James Hinchcliffe Biography

James Hinchcliffe (born December 5, 1986) is a Canadian race car driver currently competing in the IndyCar Series. He is also the self-proclaimed mayor of Hinchtown (a fictional town) on social media. On January 10, 2012 it was announced that Hinchcliffe would succeed Danica Patrick as the driver of the No. 27 Go Daddy.com car for Andretti Autosport. On October 7, 2014 it was announced that Hinchcliffe would join Schmidt Peterson Motorsports for the 2015 season and drive the No. 5 car.

Racing career

Early racing

Born in Oakville, Ontario, Hinchcliffe started his open-wheel career in karting and began car racing 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 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 which dropped him down to 5th. He raced next at the Beijing round, finishing 4th in the sprint race and 10th in the feature race - 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.

Hinchcliffe 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 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 Indy Lights for perennial powerhouse team Sam Schmidt Motorsports in their No. 7 car. Hinchcliffe finished 5th in points without a win or pole position. In the 2010 season, he signed on with the less historically-successful Team Moore Racing in their No. 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 No. 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

Newman/Haas Racing (2011)

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 So Paulo in Brazil. He finished 9th. Hinchcliffe started 13th in his first Indianapolis 500, and 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. Hinchcliffe, 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. 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.

Andretti Autosport (2012-14)

For the 2012 season, Hinchcliffe replaced Danica Patrick as driver of the Andretti Autosport GoDaddy car, renumbered to No. 27, the same used by Canadian drivers Gilles Villeneuve and Jacques Villeneuve. 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.

Hinchcliffe returned to Andretti for 2013, and started the season by winning the season opener in St. Petersburg, Florida, for his first series victory. Later, in Brazil for the So Paulo Indy 300, Hinchcliffe won the race, with a last turn overtake under Takuma Sato, breaking the winning sequence of Will Power.

In the 2014 Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Hinchcliffe was hit by debris, and a CT scan revealed he had suffered a concussion, and needed medical clearance before racing again. Hinchcliffe was cleared to return to racing on May 15.

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (2015-)

Hinchcliffe moved to Schmidt Peterson Motorsports in 2015 to replace Simon Pagenaud. He won his first race with the team in the second race of the year in New Orleans. Hinchcliffe sustained serious injuries in a crash during practice for the 2015 Indianapolis 500, on May 18. He remained hospitalized during the race and Ryan Briscoe took Hinchcliffe's position for the race.

On May 22, 2016, Hinchcliffe won the pole position for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, just a year after his near-fatal crash at the fabled track.

Motorsports career results

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	DC	Points
2006-07	Canada	NED SPR 8	NED FEA 13	CZE SPR 2	CZE FEA 5	CHN SPR 4	CHN FEA 10	MYS SPR	MYS FEA	IDN SPR	IDN FEA	NZL SPR 6	NZL FEA 6	AUS SPR 13	AUS FEA Ret	RSA SPR 13	RSA FEA Ret	MEX SPR 13	MEX FEA 15	CHN SPR	CHN FEA	GBR SPR	GBR FEA	11th	33
2007-08		NED SPR 19	NED FEA 18	CZE SPR 12	CZE FEA 11	MYS SPR	MYS FEA	ZHU SPR	ZHU FEA	NZL SPR	NZL FEA	AUS SPR	AUS FEA	RSA SPR	RSA FEA	MEX SPR	MEX FEA	SHA SPR	SHA FEA	GBR SPR 15	GBR FEA 17			9th	75

American open-wheel racing results

(key)

Atlantic Championship

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2006	Forsythe Racing	LBH 3	HOU 4	MTY 16	POR 1	CLE1 17	CLE2 19	TOR 6	EDM Ret	SJO Ret	DEN 7	MTL 3	ROA Ret	10th	160
2007	Sierra Sierra Enterprises	LVG 4	LBH 7	HOU 3	POR1 2	POR2 2	CLE 6	MTT 3	TOR Ret	EDM1 3	EDM2 9	SJO Ret	ROA 14	4th	224
2008	Forsythe Racing	LBH 10	LS 1	MTT 4	EDM1 3	EDM2 3	ROA1 5	ROA2 8	TRR Ret	NJ 16	UTA 10	ATL 3		4th	196

