Ryan Briscoe

Briscoe finished 5th amongst the 33 participants earning him $302,305 and 30 driver points.

Ryan John Briscoe (born 24 September 1981) is an Australian-American professional racing driver from Sydney who has predominantly raced open-wheel and sports cars in Europe and America.

Like many racing drivers, he started his career in karting, first racing in 1993.

After winning Australian, North American and Italian championships, he moved to Formula Renault in 2000.

He won the Italian Formula Renault Championship in 2001 (winning 5 races) and finished 4th running a limited schedule in the Eurocup (with 2 wins in 6 races).

In 2002, he became test driver for the Toyota Formula One team which made its debut that season.

He started that year racing in the Formula 3000 series, but struggled and left his ride after 7 races.

He finished the year in the German Formula Three Championship, taking 3 podiums in the last 6 rounds.

He also won the Formula Three Euroseries in 2003 (winning 8 races in the process).

He became the Toyota F1 team's 'third' driver (i.e., drove the team's test car on Fridays at Grands Prix) for the last third of the 2004 season, after previous third driver Ricardo Zonta was called up to replace Cristiano da Matta.

There were rumours that Briscoe was set to race for the Jordan Grand Prix F1 team in 2005, due to the team's acquisition of Toyota power.

In the 2005 IndyCar Series, Briscoe took pole position at Sears Point, but struggled on the ovals and was involved in several crashes.

On 11 September 2005 he was involved in a violent crash at Chicagoland Speedway, breaking both clavicles among other injuries.

His car climbed on top of the Cheever Racing entry driven by Alex Barron and went airborne into the catch fencing above the retaining wall and snapping in two.

He was released from hospital on 19 September and following some initial treatment in the US, moved to the specialist Formula Medicine facility in Viareggio, Italy, for the bulk of his rehabilitation.

It took 8 weeks for Briscoe to recover from the injuries he sustained in the crash.

His official web site announced his return to the USA on 14 November 2005.

Briscoe was dropped by Ganassi for 2006, replaced by 2005 IndyCar champion Dan Wheldon.

During the winter, he tested with fellow Australian and Champ Car owner Kevin Kalkhoven's PKV Racing team.

Briscoe also tested for the Conquest Racing team.

Briscoe competed in the 2006 24 Hours of Daytona with 2005 champions Wayne Taylor, Max Angelelli and Emmanuel Collard, but the team withdrew due to accident damage before Briscoe's turn to drive.

In 2006, Briscoe was announced as an endurance driver for Holden Racing Team in the Australian V8 Supercars touring car series.

He partnered Jim Richards at the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000, with Richards crashing the car before Briscoe could drive a race lap at Bathurst.

Briscoe also drove in the A1 Grand Prix race at Laguna Seca in the US for A1 Team Australia, scoring three points.

At the Indy 500 he was a surprise late driver of the #48 car for A. J. Foyt Racing – the deal was so late he was still having his seat fitting with less than half an hour of Bump Day qualifying left, and he never got out on the track to attempt a qualifying run.

He returned to the IRL the following week and drove the #5 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dallara to a third-place finish at Watkins Glen International, a road course.

He returned to the Dreyer & Reinbold team on a three race deal for the short speedways in the second half of the season, but recorded DNF's in 2 of his 3 races with the team.

He then was tabbed to replace the injured Cristiano da Matta in the final two races of the Champ Car season for the RuSPORT team, including his home country's race at Surfers Paradise.

Briscoe signed a deal to drive for Penske Racing's Porsche RS Spyder LMP2 car in the American Le Mans Series.

He took three wins in a full campaign driving with Sascha Maassen.

Briscoe's ties to Penske were also strengthened in 2007 when he was on loan to drive in the Indy 500 in a car owned by Stephen J. Luczo and Jay Penske, with equipment leased from defending '500' champion Penske Racing.

In the race on 28 May 2007, he completed all 166 laps before the race was called due to inclement weather.

Briscoe continued to drive the RS Spyder in a limited campaign in 2008.

He scored his only class victory that year at Petit Le Mans, winning with fellow IndyCar driver Hélio Castroneves.

Ryan Briscoe signed to drive for Penske's IndyCar team as a full-time race driver for the 2008 IndyCar Series season, replacing Sam Hornish Jr.., who started racing full-time in Penske's NASCAR team in 2008.

In IndyCar he collected 8 wins and 28 podiums, finishing third in the 2009 season, fifth in 2008 and 2010, and sixth in 2011 and 2012.

Instead, Briscoe moved to America and raced for Target Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series, including a 10th-place finish in the Indianapolis 500.

He also made his Rolex Grand-Am début with Ganassi at the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Driving the #12 Symantec Luczo-Dragon Racing machine, Briscoe qualified 7th with a four lap average speed of 224.410.

In sports car racing, he has won the 2020 24 Hours of Daytona and the 2020 Petit Le Mans, was runner-up at the 2007 American Le Mans Series LMP2 class, and won the 2013 12 Hours of Sebring LMP2 class, the 2008 and 2013 Petit Le Mans LMP2 class, the 2015 24 Hours of Daytona GTLM class, and finished third overall at the 2008 24 Hours of Daytona.