David Price Racing (commonly referred to as DPR) is a British motor racing team, founded by David Price. The team competed in various forms of motorsport from their foundation in 1976 until 2008. The team was sold in April 2009, but continued racing in GP2 and GP2 Asia Series under the name David Price Racing until 2010.

History

The team initially ran small single-seater series in Britain from the late 1970s, including British Formula 3 and

Aurora F1 The British Formula One Championship, often abbreviated to British F1, was a Formula One motor racing championship held in the United Kingdom. It was often referred to as the Aurora AFX Formula One series due to the Aurora company's sponsorship o ...

. The team entered Giacomo Agostini's Williams FW06 in the Aurora-backed British F1 series in 1979 and 1980. Many future Formula drivers raced for the team, including

Nigel Mansell Nigel Ernest James Mansell, (; born 8 August 1953) is a British retired racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship (1992) and the CART Indy Car World Series ( 1993). Mansell was the reigning F1 champion when he moved over ...

Martin Brundle Martin John Brundle (born 1 June 1959) is a British former racing driver, best known as a Formula One driver and as a commentator for ITV Sport from 1997 to 2008, the BBC from 2009 to 2011, and Sky Sports since 2012. Brundle contested the 1 ...

Johnny Dumfries John Colum Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute (26 April 1958 – 22 March 2021), styled Earl of Dumfries before 1993, was a Scottish peer and a racing driver, most notably winning the 1988 24 Hours of Le Mans. He did not use his title a ...

and

Tiff Needell Timothy "Tiff" Needell (born 29 October 1951 in Havant, Hampshire) is a British racing driver and television presenter. He is a presenter of '' Lovecars'', and formerly served as co-presenter of ''Top Gear'' and ''Fifth Gear''. Biography Need ...

. David Price Racing won the French F3 title in 1982 with Pierre Petit and the British F3 title with Dumfries in 1984. DPR drivers in French F3 also included

Paul Belmondo Paul Alexandre Belmondo (born 23 April 1963) is a French racing driver who raced in Formula One for the March and Pacific Racing teams. He was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, the son of actor Jean-Paul Belmondo and grandson of scul ...

Fabien Giroix Fabien Giroix (born 17 September 1960) is a French racing driver from Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Paris. Racing career Formula cars Giroix began his career in French Formula Renault in 1984, finishing 4th. In 1985 he drove in the French Formula Thr ...

and

François Hesnault François Hesnault (born 30 December 1956) is a former racing driver from France. He participated in 21 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 25 March 1984. He scored no championship points. Hesnault enjoyed some success in the French Formula Th ...

from 1982 through 1986.

Andrew Ridgeley Andrew John Ridgeley (born 26 January 1963) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer, best known for his work in the 1980s in the musical duo Wham!. Early life Ridgeley was born in Windlesham, Surrey, England, to parents ...

, formerly of the pop duo

Wham! Wham! (briefly known in the US as Wham! U.K.) were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981. The duo consisted of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They became one of the most commercially successful pop acts of the 1980s, selling more ...

, also ran with DPR in French F3, after the band split up. DPR Panoz

In 1987, David Price moved into

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

, becoming a team manager for

Richard Lloyd Racing Richard Lloyd Racing (RLR), originally named GTi Engineering, was a British auto racing team created in 1977 by driver Richard Lloyd. Originally named for the Volkswagen Golf GTIs that Lloyd raced in the British Saloon Car Championship (BSCC) ...

. Price was approached by

Sauber Sauber Motorsport AG is a Swiss motorsport engineering company. It was founded in 1970 (as PP Sauber AG) by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in . After operating it un ...

- Mercedes in 1988, helping the team achieve the

World Sportscar Championship The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992. The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and No ...

and a

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

victory in 1989. David Price was then headhunted by Nissan Motorsports Europe to run their sportscar program, before eventually becoming director of racing at

Brabham Brabham () is the common name for Motor Racing Developments Ltd., a British racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. Founded in 1960 by Australian driver Jack Brabham and British-Australian designer Ron Tauranac, the team won four ...

