James Jakes (born 4 August 1987 in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

, West Yorkshire) is a British racing driver.

Career

T-Cars

Jakes started his racing career in 2002 competing in 5 rounds of the T-Car Championship. In 2003 James continued in T-cars, finishing 2nd in the championship.

Formula Renault

For the 2004 season, Jakes moved into the

British Formula Renault Championship British Formula Renault Championship referred to one of two Formula Renault championships that were held in the United Kingdom. The main series was Renault Sport UK's Formula Renault 2.0 UK championship which was held from 1989 to 2011 and was ge ...

with Team AKA. Jakes progressed his skills as a racing driver to the point where he was regularly contending for race wins, helping him to attain 3rd in the championship in 2005. His two seasons in Formula Renault also helped him to attain a

McLaren Autosport BRDC Award The Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award is an award set up in 1989 to reward and recognise young racing drivers from the UK. As its names suggest, the award is backed by Aston Martin, motorsport magazine Autosport, and the British Racing Drivers' Cl ...

Nomination and also receive BRDC Rising Star status.

Formula Three

Jakes did one round of the 2005

British Formula 3 Championship The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level feeder formula that used small single seat ...

in the National Class. In 2006 James made the move to the

full-time with

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 ...

where he finished 8th and also finished 6th in the Macau Grand Prix. For 2007 James moved on to the

Formula Three Euroseries The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The ...

with

Manor Motorsport Manor Motorsport Ltd, currently trading as Manor Endurance Racing Ltd is a British motor racing company that was formed in 1990 by former single-seater champion John Booth. Manor has participated as a team in many motorsport disciplines since ...

. He finished fifth in the championship, with one win coming at

Magny-Cours Magny-Cours () is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France. It is the home of the ''Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours'', a famous motor racing circuit (whose name is often abbreviated to 'Magny-Cours'). It formerly hosted the Formula ...

. Staying in the championship for the 2008 season, Jakes changed teams to be one of the four drivers at the highly successful

ART Grand Prix ART Grand Prix is a French motor racing team that competes in formula single-seaters in Europe. In 2012, it competed in the GP2 Series and GP3 Series as Lotus GP to reflect sponsorship from British sports and racing car manufacturer Lotus. The ...

team. He joined fellow Brit

Jon Lancaster Jon Lancaster (born 10 December 1988 in Leeds) is a British auto racing driver. Career Early life and karting Lancaster was born on 10 December 1988 in Leeds, Yorkshire. He used to watch Formula One since he was three years old and always lik ...

in the team, with his other team-mates being

Frenchman The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France. The French people, especially th ...

Jules Bianchi Jules Lucien André Bianchi (; 3 August 1989 – 17 July 2015) was a French motor racing driver who drove for the Marussia F1 Team in the FIA Formula One World Championship. Bianchi had previously raced in Formula Renault 3.5, GP2 and Form ...

, and German

Nico Hülkenberg Nicolas Hülkenberg (, born 19 August 1987) is a German professional racing driver who is scheduled to make a full-time racing return to Formula 1 with Haas F1 Team in 2023, after serving as a reserve driver for Aston Martin F1 Team for the ye ...

. He did lie in fifth place at one point in the season, having won on the street circuit at Pau but tailed off to be thirteenth in the championship.

GP2 Series

He drove in the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season for the

Super Nova Racing Super Nova Racing was a British racing team that has competed in International Formula 3000, Formula 3000/GP2 Series, GP2 and the A1 Grand Prix series. Super Nova first entered racing in 1991. Super Nova was a new incarnation of the pre-existing ...

team. He did not race in any category during the summer of 2009, but rejoined Super Nova for the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season. He equalled his best finish of third during the first race in Abu Dhabi, but was replaced by the team's 2010 main series driver

Marcus Ericsson Marcus Thorbjörn Ericsson (; born 2 September 1990) is a Swedish professional racing driver. He competes in the NTT IndyCar Series, driving the No. 8 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing and is the 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner. Ericsson previously ...

for the second round. Following the conclusion of the GP3 season, he made his

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 Eccles ...

début at the final round of the 2010 season, replacing

Álvaro Parente Álvaro Parente (born 4 October 1984) is a Portuguese professional racing driver. Career Early career After winning the Karting European Junior Championship in 1998, Porto-born Parente made his debut in auto racing in 2001 at the age of 16, ...

