Ian James (racing driver)

Ian James (born 22 July 1974 in Epsom^[1]) is a British-American racing driver and principal of the Heart of Racing Team, competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. James has 11 total sportscar wins.^[2]

Ian James
Nationality	British
Born	(1974-07-22) July 22, 1974 (age 51) Epsom, Surrey, England
IMSA SportsCar Championship career
Debut season	2014
Current team	Heart of Racing Team
Racing licence	FIA Silver (until 2022) FIA Bronze (2023–)
Former teams	3GT Racing, Team Seattle
Starts	52
Championships	0
Wins	5
Podiums	15
Best finish	4th in 2015
Previous series
American Le Mans Series Rolex Sports Car Series

In 2004 he had a class victory (LMP2) at the 2004 12 Hours of Sebring and won the LMP2 driving title in the 2004 American Le Mans Series.^[3]

James competing in the 2014 12 Hours of Sebring

In 2015 James had a class victory (GTD) at the 2015 12 Hours of Sebring.^[4][5]

In 2020 James founded the Heart of Racing Team.^[6]

In 2023 James not only won the GTD class at the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona, but was the top GTD performer, beating out the more highly structured GTD Pro teams.^[7] This win was the first for Aston Martin at the 24 Hours of Daytona, 59 years after their first attempt.^[8]

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2000	American Le Mans Series - GT	Michael Colucci Racing/ Nygmatech	2	0	0	0	0	27	39th
2003	American Le Mans Series - LMP900	Sezio Florida Racing Team	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2004	American Le Mans Series - LMP2	Miracle Motorsports	9	3	0	0	8	143	1st
2005	American Le Mans Series - LMP2	Miracle Motorsports	1	1	0	0	1	26	8th
2006	American Le Mans Series - GT2	BMW Team PTG	2	0	0	0	0	8	45th
2007	American Le Mans Series - GT2	Tafel Racing	1	0	0	0	0	14	36th
2009	American Le Mans Series - GT2	Panoz Team PTG	10	0	0	0	2	95	8th
2011	American Le Mans Series - GT	Panoz Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
		JaguarRSR	1	0	0	0	0
2014	United SportsCar Championship - GTD	Team Seattle	11	0	0	0	2	234	15th
2015	United SportsCar Championship - GTD	Team Seattle	10	2	0	0	4	267	4th
2016	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD	Team Seattle	4	0	0	0	1	27	42nd
2017	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD	3GT Racing	3	0	0	0	0	38	51st
	24H Series - SP3-GT4	Rotek Racing	1	0	0	0	0	12	10th
		Brookspeed International Motorsport	1	0	0	0	0
2018	24H GT Series - GT4	Brookspeed International Motorsport
2019	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD	Audi Sport Team WRT Speedstar	1	0	0	0	1	30	47th
2020	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD	Heart of Racing Team	9	0	0	0	2	199	15th
2021	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD	Heart of Racing Team	7	1	0	0	3	1949	12th
	24H GT Series - GT4
2022	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD	Heart of Racing Team	4	0	0	0	1	1048	25th
	24H GT Series - GT4
2022-23	Middle East Trophy - GT3	Heart of Racing Team by SPS
2023	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD	Heart of Racing Team	4	1	1	0	1	1125	23rd
	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Am	Northwest AMR	4	0	0	0	1	51	9th
	24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Am		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	6th
	24H GT Series - GT3	Heart of Racing by SPS
2024	IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD	Heart of Racing Team	2	0	0	0	0	395*	15th*
	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGT3		1	0	0	0	1	27*	2nd*
	24H Series - GT3	Heart of Racing by SPS
	Intercontinental GT Challenge
	Le Mans Cup - GT3
	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	CrowdStrike Racing by Riley	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2025	Middle East Trophy - GT3	Heart of Racing by SPS
	24H Series - GT3
	FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGT3	Heart of Racing Team
	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	CrowdStrike by SPS

