David Besnard, (born 21 January 1977 in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

) is a retired professional racing driver.

Career history

Starting in karts in 1991, he quickly proceeded into

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula Fo ...

in 1995. After initial success, he had a major accident at Eastern Creek Raceway and broke his leg. In 1996 he made a comeback and won the Australian title. 1996 Australian Formula Ford Pointscore He made a venture to the United States, with a small budget, and limited success. In 1998, he returned to win the U.S F2000 National Championship. 1999, saw David enter the US Formula Atlantic Championship. After a heavy crash at

Nazareth Speedway Nazareth Speedway was an auto racing facility near Nazareth in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania which operated from 1910 to 2004 in two distinct course configurations. In its early years, it was a dirt twin oval layout. In 1987 it was r ...

, the team had to buy a new chassis and ran out of budget halfway through the season. 2000 saw Besnard again in the United States, running various Sports Car races, until

Stone Brothers Racing Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the International V8 Supercars Championship between 1998 and 2012. The team was formed in 1998 when Ross and Jim Stone bought Alan Jones's shares in Alan Jon ...

picked him up for the

Konica V8 Supercar Series The Dunlop Super2 Series (formerly known as Dunlop Series, Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series, HPDC V8 Supercars Series, Konica Minolta V8 Supercars Series and Konica V8 Supercars/Lites Series) is an Australian touring car racing competition, specifical ...

and the

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most re ...

. From there he drove with Stone Brothers for several seasons, with the highlight being winning the

2002 Queensland 500 The 2002 VIP Petfoods Queensland 500 was an endurance race for V8 Supercars staged at Queensland Raceway, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia on 15 September 2002. Race distance was 161 laps of the 3.121 km circuit, totalling 502 km. The ev ...

with Simon Wills. He raced with Ford Performance Racing for one season in 2003, and WPS Racing for three seasons following that. In 2004, with his links with WPS, a drive in the Champ Car World Series came about at

Surfers Paradise Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitabl ...

. His finishing position of seventh is still the highest finish for an Australian at that event (but bettered by Ryan Briscoe's 2008 IRL win after the CCWS collapsed). After being dropped by WPS in 2006 Besnard has been racing in the

New Zealand Touring Car Championship The New Zealand Touring Car Championship was a motor racing title which was contested in New Zealand from 1984 to 2002. Results See also * New Zealand V8s * NZ Touring Cars championship The New Zealand Touring Cars Championship (currently kno ...

, picking up an endurance race co-driver role with

in 2007, paired with James Courtney, which resulted in a second place at Bathurst.

Motorsports career results

Career summary

GrandAm Championship

Complete American open-wheel racing results

( key)

Atlantic Championship

Champ Car World Series

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

‡ Besnard replaced Kelly due to illness

References

Conrod V8 Profile & Stats

Speedsport Profile & stats

Driver Database profile

Racing Reference – US Racing stats

External links

Official Web page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Besnard, David 1977 births Living people Atlantic Championship drivers Champ Car drivers Formula Ford drivers Racing drivers from Sydney Rolex Sports Car Series drivers Sportsmen from New South Wales Toyota Racing Series drivers U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers Supercars Championship drivers Garry Rogers Motorsport drivers Walker Racing drivers Stone Brothers Racing drivers Dick Johnson Racing drivers