Scuderia Coloni Coloni Motorsport, also known as Scuderia Coloni, was an auto racing team from Italy. Formed by Enzo Coloni in 1983, the team participated in Formula Three between 1983 and 1986, before racing in Formula One as Enzo Coloni Racing Car Systems bet ...

GP3 Series

Jakes signed to drive for

in the inaugural

GP3 Series The GP3 Series, or GP3 for short, was a single-seater motor racing series launched in 2010 as a feeder series for the GP2 Series, introduced by GP2 organiser Bruno Michel. GP3 followed the entire European leg of the Formula One series and th ...

season for 2010. Despite missing two rounds of the championship, he scored three podium finishes to take eighth position in the drivers' championship.

IndyCar Series

Jakes had signed with Coloni to race in the GP2 Asia Series in 2011, but in March tested an

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 ...

car for

Dale Coyne Racing Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) is an American professional open-wheel racing team that currently competes in the IndyCar Series. The team was founded in 1984 and is owned by former driver Dale Coyne. From 1995 to 2000, the team was known as Payton-Coyn ...

Barber Motorsports Park Barber Motorsports Park is an multi-purpose racing facility located in Birmingham, Alabama. It was built by George W. Barber, and includes the Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum. It has been the site of the IndyCar Series' Grand Prix of Alab ...

. It was subsequently announced that Jakes would be replaced in Coloni's GP2 car by

Luca Filippi Luca Filippi (born 9 August 1985 in Savigliano, Italy) is an Italian auto racing driver. He competed in GP2 Series from 2006 to 2012, and the IndyCar Series from 2013 to 2016. In 2008 he was the official Honda Racing F1 test driver. Career Form ...

and that Jakes would race for Coyne in the 2011 IndyCar Series season.Cavin, Curt
Coyne, Conquest finalize St. Pete plans
''Indianapolis Star'', 21 March 2011, Retrieved 21 March 2011 In his debut season he collected no top 10s and resulted 22nd in the final standings. In 2012, Jakes resulted 10th at Texas Motor Speedway and 8th at the Indy Toronto, repeating his 22nd place in the season standings. Jakes switched to

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is an auto racing team that has participated in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the IndyCar Series. Headquartered in Brownsburg, Indiana and Hilliard, Ohio, it is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 ...

for the 2013 season. At Detroit he finished 10th in the first race and second in the second race. Later he finished sixth in Houston 1. The Brit ended 19th in the final standings. After a sabbatical year, Jakes joined

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 ...

for the 2015 IndyCar season. He collected a third place in New Orleans.

Racing record

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

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

Complete GP2 Series results

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

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

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

Complete GP3 Series results

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

IndyCar Series

( key) : ¹ ''The Las Vegas Indy 300 was abandoned after

Dan Wheldon Daniel Clive Wheldon (22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011) was a British motor racing driver who won the 2005 IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship for Andretti Green Racing (AGR). He won the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 and 2011, and was co-winner ...

died from injuries sustained in a 15-car crash on lap 11.'' * Season still in progress. : * Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes. : ** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

Indianapolis 500

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

References

External links

*
www.supernova-racing.com – GP2 Racing Team Official WebsiteIndyCar Driver Pagewww.art-grandprix.comwww.manor-motorsport.comwww.akacobra.com – Formerly Team AKA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jakes, James 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Leeds English racing drivers Racing drivers from Yorkshire North American Formula Renault drivers Brazilian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Dutch Formula Renault 2.0 drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Formula 3 Euro Series drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers Formula Palmer Audi drivers GP2 Asia Series drivers GP3 Series drivers GP2 Series drivers IndyCar Series drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Manor Motorsport drivers ART Grand Prix drivers Dale Coyne Racing drivers Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers Arrow McLaren SP drivers Hitech Grand Prix drivers Scuderia Coloni drivers CRS Racing drivers Performance Racing drivers Super Nova Racing drivers