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

in 1991. David Price Racing returned to competition in 1995, running in the

BPR Global GT Series The BPR Global GT Series (sometimes referred to as the BPR Global GT Endurance Series or simply abbreviated as BPR.) was a grand tourer-based sports car racing series which ran from 1994 to 1996 before becoming the FIA GT Championship in 1997. The ...

. One of the multiple

McLaren F1 GTR The McLaren F1 GTR is the racing variant of the McLaren F1 sports car first produced in 1995 for grand touring style racing, such as the BPR Global GT Series, FIA GT Championship, JGTC, and British GT Championship. It was powered by the natur ...

teams in the series, they won the team and drivers championship in their first year of competition with drivers John Nielsen and

Thomas Bscher Thomas Bscher (born 2 April 1952) is an automobile race car driver and banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be ...

. The team also finished third at the

that year, running the Harrods-sponsored McLaren with drivers Andy Wallace and Derek Bell and

Justin Bell Justin Derek Bell (born 23 February 1968) is a British race car driver, who after a successful career behind the wheel, transitioned into the media world in front of the camera and established himself as one of the top US based automotive conte ...

. In 1996, the team finished third in the BPR championship. DPR then became the European factory team for

Panoz Panoz is an American manufacturer of sports automobiles founded in 1989 as Panoz Auto Development by Dan Panoz, son of Don Panoz. Panoz products have included the Panoz Roadster and AIV Roadster, the Panoz Esperante, and the Panoz Avezzano. Pa ...

in 1997, running their Esperante GTR-1s in the new

FIA GT Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

as well as supporting the primary team in the United States. In 1998, Price was in charge of the first hybrid car ever to attempt to qualify at Le Mans, the Panoz GT-1 hybrid. During a brief interlude from Panoz, David Price Racing ran a BMW V12 LM at the

, finishing fifth overall. The team would later return to support Panoz's own

Le Mans prototype A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were create ...

efforts in the

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The American Le Mans' hea ...

and at Le Mans itself. Following the 2001 season, DPR went on hiatus. The team would briefly assist MG in development of the XPower SV for 2002. In 2004, David Price Racing returned, once again running single-seater cars. They ran the

Formula Renault V6 Eurocup Formula Renault V6 Eurocup is a former type of formula racing, active from 2003 to 2004, started by Renault as a support series in Eurosport's Super Racing Weekends ( ETCC and FIA GT Championship). It was a Formula Renault 3.5 that include also ...

series before moving into the new

GP2 Series The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Eccle ...

in 2005, winning two races with

Olivier Pla Olivier Pla (born 22 October 1981) is a French racing driver currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Glickenhaus Racing. His younger brother Jim is also a racing driver Career French Formula Campus and Formula Three Bor ...

. The team briefly changed their name to

Direxiv Direxiv was a motorsports company that competed in Super GT and Formula Nippon. The company had links to the GP2 Series, then the feeder series for Formula One, and had submitted an entry to run a Formula 1 team in 2008 onwards. The team sponsore ...

in 2006, before returning to the David Price Racing name in 2007. The team also ran the

A1 Grand Prix A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) was a "single-make" open-wheel auto racing series that ran from 2005 until 2009. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most for ...

series for A1 Team USA during the 2005–06 season. Years after selling the team, Price has been involved in the

DeltaWing The DeltaWing is a racing car designed by American race car designer and engineer Ben Bowlby and debuted at the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. The entry was run under the Project 56 name, composed of Ben Bowlby (design), Dan Gurney's All American R ...

Le Mans Prototype program since 2013. Panoz takes DeltaWing in-house for 2013 American Le Mans Series
- Gary Watkins, Autosport, 6 February 2013

Series results

GP2 Series

(

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) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

David Price Racing

British auto racing teams A1 Grand Prix racing teams GP2 Series teams 24 Hours of Le Mans teams American Le Mans Series teams FIA GT Championship teams FIA Sportscar Championship entrants Auto racing teams established in 1976 1976 establishments in the United Kingdom Auto racing teams disestablished in 2010 2010 disestablishments in the United Kingdom FIA European Formula 3 Championship teams French Formula 3 teams German Formula 3 teams British Formula Three teams