James Davison

For other people named James Davison, see James Davison (disambiguation).

James D. Davison (born 28 August 1986) is an Australian professional racing driver who drives an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the Blancpain GT World Challenge America. He has also competed in the NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, and NASCAR Xfinity Series. He is sometimes also called JD (or J. D.) Davison.

James Davison
Davison at the 2015 Indianapolis 500
Nationality	Australian
Born	James D. Davison (1986-08-28) 28 August 1986 Melbourne, Australia
Related to	Jon Davison (father) Lex Davison (grandfather) Diana Davison (grandmother) Richard Davison (uncle) Alex Davison (cousin) Will Davison (cousin) Tony Gaze (step-grandfather) Fisichella Davison (daughter)
Blancpain GT World Challenge America career
Debut season	2016
Racing licence	FIA Gold
Teams	AE Replay XD Nissan GT Academy
Starts	20
Wins	16
Poles	1
Fastest laps	1
Best finish	4th in 2015
Previous series
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008-09 2010–12	Victorian Formula Ford Formula BMW USA Champ Car Atlantic Star Mazda Championship Firestone Indy Lights Grand-Am Series
IndyCar Series career
8 races run over 7 years
2020 position	34th
Best finish	28th (2019)
First race	2013 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio (Mid-Ohio)
Last race	2020 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis)
Wins Podiums Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Cup Series career
35 races run over 2 years
2020 position	37th
Best finish	32nd (2021)
First race	2020 Pocono Organics 325 (Pocono)
Last race	2021 YellaWood 500 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
6 races run over 5 years
2022 position	53rd
Best finish	47th (2017)
First race	2016 Road America 180 (Road America)
Last race	2022 Drive for the Cure 250 (Charlotte Roval)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 3 0
Statistics current as of 24 June, 2023.

His father Jon Davison was a Formula 5000 competitor and was the long-running promoter 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.

Racing career

Open-wheel

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. 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 of 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 a 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.

IndyCar

Davison at the 2015 Indianapolis 500

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

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 No. 18 car at the race there. It would be his first open wheel race appearance since 2009. Following the horrific accident by Sebastian Bourdais during qualifying for the 2017 Indianapolis 500, it was announced that James would be stepping into the number 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda for the remainder of the season. In the later stages of the race, Davison matched a record set by Tom Sneva in 1980 and became the third driver in Indy history to start 33rd and lead laps in the race, having led two laps. He then got caught up in a late wreck with 17 laps to go. A year later, Davison barely qualified for the 2018 Indianapolis 500, bumping out longtime IndyCar rival James Hinchcliffe. He would finish in last place, after a crash on lap 47 caused by contact with Takuma Sato's car. Davison finished in last place again at the 2020 Indianapolis 500 due to a mechanical failure only six laps into the race.

Historic racing

In 2011 he drove his Uncle Richard Davison's Lola T332 Formula 5000 car at Phillip Island and Albert Park. In 2012, he returned to drive it again at Phillip Island. In 2019 he drove a Lotus 18 at Goodwood and Lotus 81 at Silverstone. In 2022, he drove a Hill GH1 at the 13th Historic Monaco. Then drove again at Spa in September.

Sports car racing

2010 saw him make his sportscar 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 finishing seventh. 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.

Driving with The Racer's Group in an Aston Martin in 2014, he scored four consecutive GTD class poles across the final races of the 2014 and first race of the 2015 season.

In 2015 he joined Nismo factory team to drive a Nissan GT-R in the Pirelli World Challenge. He continued with Always Evolving Racing in the GT-R in 2016 before moving to The Racer's Group for the 2017 season.

NASCAR

Davison made his first NASCAR start in 2016, driving the No. 90 King Autosport car in the Xfinity Series for the Road America 180. He started 18th and went down one position after making contact with Scott Heckert on the last lap.

In 2020, Davison raced in the Cup Series for the first time in the Pocono Organics 325 at Pocono Raceway with Spire Motorsports. His Cup debut had been delayed on two occasions earlier in the season, with a Daytona 500 start for Jonathan Byrd's Racing ultimately failing to materalise, while his GEICO 500 entry at Talladega Superspeedway with Spire was disallowed due to his lack of experience on such tracks. He returned to the series at Loudon with Rick Ware Racing.

