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

Racing career

Growing up in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

French started karting at age five at the Road America Motorplex. In his final season at the Road America Kart Club French finished second in the 80cc Shifter class.

Club racing

French made his debut in the

C Sports Racer C Sports Racer (CSR) now known as Prototype 1 (P1) is a class in the Sports Car Club of America. it consists of open top prototype style cars. The maximum displacement is 1615cc, in a 2 valve crossflow engine, with a minimum weight of 1300lbs w/dr ...

class at Road America in May 2008. He also raced against his father

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word me ...

in the Central Division SCCA championship. The father-son duo also raced at the

June Sprints The June Sprints are amateur sports car races held yearly on the third or fourth weekend of June at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The event was first held in 1956 as a round of the SCCA National Sports Car Championship, as a shorter- ...

with Brian winning the class, and James finishing in second place. The following season James won the championship in a

Swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT, ...

014.a with added bodywork. The younger French won also the June Sprints and placed third at the prestigious

SCCA National Championship Runoffs The SCCA National Championship Runoffs is the end-of-year championship race meeting for Sports Car Club of America Club Racing competitors. Divisional champions and other top drivers from the SCCA's 116 regions are invited to participate at the ...

. In 2010 French ran a partial Central Division SCCA club championship in both the CSR and

Formula Atlantic Formula Atlantic is a specification of open-wheel racing car developed in the 1970s. It was used in professional racing through the IMSA Atlantic Championship until 2009 and is currently primarily used in amateur racing through Sports Car Club o ...

classes. He also competed in the SVRA at Road America in a

Ralt Ralt was a manufacturer of single-seater racing cars, founded by ex-Jack Brabham associate Ron Tauranac after he sold out his interest in Brabham to Bernie Ecclestone. Ron and his brother had built some specials in Australia in the 1950s und ...

RT41. The following season French won again the Cen-Div CSR championship. His strong result in the divisional championship earned him a third place in the SCCA Majors Tour. The fast Wisconsin driver also finished third at the June Sprints. 2013 SCCA National Championship Runoffs CSR third James French from Sheboygan

2013 SCCA National Championship Runoffs CSR third James French from Sheboygan

French again repeated his divisional championship in 2012. He did not finish on the podium in the Majors Tour. He again won the June Sprints in 2014. 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.

Sportscar racing

French first raced 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 ...

in 2011. Competing in the LMPC class French ran one race with

Intersport Racing Intersport Racing is a former American auto racing team founded by Jon Field. The team was based in Dublin, Ohio. They previously operated two Oreca FLM09 sports cars in the American Le Mans Series. At current, the company has transitioned int ...

. In 2012 he ran again one race, this time landing on the podium. At the 2012 Road Race Showcase French,

Kyle Marcelli Kyle Marcelli (born 23 February 1990) is a Canadian racing driver who currently competes in the Michelin Pilot Challenge. Career Marcelli began his racing career in karts in 2005, before moving into single seaters for the 2006 Bridgestone F2000 ...

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 Tomy Drissi ( ; born December 9, 1958) is an American professional stock and sports car racing driver, and an advertising executive in the movie industry. A long-time competitor in the Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am Series, he was the ser ...

and

Rusty Mitchell Rusty Mitchell (born November 29, 1982) is an American racing driver from Midland, Texas. In 2007 and 2008 Mitchel drove in Formula SCCA competition, winning the June Sprints and Southwest Division title in 2007 and finishing second in the Sout ...

finished third in class. For

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

French joined Performance Tech Motorsports for the last five races of the season. He scored a second place at

Virginia International Raceway Virginia International Raceway (commonly known as "VIR") is a race track located in Alton, Virginia, near Danville. It is less than a half-mile from the North Carolina/Virginia border just outside Milton, North Carolina, on the banks of the Da ...

with teammate

David Ostella David Ostella (born October 8, 1991) is a Canadian racing driver from Maple, Ontario. After racing in various American and Canadian karting series, Ostella made his professional racing debut in Formula BMW Americas in 2008 for Eurointernational, ...

. The following season he raced a full season in the

United 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 ...

. 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 Dallara is an Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Gian Paolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' Melegari (Parma), Italy he created ...

IL-15 with

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports The IndyCar Series operation of McLaren Racing competes under the banner of Arrow McLaren SP. This entry is based in Indianapolis and was founded by former driver Sam Schmidt as Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Fellow ex-driver Davey Hamilton joined a ...

. He tested at

Circuit of the Americas Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Austin, Texas, in the United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States G ...

alongside

Heamin Choi Heamin Choi (born January 11, 1984) is a race car driver. He is the first Korean driver to race in the American Open Wheel Series (Pro Mazda, USF2000), and the first Korean driver to participate in any race held in the United States. He has won t ...

. During the Chris Griffis Memorial Test French was faster than Choi during all the sessions. During the 2016 season French made his race debut in Indy Lights. As

Belardi Auto Racing Belardi Auto Racing was an American racing team in the Indy Lights series. The team was owned by Brian Belardi, who competed in SCCA. Belardi was previously located in Illinois before moving to Brownsburg, Indiana. Indy Lights 2011-2013 Jorge ...

driver

Felix Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist (born 7 November 1991) is a Swedish professional racing driver who currently drives the No. 6 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP in the NTT IndyCar Series. He was named Rookie of the Year for the IndyCar Series in 2019. Racing car ...

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.

Stock car racing

In August 2018, French joined

JP Motorsports JP Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and was owned by Jerry and Phyllis Hattaway. The team planned to compete in 2019, but never announced any drivers for the year. JPM w ...

for his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Road America.

Racing record

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

American open-wheel racing results

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

Indy Lights

Xfinity Series

Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:French, James 1992 births Racing drivers from Wisconsin WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers American Le Mans Series drivers Indy Lights drivers SCCA National Championship Runoffs winners Sportspeople from Sheboygan, Wisconsin Living people 24 Hours of Daytona drivers NASCAR drivers Belardi Auto Racing drivers Starworks Motorsport drivers G-Drive Racing drivers 24H Series drivers