Complete American Le Mans Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	Class	Make	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points	Ref
2000	Michael Colucci Racing/ Nygmatech	GT	Porsche 911 GT3-R	Porsche 3.6 L Flat-6	SEB 7	CHA 11	SIL	NÜR	SON	MOS	TEX	ROS	PET	MON	LSV		39th	27	[9]
2003	Sezio Florida Racing Team	LMP900	Norma M2000	Ford (Kinetic) 6.0 L V8	SEB 10	ATL	SON	TRO	MOS	AME	MON	MIA	PET				NC	0	[10]
2004	Miracle Motorsports	LMP2	Courage C65	MG (AER) XP20 2.0L Turbo I4	SEB 1	MID 3	LIM 1	SON 2	POR 2	MOS 2	AME 1	PET 4	MON 3†				1st	143	[11]
2005	Miracle Motorsports	LMP2	Courage C65	AER P07 2.0 L Turbo I4	SEB 1	ATL	MID	LIM	SON	POR	AME	MOS	PET	MON			8th	26	[12]
2006	BMW Team PTG	GT2	BMW M3	BMW 3.4L I6	SEB 13	HOU	MDO	LRP	UTA	POR	ELK	MOS	PET 9†	LAG			45th	8	[13]
2007	Tafel Racing	GT2	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	Porsche 3.8L Flat-6	SEB 5	STP	LBH	HOU	UTA	LRP	MDO	ELK	MOS	DET	PET	LAG	36th	14	[14]
2009	Panoz Team PTG	GT2	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	Ford 5.0 L V8	SEB 3	STP 3	LBH 6	UTA 4	LRP 6	MDO 7	ELK 11	MOS 6	PET 9	LAG 4			8th	95	[15]
2011	Panoz Racing	GT	Panoz Abruzzi	Chevrolet 6.5 L V8	SEB 18	LBH	LRP	MOS	MDO	ELK	BAL	LAG	PET				NC	0	[16]
	JaguarRSR		Jaguar XKR GT	Jaguar 5.0 L V8	SEB	LBH	LRP	MOS	MDO	ELK	BAL	LAG	PET 16
	Panoz Racing	NC	Panoz Abruzzi	Chevrolet 6.5 L V8	SEB	LBH	LRP	MOS 1	MDO	ELK	BAL	LAG	PET				NC	0

^† Did not finish the race but was classified as his car completed more than 70% of the overall winner's race distance.

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	Class	Make	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points	Ref
2014	Team Seattle	GTD	Porsche 911 GT America	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	DAY 15	SEB 3	LGA 8	DET 2	WGL 16	MOS 6	IMS 6†	ELK 6	VIR 15	COA 18	PET 5		15th	234	[17]
2015	Team Seattle	GTD	Porsche 911 GT America	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	DAY 18	SEB 1	LGA 3	DET 1	WGL 7	LIM 4	ELK 8	VIR 3	COA 4	PET 7			4th	267	[18]
2016	Team Seattle	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	DAY 8	SEB 4†	LGA	BEL	WGL 3†	MOS	LIM	ELK	VIR	AUS	PET 8†		42nd	27	[19]
2017	3GT Racing	GTD	Lexus RC F GT3	Lexus 5.0 L V8	DAY 27	SEB 18	LBH	AUS	BEL	WGL	MOS	LIM	ELK	VIR	LGA	PET 10	51st	38	[20]
2019	Audi Sport Team WRT Speedstar	GTD	Audi R8 LMS Evo	Audi 5.2 L V10	DAY 3	SEB	MDO	DET	WGL	MOS	LIM	ELK	VIR	LGA	PET		47th	30	[21]
2020	Heart of Racing	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8	DAY 18	DAY	SEB	ELK DNS	VIR 8	ATL 6	MDO 4	CLT 3	PET 11	LGA 4	SEB 2		15th	199	[22]
2021	Heart of Racing	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8	DAY 5	SEB 3	MDO	DET	WGL 3	WGL	LIM	ELK	LGA 12	LBH 12	VIR 6	PET 1	12th	1949	[23]
2022	Heart of Racing Team	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8	DAY 9	SEB 15	LBH	LGA	MDO	DET	WGL 1	MOS	LIM	ELK	VIR	PET 7	25th	1048	[24]
2023	Heart of Racing Team	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8	DAY 1	SEB 15	LBH	MON	WGL 6	MOS	LIM	ELK	VIR	IMS	PET 5		23rd	1125	[25]
2024	Heart of Racing Team	GTD	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo	Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8	DAY 22	SEB 4	LBH	LGA	WGL	MOS	ELK	VIR	IMS	PET			15th*	395*	[26]
Source:[27]