Davison committed to an approximately 26-race schedule with RWR for the 2021 Cup season. In May, he dominated the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race at Circuit of the Americas, leading 32 of 33 laps and finished 12 seconds ahead of Anthony Alfredo. He continued his dominance in the series at the virtually-designed Chicago Street Course, capturing the pole, leading every lap, and winning by 56 seconds over his Rick Ware Racing teammate Josh Bilicki. He also raced at the 2021 YellaWood 500 for the No. 66 MBM Motorsports Ford with sponsorship from Rich Mar Florist.

Motorsports career results

Season	Series	Position	Car	Team
2004	Victorian Formula Ford Championship	6th	Van Diemen RF95 – Ford	Alex Davison
	Australian Formula Ford Championship	21st
2005	Formula BMW USA	6th	Mygale FB02 – BMW	HBR Motorsport
	Formula BMW World Final	10th		Team Meritus
2006	Champ Car Atlantic	17th	Swift 016.a – Mazda Cosworth	Walker Racing
2007	Star Mazda Championship	2nd	Star – Mazda	Velocity Motorsports
2008	Indy Lights	9th	Dallara IPS – Infiniti	Sam Schmidt Motorsports
2009	Indy Lights	2nd	Dallara IPS – Infiniti	Vision Racing
2010	Rolex Sports Car Series	34th	Riley & Scott Mk. XX – BMW	Starworks Motorsport
2011	Rolex Sports Car Series	56th	Riley & Scott Mk. XX – Ford	Michael Shank Racing
2012	Australian Carrera Cup Championship	20th	Porsche 997 GT3 Cup	McElrea Racing
2013	IndyCar	32nd	Dallara DW12-Honda	Dale Coyne Racing
2014	Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge - GS	37th	Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3	TRG - AMR
	United Sports Car Championship - GTD	21st
	IndyCar	29th	Dallara DW12-Chevrolet	KV Racing Technology
2015	Pirelli World Challenge - GT	4th	Nissan GT-R GT3	AE/Replay XD/Nissan GT Academy
	United Sports Car Championship - GTD	15th	Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3	TRG - AMR
	IndyCar	38th	Dallara DW12-Honda	Dale Coyne Racing
2016	Pirelli World Challenge - GT	7th	Nissan GT-R GT3	AE/Replay XD/Nissan GT Academy
	WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - GTD	37th	Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3	TRG - AMR
	Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America - ProAm	11th	Lamborghini Huracán LP620-2	TRG - Lamborghini
	NASCAR Xfinity Series	63rd	Chevrolet	King Autosport
2017	Pirelli World Challenge - GT	45th	Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Lamborghini Huracan GT3	TRG/DIME Racing
	WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - GTD	71st	Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3	TRG
	IndyCar	35th	Dallara DW12-Honda	Dale Coyne Racing
	NASCAR Xfinity Series	43rd	Toyota	Joe Gibbs Racing
2018	IndyCar	41st	Dallara DW12-Chevrolet	A. J. Foyt Enterprises Byrd-Hollinger-Belardi
	NASCAR Xfinity Series	56th	Toyota	Joe Gibbs Racing
2019	IndyCar	28th	Dallara DW12-Honda	Dale Coyne Racing Byrd-Hollinger-Belardi
2020	NASCAR Cup Series	37th	Chevrolet	Spire Motorsports Rick Ware Racing
2021	NASCAR Cup Series	32nd	Chevrolet Ford	Rick Ware Racing MBM Motorsports

American open-wheel racing results

(key)

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

Star Mazda Championship

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2007		SEB 3	HOU 7	VIR 4	MMP 2	POR 13	CLE 17	TOR 5	RAM 4	TRO 11	MOS 1	RAT 5	LAG 3	2nd	389

