Benjamin Michael Hanley is a British racing driver who was a part of

Renault F1 Team The French automotive manufacturer Renault has been associated with Formula One as both team owner and engine manufacturer for various periods since 1977. In 1977, the company entered Formula One as a constructor, introducing the turbo engine ...

's Renault Driver Development Program from 2006 to 2008. He raced two seasons part time in the

NTT IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

. Currently he is racing in the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Intercont ...

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

, and the

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...

with Dragonspeed Racing.

Career

Hanley had a successful career in

karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...

, winning a number of championships and individual races and coming close to winning the Karting World Championship. He made his debut in Single-seater cars in the 2005 Formula Renault 2.0 Italia series, and finished 3rd driving for Cram Competition. He then raced in the

Formula Renault 3.5 Series The World Series Formula V8 3.5, formerly the World Series by Nissan from 1998 to 2004, the Formula Renault 3.5 Series from 2005 to 2015 and the Formula V8 3.5 in 2016 and 2017, was a motor racing series promoted by RPM Racing (1998–2004) and R ...

in 2006 and in 2007 he finished as runner-up in the championship, driving for

Prema Powerteam Prema Powerteam (competing as Prema Racing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, the FIA Formula 3 Championship and European Le Mans Series and as Prema Orlen Team in the FIA World Endurance Championship) is a motorsport team from Italy. It mainly ...

. He was signed to drive for Campos Racing in early 2008, partnering

Vitaly Petrov Vitaly Aleksandrovich Petrov ( rus, Вита́лий Алекса́ндрович Петро́в, p=vʲɪˈtalʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈtrof; born 8 September 1984) is a Russian racing driver who drove in Formula One for Renault F1 ...

. He also joined the team for the second round of the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

GP2 Asia Series The GP2 Asia Series was a form of open wheel motor racing as a result of a spin-off from the GP2 series. The series was officially announced during the weekend of the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix. GP2 series organiser Bruno Michel commented that "It ...

, scoring a podium finish in his first GP2 race. After three races of the season Hanley and Campos parted company, but he secured a drive with

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

before the next race. He replaced

Marcello Puglisi Marcello Puglisi (born May 17, 1986 in Trescore Balneario) is an Italian racing driver. Career Formula Renault Puglisi began his car racing career by driving in the Italian Formula Renault Championship and Formula Renault Eurocup in 2003. He re ...

, who was in turn deputising for the injured

Davide Valsecchi Davide Valsecchi (born 24 January 1987) is an Italian former racing driver and the 2012 GP2 Series champion. Career Formula Renault Valsecchi drove in Renault-based series from 2003 to 2007, rising from Italian Formula Renault and the Formula ...

. However, this was only a one-off drive, as Valsecchi returned to racing action at the next round of the championship. He began 2009 without a drive, but joined the

Euroseries 3000 Auto GP, sometimes referred to as the Auto GP World Series and formerly known as both Euro Formula 3000 and the Euroseries 3000, was a European formula racing series. The series' roots can be traced back to 1999 and the Italian Formula 3000 serie ...

mid-season and won during his first event in the category. He also returned to karting in 2009, finishing third in the

Karting World Championship The Karting World Championship is a kart racing competition organised by the CIK-FIA. It is held annually since 1964, and is karting's flagship event. The FIA (International Automobile Federation) created the CIK (International Karting Commissi ...

IndyCar

On December 17, 2018, it was announced that Hanley would compete in 5 IndyCar races, including the 103rd Indianapolis 500, with

DragonSpeed DragonSpeed Racing is an American racing team that competes in the European Le Mans Series, FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2019, the team entered the NTT IndyCar Series with a five race schedule, including t ...

in 2019. Only three of those races were fulfilled because of visa issues, and he could not compete in the Championship beyond the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

. The No. 81 qualified 27th and then Finished 32nd in the race after a mechanical issue. In January 2020 it was confirmed that he would return with Dragonspeed. The team planned to enter 6 races, but due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

the St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Mid-Ohio and Laguna Seca races were cancelled, and the team did not field an entry for Texas. On August 8, the team announced that Hanley would drive their entry for the Indianapolis 500, which was held on August 23. With little preparation time, the team had numerous mechanical issues in practice, resulting in qualifying in the 33rd and last position. The car finished the race in 23rd place. On October 28, 2020 the team shuttered their IndyCar Series program and sold their IndyCar assets to

Meyer Shank Racing Meyer Shank Racing (formerly Michael Shank Racing) is an American auto racing organization that competes in the IndyCar Series and IMSA SportsCar Championship. History Atlantic Championship Michael Shank as an owner of Michael Shank Racing, he ...

, citing the team "being taken back two years" due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Team Owner Elton Julian left open the possibility of returning to the series when "the next big thing happens for IndyCar" if the resources were available.

Racing record

Career summary

^† As Hanley was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points. ^‡ Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP2 Championship.

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete GP2 Series results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Superleague Formula

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) † Non-championship event.

Complete European Le Mans Series results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP2 Championship.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Not eligible for points.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

‡Tenth in LMP2. First in LMP2 Pro-Am.

American open-wheel racing results

(

)

IndyCar Series

(

)

Indianapolis 500

References

External links

Ben Hanley official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanley, Ben 1985 births Living people English racing drivers GP2 Series drivers GP2 Asia Series drivers IndyCar Series drivers Auto GP drivers Olympiacos CFP (Superleague Formula team) drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Karting World Championship drivers World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Prema Powerteam drivers Campos Racing drivers DragonSpeed drivers G-Drive Racing drivers Manor Motorsport drivers Racing Engineering drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers Cram Competition drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Durango drivers CRS Racing drivers TDS Racing drivers Scuderia Coloni drivers