James Hinchcliffe

James Hinchcliffe
Hinchcliffe at the 2011 Indianapolis 500
Nationality	Canadian
Born	(1986-12-05) December 5, 1986 Oakville, Ontario
2014 IndyCar Series
Debut season	2011
Current team	Andretti Autosport
Car no.	27
Former teams	Newman/Haas Racing
Starts	44
Wins	3
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	8th in 2012
Previous series
2009–10 2006–2008 2006–07 2005 2004	Firestone Indy Lights Atlantic Championship A1 Grand Prix Star Mazda Series Formula BMW USA
Awards
2010 2011	Greg Moore Legacy Award IndyCar Rookie of the Year Tony Renna Rising Star Award

James Hinchcliffe (born December 5, 1986) is a Canadian race car driver from Oakville, Ontario currently competing in the IndyCar Series. On January 10, 2012 it was announced that Hinchcliffe would succeed Danica Patrick as the driver of the #27 Go Daddy.com car for Andretti Autosport.^[1]

Racing career

Early racing

After karting, he started his open-wheel career in 2003, when he finished 3rd in Bridgestone Racing Academy F2000 series. Next year he was top rookie in Formula BMW USA, winning three races. In 2005, he raced in the Star Mazda Series, finishing 3rd overall with three wins. In 2006 he moved to the Champ Car Atlantic Series series with Forsythe Racing. He won one race at Portland and scored two other podiums, but was only able to finish 10th in the overall standings. Hinchcliffe also provided commentary for the Eurosport coverage of Champ Car events during the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

A1 Grand Prix

He then joined A1 Team Canada in A1 Grand Prix. He finished 8th in the sprint race and 13th in the feature in his first race at Zandvoort, then had a stunning weekend in Brno. He scored 2nd in the sprint race at the Czech round and led the feature for the majority of the race, but clashed with eventual winner Alex Yoong dropped him down to 5th. He raced next at the Beijing round, finishing 4th in the sprint race and 10th in the feature (which he could have won but for a team pitstop strategy error), and then returned after two races out at the New Zealand round, where he finished 6th in both races.

'Hinch' once again raced in the Champ Car Atlantic Series in 2007, this time with the Sierra Sierra team. He finished 4th in points without a win. During the season he was also a guest commentator on the international feed for Champ Car World Series races. He returned to Forsythe Racing for the 2008 Atlantic Championship season, again finishing 4th in points but this time capturing a win in the second race of the season at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Firestone Indy Lights Series

For the 2009 season, he competed in the Firestone Indy Lights Series for perennial powerhouse team Sam Schmidt Motorsports in their #7 car. Hinchcliffe struggled by #7 car standards, finishing 5th in points without a win or pole position. In 2010 season, he signed on with the less historically-successful Team Moore Racing in their #2 entry. Hinchcliffe captured three wins and five more podium finishes on his way to second in the championship behind French rookie Jean-Karl Vernay who was driving the Schmidt #7 car.

He also served as the driver analyst for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network for the 2010 Indianapolis 500 as regular driver analyst Davey Hamilton was competing in the race.

IndyCar Series

Hinchcliffe after qualifying for the 2012 Indianapolis 500.

In April 2011, Hinchcliffe signed with Newman/Haas Racing to compete in the remainder of 2011 IndyCar Series season, excluding the Twin Ring Motegi race, after missing the first race of the season at St. Petersburg. He made his debut at Barber Motorsports Park and failed to finish after making contact with a spinning E. J. Viso. He then picked up his first career top five finish in just his second start in the series on the Streets of Long Beach with a 4th place finish. Hinchcliffe then collected a top ten on the Streets of Sao Paulo in Brazil. He finished 9th.

James started 13th in his first Indianapolis 500. Hinchcliffe ran up front for an early portion of the race before crashing on lap 101 and finishing 29th.

Following the Indy 500, was the Firestone Twin 275s in Texas. 'Hinch', however, struggled in both races and had finishes of 20th and 19th, respectively. Hinchcliffe then rebounded to collect his 2nd top ten of the season with a 6th at the Milwaukee Mile.^[2] Hinchcliffe was strong for the rest of the year, collecting Rookie of the Year Honors, just beating out Panther Racing's J.R. Hildebrand. However, after the 2011 Indycar season it was announced that Newman/Haas racing would not be returning to Indycar making Hinchcliffe a free agent.

For the 2012 season, Hinchcliffe replaced Danica Patrick as driver of the Andretti Autosport GoDaddy car, renumbered to #27, the same used by Canadian drivers Gilles Villeneuve and Jacques Villeneuve.^[3] At the 2012 Indianapolis 500, Hinchcliffe qualified 2nd overall while wearing a pair of gloves that belonged to the late Greg Moore, whom Hinchcliffe considers the main reason why he got into racing. On race day, Hinchcliffe overtook pole-sitter Ryan Briscoe on the first lap, and ended up leading five of the 200 laps on his way to a creditable 6th-place finish.

Hinchliffe returned to Andretti for 2013, and started the season by winning the season opener in St. Petersburg, Florida, for his first series victory.^[4]

Later, in Brazil, (4th race of 2013 season - Sao Paulo Indy 300) Hinchcliffe won the race, with a last turn overtake under Takuma Sato, breaking the winning sequence of Will Power.

Motorsports career results

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

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

American open–wheel racing results

(key)

Atlantic Championship

Indy Lights

IndyCar Series

** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes.

*** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

Indianapolis 500

Touring Car racing

V8 Supercar results

† Not Eligible for points

References

External links

• Official website
• IndyCar Driver Page