James Nash

James Nash is a British racing driver who gained his best results in the touring car races, becoming the 2011 British touring car champion and 2013 World touring car champion, both times in the class of the Independents drivers. In 2011, he was driving Triple 8's Vauxhall Vectra. In 2013, he was driving Chevrolet Cruze for Bamboo Engineering.

In recent years, his greatest success was the second place in the TCR International Series in 2016 when he was driving a Seat Leon TCR for Craft Bamboo Lukoil.

James Nash

Racing debut in Formula Ford

James Nash was born in December 1985 in Milton Keynes, England. He started his racing career in karting and stayed in that motorsport discipline until 2005, when he switched to bigger cars.

During his first season, he competed on a part-time basis with Formula Ford. In 2006, Nash joined Fluid Motorsport for a full season in the British Formula Ford Championship. With five podiums in 20 races, he finished fifth in the final standings. That result earned him a nomination for the annual McLaren Autosport BRDC Award.

Second place in the 2007 British Formula Ford Championship

In 2007, Nash continued to compete in the Formula Ford Championship and he finished as a runner-up behind Callum MacLeod. Although he had some tests with Formula 3 teams, Nash decided to move from single-seaters to the touring cars in 2008.

Video : A few action packed corners with James Nash behind the wheel

Touring car career started in the Seat Leon Eurocup

His first competition was the Seat Leon Eurocup, a support series for the World Touring Car Championship. He joined WTCC team SUNRED Engineering and participated in twelve races, scoring two podiums to finish fourth in the classification.

James Nash debuted in the BTCC with Chevrolet Lacetti

BTCC debut with Chevrolet Lacetti

In 2009, James Nash debuted in the British Touring Car Championship, driving a Chevrolet Lacetti for RML. His best result was third place at Silverstone and he finished 15th in points. He was close to victory at Snetterton when he actually won the race but was disqualified after the race because he caused an accident with another driver.

In 2010, Nash signed for Triple Eight Race Engineering to replace Fabrizio Giovanardi from round two onwards. He was driving Vauxhall Vectra and his best result again was third place, this time at Oulton Park. He finished 12th in the points.

In 2011, Nash and his team won two independent BTCC titles

James earned two BTCC titles in 2011

One more season with the Triple Eight's Vauxhall Vectra followed in 2011. His teammate was Tony Gilham and they won the Independent Teams' Trophy. Nash took his first BTCC win at Rockingham when he started from fifth in the reversed-grid race.

Nash scored eight more podiums during the season and he was in contention for the overall drivers' title until the last round at Silverstone. Matt Neal became the champion, but James Nash took the Independents' Trophy.

The year with Team Aon wasn't so successful

Unsuccessful WTCC year with Team Aon's Ford

In September 2011, Nash had a one-off appearance in the British GT Championship, driving Lotus Evora GT4 for Lotus Sport UK team at Donington Park and taking the class victory

In 2012, Nash joined Team Aon in their WTCC effort with Ford Focus S2000 TC. In 23 races, he reached the points only three times, with sixth place at Marrakech as the best result. He started that race from pole position due to reversed grid. Nash finished the championship in 20th place, two places above his teammate Tom Chilton.

James Nash - 2013 independent world touring car champion

James Nash was the best independent touring car driver in the world

After a bad season with Team Aon's Ford, Nash joined Bamboo Engineering in 2013. He got the latest generation of Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T and became the candidate for the overall world's title.

With two overall wins at Salzburgring and Boavista, Nash finished third in the overall standings, behind factory drivers Yvan Muller (RML Chevrolet) and Gabriele Tarquini (Honda). Among independent drivers, Nash became the best in the world, taking the title with seven victories in 24 races.

Third place at the 2014 24 hours of Spa

Two seasons with Audi in the Blancpain GT Series

After reaching the world's top, Nash changed the team one more time, along with the competition itself. In 2014, he entered the Blancpain Endurance Series, pairing with Christopher Mies and Frank Stippler in the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT's Audi R8 LMS. In five races, Nash scored one podium and finished ninth in the series. While racing with WRT's Audi, Nash's best result was third place at the major race of the Blancpain Endurance Series - 24 hours of Spa.

In 2015, Nash stayed with Belgian Audi Club Team WRT but focused on the Blancpain Sprint Series, driving full season with Audi R8 LMS. He also competed for Stratton Motorsport Ultra Tek in the British GT Championship, driving Lotus Evora GT4 in six races.

In 2016, James Nash returns to touring car racing

TCR International Series as a new chapter in a career

At the end of 2015, at TCR International Series season's finale at Macau, Nash joined Proteam Racing and drove Ford Focus ST. After that one-off appearance in the TCR, he entered the full TCR season in 2016 as a driver of Team Craft-Bamboo Lukoil, partnering Pepe Oriola and Sergey Afanasyev as teammates. Nash quickly became team's most successful driver, scoring eleven podiums over the season, including two wins. He finished second in the final standings, losing a title to Stefano Comini by just 2.5 points.

Nash stayed with the Team Craft-Bamboo Lukoil in the 2017 TCR International Series. This time, he scored no wins in the #54 Seat Leon TCR, taking just two podiums and finishing 7th in the points.

Short return to BTCC in 2018

In 2018, Hames Nash returned to the British Touring Car Championship, driving the #14 Honda Civic Type R for BTC Norlin Racing. It turned to be a short return to the national championship as he left the team after just three rounds. Since then, he is out of racing.

Photos: theplayer.co.uk, overdrive-uk.com, motorsport.com, quattroworld.com,