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

IndyCar Series

Year	Team	Chassis	No.	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points	Ref
2013	Dale Coyne Racing	Dallara DW12	18	Honda	STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY	DET	DET	TXS	MIL	IOW	POC	TOR	TOR	MDO 15	SNM 18	BAL	HOU	HOU	FON	32nd	27
2014	KV Racing Technology		33	Chevrolet	STP	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY 16	DET	DET	TXS	HOU	HOU	POC	IOW	TOR	TOR	MDO	MIL	SNM	FON		29th	34
2015	Dale Coyne Racing		19	Honda	STP	NLA	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY 27	DET	DET	TXS	TOR	FON	MIL	IOW	MDO	POC	SNM				38th	10
2017			18		STP	LBH	ALA	PHX	IMS	INDY 20	DET	DET	TXS	ROA	IOW	TOR	MDO	POC	GTW	WGL	SNM			35th	21
2018	A. J. Foyt Enterprises w/ Byrd-Hollinger-Belardi		33	Chevrolet	STP	PHX	LBH	ALA	IMS	INDY 33	DET	DET	TXS	RDA	IOW	TOR	MDO	POC	GTW	POR	SNM			41st	10
2019	Dale Coyne Racing w/ Byrd/Hollinger/Belardi			Honda	STP	COA	ALA	LBH	IMS	INDY 12	DET	DET	TXS	RDA	TOR	IOW	MDO	POC	GTW	POR	LAG			28th	36
2020	Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing & Byrd Belardi		51		TXS	IMS	ROA	ROA	IOW	IOW	INDY 33	GTW	GTW	MDO	MDO	IMS	IMS	STP						34th	10

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2014	Dallara	Chevrolet	28	16	KV Racing Technology
2015	Dallara	Honda	33	27	Dale Coyne Racing
2017	Dallara	Honda	33	20	Dale Coyne Racing
2018	Dallara	Chevrolet	19	33	Foyt with Byrd / Hollinger / Belardi
2019	Dallara	Honda	15	12	Dale Coyne Racing with Byrd / Hollinger / Belardi
2020	Dallara	Honda	27	33	Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing & Byrd Belardi

Sports car racing results

(key)

Rolex Sports Car Series

Year	Team	Make	Engine	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Rank	Points
2010	Starworks Motorsport	Riley	BMW	DP	DAY	HOM	BAR	VIR	LRP	WAT1 7	MDO	DAY2	NJ	WAT2 Ret	CGV	MIL		34th	24
2011	Michael Shank Racing		Ford		DAY	HOM	BAR	VIR	LRP	WAT1	RDA	LAG Ret	NJ	WAT2	CGV	MDO		56th	11
2012	Michael Baughman Racing	Corvette	Chev	GT	DAY	BMP	HMS	NJ	BIP	MDO	RA	WAT1	IMS Ret	WAT2 8	CGV	LAG	LRP	57th	23

IMSA SportsCar Championship

Year	Team	Make	Engine	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2014	TRG-AMR North America	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	Aston Martin 6.0 L V12	GTD	DAY 22	SEB 19	LGA 13	DET 4	WGL 11	MOS 12	IMS 7	ELK DNS	VIR 12	COA 19	PET 10		25th	196
2015	TRG-AMR North America	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	Aston Martin 6.0 L V12	GTD	DAY 13	SEB 2	LGA 5	DET 2	WGL	LIM	ELK	VIR	COA	PET			15th	113
2016	TRG-AMR	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	Aston Martin 6.0 L V12	GTD	DAY 20	SEB	LGA 3	DET	WGL	MOS	LIM	ELK	VIR	COA	PET		37th	32
2017	TRG	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	Aston Martin 6.0 L V12	GTD	DAY	SEB	LBH	COA	DET	WGL	MOS	LIM	ELK 13	VIR	LGA	PET	71st	18
2022	Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	Mercedes-AMG M159 6.2 L V8	GTD	DAY 3	SEB	LBH	LGA	MDO	DET	WGL	MOS	LIM	ELK	VIR	PET	51st	326

Pirelli World Challenge

Year	Team	Make	Engine	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Rank	Points
2015	Always Evolving	Nissan GT-R		GT	AUS1 6	AUS2 16	STP1 6	STP2 16	LBH 5	BAR1 1*	BAR2 11	MOS1 9	MOS2 20	DET 5	ELK1 2	ELK2 2	ELK3 1*	MDO1 2	MDO2 2	MIL1 2	MIL2 2	SON1 7	SON2 6	LAG 7	4th	1562
2016					AUS1 4	AUS2 13	STP1 19	STP2 2	LBH 4	BAR1 4	BAR2 8	MOS1 5	MOS2 2	LRP1 12	LRP2 5	ELK1 5	ELK2 18	MDO1 17†	MDO2 5	UTA1	UTA2	SON1 11	SON2 7	LAG 7	7th	1210
2017	The Racer's Group	Aston Martin Vantage GT3		GT	STP1 2	STP2 21	LBH																		45th	44
	Dime Racing	Lamborghini Huracan GT3		SprintX				VIR1 13	VIR2 9	MOS1	LRP1	LRP2	ELK1	ELK2	MDO1	MDO2	UTA1	UTA2	COA1	COA2	COA3	SON1	SON2

