retrieved August 22, 2018. 
  15. "James French – 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. https://www.racing-reference.info/drivdet/frencja01/2018/B. Retrieved August 25, 2018. 

External links[]

Sporting positions
Preceded by:
Alex Popow
Renger van der Zande
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
PC Champion

2017
Succeeded by:
None
(Class discontinued)
Preceded by:
Tom Kimber-Smith
José Gutiérrez
Robert Alon
North American Endurance Cup
PC Champion

2017
Succeeded by:
None
(Class discontinued)
Preceded by:
Paul di Resta
Phil Hanson
Asian Le Mans Series
LMP2 Champion

2019–20
Succeeded by:
René Binder
Ferdinand von Habsburg
Ye Yifei
Smallwikipedialogo.png This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at James French (racing driver). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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