James Walker (born 25 August 1983, in

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

) is a professional racing driver from Great Britain.

Career

Formula Ford

Walker began his single seater racing career in 2002 in the UK Formula Ford championship, finishing the year in 17th place. He also took part in the

Avon Tyres Cooper Tire & Rubber Company is an American company that specializes in the design, manufacture, marketing, and sales of replacement automobile and truck tires, and has subsidiaries that specialize in medium truck, motorcycle, and racing tires. W ...

Junior Formula Ford series, finishing 6th, and the end-of-season Formula Ford Festival at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...

, where he finished 12th. For 2003 he stayed in UK Formula Ford, winning the scholarship class for year-old cars as well as taking three overall podium finishes, including a win at

Mondello Park Mondello Park is Ireland's only international motorsport venue and is located in Caragh, County Kildare off the R409 regional road, approximately from Dublin city centre. History The Mondello Park short circuit was designed on farmland ne ...

. He also finished 9th in the Formula Ford Festival. As a result of his achievements during the season he was nominated for the National Racing Driver of the Year at the annual Autosport Awards.

Formula Three

The following year Walker moved up to the

British Formula Three Championship British Formula Three Championship may refer to: *British Formula 3 International Series The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of ev ...

, the first of three seasons in the category. Competing for

Hitech Racing Hitech Grand Prix (formerly known as Hitech Racing) is a British motor racing team. It was founded in 2002 by Dennis Rushen and David Hayle. The team started racing in the British Formula 3 Championship in 2003. The team also competed in the So ...

, he finished his first season in 18th place. He also raced in the one-off

Formula 3 European Cup In science, a formula is a concise way of expressing information symbolically, as in a mathematical formula or a ''chemical formula''. The informal use of the term ''formula'' in science refers to the general construct of a relationship betwee ...

event, finishing 11th, and the Marlboro Masters at

Zandvoort Zandvoort () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands; it has a long sandy beach. It is bordered by coastal dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park and the Amsterdam ...

, where he finished in 28th place. During the same year, he was also awarded 'Rising Star' status by the

British Racing Drivers Club The British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) is an exclusive invitation-only members club for racecar drivers who are judged to have achieved success in the upper levels of motor sport for a number of seasons. Except under exceptional circumstances, me ...

. In 2005 he switched to the

Fortec Motorsport Fortec Motorsport Ltd. is a motor-racing team that races in the GB3 Championship. The team was bought in 1995 by current owner Richard Dutton. Past drivers for the team include Juan Pablo Montoya, Gianmaria Bruni, Danny Watts, Jamie Green, ...

team, taking one race win, at the Nürburgring, to finish the year 11th overall. He once again took part in the Marlboro Masters race, but retired from the event. Walker returned to Hitech Racing for the 2006 season, taking three podium places on his way to 9th in the final standings. He also took part in two F3 Euroseries rounds, at

Hockenheim Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" () and Bertha Benz M ...

and Brands Hatch, but failed to score a point in the four races he entered. Walker also made a third attempt at the renamed BP Ultimate Masters of Formula 3, but once again failed to finish the race.

World Series by Renault

For 2007 Walker made the step up to the

World Series by Renault The Renault Sport Series (formerly known as World Series by Renault) is a motor racing series. The series latterly consisted of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, and used to contain the Renault Sport Trophy and the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. ...

with Fortec Motorsport, who were also making their debut in the series. He finished his maiden year 19th in the final standings, with the highlight being a win in front of his home crowd at Donington Park. Despite testing for Red Devil Team Comtec during the off-season, Walker stayed with Fortec for a second season in

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; ...

. During the year, he finished in the points on nine occasions, taking a single podium in the final race of the season in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

to finish 13th in the championship. In the off-season, Walker tested for both Ultimate Signature and

P1 Motorsport P1 Motorsport is a British racing team based in Norfolk, England. They currently compete in the World Series by Renault. For 2013 the team was purchased by Strakka Racing owner-driver Nick Leventis and was renamed P1 by Strakka Racing. British ...

before joining the latter for the 2009 season. He ended up fifth in the championship, winning a single race at

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), frequently referred to as ''Spa'', is a motor-racing circuit located in Stavelot, Belgium. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, and has he ...

Superleague Formula

In 2008, Walker also took part in four races of the inaugural Superleague Formula season. He raced for

Rangers F.C. Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...

at the Nürburgring and then for

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

Jerez Jerez de la Frontera (), or simply Jerez (), is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cádiz Mountains. , the c ...

, where he won the final race of the season. He will return to the series in 2010, driving for defending champions

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, replacing

Adrián Vallés Adrián Vallés Escortell (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish race car driver. Career Vallés was born in Teulada, Alicante. After a strong karting career, he drove in Spanish Formula Three, before moving to the World Series by Nissan in 2004. Th ...

Sports car racing

Walker was given a drive a Porsche for J Lowe Racing in the

2010 24 Hours of Daytona The 2010 Rolex 24 at Daytona was the 48th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona and was the first round of the 2010 Rolex Sports Car Series season. It took place between January 30–31, 2010. Rule changes *With the increased field size for the 2 ...

, but the car retired before he got behind the wheel. Walker joined

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 ...

team JMW Motorsport for the 2011 season. He and

Rob Bell Robert Holmes Bell Jr. (born August 23, 1970) is an American author, speaker and former pastor. Bell founded Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, and pastored it until 2012. Under his leadership, Mars Hill was one of the fastest ...

got two class wins out of five races driving a

Ferrari 458 Italia The Ferrari 458 Italia (Type F142) is a mid-engine sports car produced by Ferrari. The F458 is the successor of the F430, and was first officially unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. It was succeeded by the 488 GTB (Gran Turismo Berl ...

, resulting runners-up in the GTE-Pro drivers and teams championships. In 2012 he won the Paul Ricard race for JMW together with

Jonny Cocker Jonathan Cocker (born 24 August 1986) is a British racing driver. In 2012 he won the ELMS GTE Pro Championship. He competed in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) for Drayson Racing, a team run by Paul Drayson. Career Cocker, who was born in ...

, and retired at the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...

. The driver swtichted to Delta-ADR for the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship. Driving an Oreca-Nissan, he got a LMP2 class win, a fourth-place finish and a fifth, resulting 6th in the teams standings.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

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

Superleague Formula

2008

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

2010

24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, James 1983 births Living people Jersey motorsport people British racing drivers Superleague Formula drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers Formula 3 Euro Series drivers Formula Ford drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers European Le Mans Series drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers British GT Championship drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Alan Docking Racing drivers Fortec Motorsport drivers Hitech Grand Prix drivers P1 Motorsport drivers Greaves Motorsport drivers