^† James did not complete sufficient laps in order to score full points.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year	Entrant	Class	Car	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Rank	Points
2023	Northwest AMR	GTE Am	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	Aston Martin M177 4.0 L Turbo V8	SEB	PRT	SPA 7	LMS 6	MNZ	FUJ 7	BHR 3		9th	51
2024	Heart of Racing Team	LMGT3	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo	Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8	QAT 2	IMO 5	SPA 11	LMS Ret	SÃO	COA	FUJ	BHR	7th*	37*
Sources:[27][1]

* Season still in progress

24 Hours of Le Mans results

24 Hours of Le Mans results
Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2005	Miracle Motorsports	John Macaluso Andy Lally	Courage C65-AER	LMP2	115	DNF	DNF
2006	Miracle Motorsports	John Macaluso Andy Lally	Courage C65-AER	LMP2	324	14th	3rd
2023	Northwest AMR	Daniel Mancinelli Alex Riberas	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	GTE Am	310	33rd	6th
2024	Heart of Racing Team	Daniel Mancinelli Alex Riberas	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo	LMGT3	196	DNF	DNF
2025	Heart of Racing Team	Mattia Drudi Zacharie Robichon	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo	LMGT3	341	36th	4th
Sources:[27][28]

12 Hours of Sebring results

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2000	Michael Colucci Racing Nygmatech	João Barbosa Tim Robertson	Porsche 911 Carrera RSR	GT	276	18th	7th
2003	Sezio Florida Racing Team	Patrice Roussel Allen Ziegelman	Norma M2000-Ford	LMP900	71	DNF	DNF
2004	American Spirit Racing Miracle Motorsports	Mike Borkowski John Macaluso	Lola B2K/40-Nissan	LMP2	264	23rd	1st
2005	Miracle Motorsports	Jeff Bucknum Chris McMurry	Courage C65-AER	LMP2	311	12th	1st
2006	BMW Team PTG	Bill Auberlen Joey Hand	BMW M3 GTR	GT2	197	DNF	DNF
2007	Tafel Racing	Dominik Farnbacher Jim Tafel	Porsche 997 GT3-RSR	GT2	314	17th	5th
2009	Panoz Team PTG	Dominik Farnbacher	Panoz Esperante GT-LM	GT2	329	10th	3rd
2011	Panoz Racing	Benjamin Leuenberger	Panoz Abruzzi	GT	19	DNF	DNF
2014	Alex Job Racing / Team Seattle	Mario Farnbacher Alex Riberas	Porsche 911 GT America	GTD	278	25th	3rd
2015	Alex Job Racing / Team Seattle	Mario Farnbacher Alex Riberas	Porsche 911 GT America	GTD	318	15th	1st
2016	Alex Job Racing / Team Seattle	Mario Farnbacher Alex Riberas	Porsche 911 GT3 R	GTD	229	25th	4th
2017	3GT Racing	Sage Karam Scott Pruett	Lexus RC F GT3	GTD	269	35th	18th
2020	Heart of Racing Team	Roman De Angelis Darren Turner	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	GTD	319	19th	2nd
2021	Heart of Racing Team	Roman De Angelis Ross Gunn	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	GTD	320	20th	3rd
2022	Heart of Racing Team	Roman De Angelis Tom Gamble	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	GTD	256	43rd	15th
2023	Heart of Racing Team	Roman De Angelis Marco Sørensen	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	GTD	287	DNF	DNF
Source:[27]