Ben Hanley

Ben Hanley began his motorsport career in karting, where he experienced significant success on the international stage. His transition to single-seaters saw him compete in various junior formulae, including the Formula Renault UK and Eurocup championships.

Hanley stepped up to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, where he quickly established himself as a frontrunner. In the 2007 season, he secured the runner-up position in the overall championship standings, finishing just behind Álvaro Parente. For the 2008 season, Hanley graduated to the GP2 Series, driving for the Barwa International Campos Team. After the first three rounds of the season, he parted ways with the team by mutual consent. He then raced at Magny-Cours with the Durango team.

Following his departure from the GP2 Series, Hanley took an extended hiatus from professional car racing, returning to karting for five years. This break ultimately worked to his advantage later in his career, permitting him to re-enter professional sportscars under an adjusted FIA driver grading.

Hanley's career was revitalized when he joined DragonSpeed, led by Elton Julian, to compete in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). He was instrumental in DragonSpeed's progression up the endurance ladder, taking class victories in ELMS, including a notable LMP2 win at Spa in 2016 alongside Henrik Hedman and Nicolas Lapierre. He made his official WEC debut at Spa in 2017, substituting for the injured Matthieu Vaxivière with TDS Racing. With DragonSpeed, he later competed in the premier LMP1 class as a privateer entrant and achieved success in the LMP2 ranks, notably winning the class at the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona. In recent years, Hanley has continued to be a highly sought-after prototype driver. For the 2023 WEC season, he was signed by United Autosports to substitute for Filipe Albuquerque in select races. United Autosports subsequently confirmed him for a full LMP2 championship tilt in the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship alongside Ben Keating.

Hanley made his NTT IndyCar Series debut with DragonSpeed in 2019 at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, starting 12th and finishing 18th. He also raced at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. The highlight of his 2019 IndyCar campaign was qualifying for the 103rd Indianapolis 500. Having never raced on an oval before, he secured the 27th starting position during qualifying, with a 227.482-mph average. He was classified 32nd in the race following a mechanical failure. Hanley returned to the series for select races in 2020, again partnering with DragonSpeed.

This article is based on information from the Wikipedia article "Ben Hanley" as of April 29, 2024. Primary archives, autobiographies, period programmes, and specialist publications were not consulted.