James Pickford

Who is James Pickford?

James Pickford is an English race car driver, born 30 April 1979 in Macclesfield, Cheshire. As a child his interest was in motorbikes; his father Keith ran bike racing teams. However, as with Damon Hill his mother led him towards the relatively safe world of car racing, beginning in karts in 1994. For a while he was coached by former BTCC racer Tim Sugden. His interest in saloon and sportscars began when he won a test in a BTCC car after being nominated for the BRDC McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year award in 1998.

His start in car racing was in 1997, in the Formula Honda series. He won this 2 years in a row, and also did a single Formula Ford race in 1998. He was a midfield runner in Formula Renault in 2000, but spent the next 2 seasons largely sidelined due to a lack of funds.

After a year working on marketing within the prestigious Abt Sportsline team in the DTM, he returned to full-time racing in 2003, in the SEAT Cupra Championship. He was fifth overall, but improved to win the title in 2004, with 11 top-four finishes in the 12 races including 3 wins. This earned him a factory British Touring Car Championship SEAT drive in 2005.