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Rank	Points
2009	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	STP1 6	STP2 3	LBH 3	KAN 12	INDY 16	MIL 7	IOW 3	WGL 21	TOR 3	EDM 4	KTY 7	MDO 2	SNM 6	CHI 12	HMS 14	5th	395
2010	Team Moore Racing	STP 15	ALA 5	LBH 1	INDY 3	IOW 5	WGL 2	TOR 10	EDM 1	MDO 7	SNM 3	CHI 1	KTY 2	HMS 2			2nd	471

IndyCar Series

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2011	Newman/Haas Racing	Dallara	Honda	STP	ALA 24	LBH 4	SAO 9	INDY 29	TXS 20	TXS 19	MIL 6	IOW 9	TOR 14	EDM 15	MDO 20	NHM 4	SNM 7	BAL 24	MOT 15	KTY 4	LVS1 C		12th	302
2012	Andretti Autosport	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet	STP 4	ALA 6	LBH 3	SAO 6	INDY 6	DET 21	TXS 4	MIL 3	IOW 17	TOR 22	EDM 12	MDO 5	SNM 26	BAL 15	FON 13					8th	358
2013				STP 1	ALA 26	LBH 26	SAO 1	INDY 21	DET 15	DET 19	TXS 9	MIL 5	IOW 1	POC 24	TOR 8	TOR 21	MDO 10	SNM 8	BAL 7	HOU 24	HOU 3	FON 4	8th	449
2014			Honda	STP 19	LBH 21	ALA 7	IMS 20	INDY 28	DET 6	DET 5	TXS 14	HOU 5	HOU 14	POC 12	IOW 6	TOR 8	TOR 18	MDO 3	MIL 19	SNM 12	FON 5		12th	456
2015	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports			STP 16	NLA 1	LBH 12	ALA 7	IMS 12	INDY Wth	DET	DET	TXS	TOR	FON	MIL	IOW	MDO	POC	SNM				23rd	129
2016				STP 19	PHX 18	LBH 8	ALA 6	IMS 3	INDY 7	DET 18	DET 21	RDA 14	IOW 9	TOR 3	MDO 5	POC 10	TXS 2	WGL 18	SNM 12				13th	416

* Season still in progress.

• ¹ The Las Vegas Indy 300 was abandoned after Dan Wheldon died from injuries sustained in a 15-car crash on lap 11.

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
6	3	82	1	4	20	40	0	0

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2011	Dallara	Honda	13	29	Newman/Haas Racing
2012	Dallara	Chevrolet	2	6	Andretti Autosport
2013	Dallara	Chevrolet	9	21	Andretti Autosport
2014	Dallara	Honda	2	28	Andretti Autosport
2015	Dallara	Honda	Wth		Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
2016	Dallara	Honda	1	7	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

Touring Car racing

V8 Supercar results

Year	Team	Car	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	Final Pos	Points
2012	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Holden VE Commodore	ADE R1	ADE R2	SYM R3	SYM R4	HAM R5	HAM R6	BAR R7	BAR R8	BAR R9	PHI R10	PHI R11	HID R12	HID R13	TOW R14	TOW R15	QLD R16	QLD R17	SMP R18	SMP R19	SAN Q	SAN R20	BAT R21	SUR R22 Ret	SUR R23 Ret	YMC R24	YMC R25	YMC R26	WIN R27	WIN R28	SYD R29	SYD R30	NC	0 "?

"? Not Eligible for points

Other ventures

On August 30, 2016, Hinchcliffe was announced as one of the celebrities who will compete on season 23 of Dancing with the Stars. He is partnered with professional dancer Sharna Burgess.

Hinchcliffe is partner with production company Frost Marks Films out of Toronto.