James Davison

James Davison
Nationality	Australian
Born	(1986-08-28) 28 August 1986
Related to	Jon Davison (father) Lex Davison (grandfather) Richard Davison (uncle) Alex Davison (cousin) Will Davison (cousin) Tony Gaze (step-grandfather)
Firestone Indy Lights
Years active	2008–09
Teams	Sam Schmidt Motorsports Vision Racing
Best finish	2nd in 2009 Indy Lights season
Previous series
2004 2005 2006 2007 2010–11	Victorian Formula Ford Championship Formula BMW USA Champ Car Atlantic Star Mazda Championship Grand-Am Series

James Davison, born 28 August 1986 in Melbourne, Australia, is a third-generation race driver whose father Jon Davison was a Formula 5000 competitor and was the long-running promotor of racing events at Sandown Raceway. Davison's grandfather, Lex Davison, was a four-time winner of the Australian Grand Prix. He is a cousin of V8 Supercar drivers Alex and Will Davison. He also competed as a coxswain as part of Scotch College's championship-winning rowing crew in 2003.

Junior Formula

In 2004 he joined the ranks of Formula Ford in his native Australia, running in both the Victorian and National Championships. At the end of 2004 he won a scholarship at the BMW Junior Scholarship Finals in Valencia. For 2005 Davison competed in the Formula BMW USA Junior Series, qualifying on the front row at the Canadian Formula 1 Grand Prix in Montreal, won at the US Grand Prix held at the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was second at the Denver street circuit and Mid-Ohio and third at Barber Motorsports Park and Road Atlanta. Based on these performances, Davison became part of the Confederation of Australian Motorsport Elite Driver program which included attendance at the Australian Institute of Sport and financial support from the Foundation. At the end of the season he qualified and finished tenth at the Formula BMW Final at Bahrain.

2006 saw him again compete in the United States in the Formula Atlantic series for Team Australia. After the Denver round he was dropped by the team for fellow Aussie Michael Patrizi.^[1] 2007 saw Davison progress into the Star Mazda Championship where current IndyCar Series drivers Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal previously competed. Driving for Velocity Motorsports, Davison proved to be an outstanding competitor finishing second in the Championship; earning three pole positions and one win.

Davison driving in Indy Lights at St. Petersburg

Indy Lights

2008 found him in the Firestone Indy Lights series, racing for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. He struggled throughout the first half of the season, but captured his first series pole at Nashville Superspeedway, a concrete oval, in July. His first win came in bizarre circumstances in a wet race at Mid-Ohio. While running second on the last lap, race leader Jonny Reid went into pit lane instead the finish line, handing Davison the victory. Davison also received the Sunoco Most Improved Driver Award at the IRL Championship Celebration held in Las Vegas. Davison finished second in the 2009 Firestone Indy Lights Championship with new team Vision Racing, again winning at Mid-Ohio. Davison was running at the finish of all fifteen races and finished in the top ten in all but one.

Sports car

2010 saw him make his sports car debut in the Grand-Am Series for Starworks Motorsports Corsa Car Care Dinan-BMW Riley partnering Ryan Dalziel and Mike Forest in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen^[2] finishing a creditable seventh.^[3] He was then drafted in to run at the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen the Crown Royal 200 also at Watkins Glen. In 2011 he drove for Michael Shank Racing at Laguna Seca.

IndyCar

In November 2011 he tested for Andretti Autosport at Palm Beach International Raceway, Florida.^[4] He shared the car with Indy Lights driver Gustavo Yacaman.^[5][6]

In 2013 Davison tested a car for Dale Coyne Racing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. A few weeks later it was announced that he would drive the team's #18 car at the race there. It will be his first open wheel race appearance since 2009.^[7]

Career results

Champ Car Atlantic results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2006	Team Australia	LBH 13	HOU 10	MTY 21	POR 25	CLE1 13	CLE2 13	TOR 12	EDM 13	SJO 7	DEN 22	MTL	ROA	17th	69

Indy Lights results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Rank	Points
2008	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	HMS 22	STP1 13	STP2 14	KAN 11	INDY 17	MIL 6	IOW 15	WGL1 Ret	WGL2 11	NSH Ret	MDO1 7	MDO2 1	KTY 2	SNM1 14	SNM2 13	CHI 5	9th	333
2009	Vision Racing	STP1 8	STP2 17	LBH 7	KAN 8	INDY 6	MIL 5	IOW 10	WGL 2	TOR 5	EDM 10	KTY 4	MDO 1	SNM 3	CHI 2	HMS 5		2nd	447

Rolex Sports Car Series results

IndyCar Series

* Season in progress.

References

• Indy Lights Profile
• Speedsport Bio
• 2006 Atlantic standings
• 2007 Star Mazda review
• Grand-Am Profile

External links

• Official website
• James Davison on Twitter