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Cup Series

NASCAR Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	NCSC	Pts	Ref
2020	Spire Motorsports	77	Chevy	DAY	LVS	CAL	PHO	DAR	DAR	CLT	CLT	BRI	ATL	MAR	HOM	TAL	POC 34	POC 30	IND	KEN	TEX	KAN																		37th	56
	Rick Ware Racing	53	Chevy																				NHA 30							DAR 39	RCH 37	BRI 35	LVS	TAL 30	CLT 29
		51	Ford																					MCH 38	MCH 37				DAY 39
			Chevy																							DAY 30	DOV	DOV
		53	Ford																																	KAN 32	TEX	MAR 36	PHO 33
2021		15	Chevy	DAY	DAY 23	HOM 37	LVS	PHO 33	ATL 32	BRI	MAR 22	RCH 33	TAL	KAN	DAR 31	DOV 33	COA 29	CLT 33	SON 25	NSH	POC 28	POC 30	ROA 28	ATL	NHA 36		IND 32	MCH	DAY			BRI 33	LVS							32nd	117
		51	Ford																							GLN 37
		53	Chevy																											DAR 36	RCH
	MBM Motorsports	66	Ford																															TAL 34	CLT	TEX	KAN	MAR	PHO

Xfinity Series

NASCAR Xfinity Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	NXSC	Pts	Ref
2016	King Autosport	90	Chevy	DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	CAL	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	DOV	CLT	POC	MCH	IOW	DAY	KEN	NHA	IND	IOW	GLN	MOH	BRI	ROA 19	DAR	RCH	CHI	KEN	DOV	CLT	KAN	TEX	PHO	HOM	63rd	22
2017	Joe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	CAL	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	IOW	DAY	KEN	NHA	IND	IOW	GLN	MOH 4	BRI	ROA 37*	DAR	RCH	CHI	KEN	DOV	CLT	KAN	TEX	PHO	HOM	47th	52
2018		18		DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	CAL	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	DOV	CLT	POC	MCH	IOW	CHI	DAY	KEN	NHA	IOW	GLN	MOH	BRI	ROA 8	DAR	IND	LVS	RCH	CLT	DOV	KAN	TEX	PHO	HOM	56th	29
2021	B. J. McLeod Motorsports	5	Toyota	DAY	DAY	HOM	LVS	PHO	ATL	MAR	TAL	DAR	DOV	COA	CLT	MOH	TEX	NSH	POC	ROA	ATL	NHA	GLN	IND 18	MCH	DAY	DAR	RCH	BRI	LVS	TAL	CLT	TEX	KAN	MAR	PHO	94th	01
2022	Joe Gibbs Racing	18	Toyota	DAY	CAL	LVS	PHO	ATL	COA	RCH	MAR	TAL	DOV	DAR	TEX	CLT	PIR	NSH	ROA	ATL	NHA	POC	IND	MCH	GLN	DAY	DAR	KAN	BRI	TEX	TAL	CLT 4	LVS	HOM	MAR	PHO	53rd	43

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

Complete S5000 results

Year	Series	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Position	Points
2020	Australian	Team BRM	APC R1 PO	APC R2 PO	SMP R3 C	SMP R4 C	WIN R5 C	WIN R6 C	BMP R7 C	BMP R8 C	PHI R9 C	PHI R10 C	SAN R11 C	SAN R12 C				N/C	-
2022	Australian	Team BRM	SYM R1	SYM R2	SYM R3	PHI R4	PHI R5	PHI R6	MEL R7 Ret	MEL R8 Ret	MEL R9 11	SMP R10	SMP R11	SMP R12	HID R13	HID R14	HID R15	20th	14

External links

• Official website
• James Davison driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• James Davison career summary at DriverDB.com
• Profile on Speedsport
• Indy Lights Profile
• 2006 Atlantic standings Archived 7 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
• 2007 Star Mazda review Archived 7 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
• Grand-Am Profile