James Sutton (racing driver)

Infobox racing driver
name = James Sutton

---

pixels =
caption = James Sutton at Brands Hatch
nationality = flagicon|UK British
date of birth = Birth date and age|1985|10|20
place of birth =
current series = British GT
first year = 2007
current team = CR Scuderia
car number = 3
former teams =
starts = 20
wins = 6
poles = 4
fastest laps = 6
best finish = 1st
year = 2007
prev series = Formula Renault
prev series years = 2005-2006
titles = Porsche Carrera Cup GB
title years = 2007
awards =
award years =

James Sutton (born October 20, 1985 in London) is a racing driver.

Before he embarked on a career in cars, Sutton raced in karting, winning the London Cup in 2000 before becoming the Junior TKM British champion in 2001, before moving onto Formula ICA and in 2003 racing in the British Formula A karting championships.

Single Seaters

Sutton's single-seater career began in 2004 where he won two races in the Formula BMW championships for the Fortec Motorsport team. In the same year Sutton became an accepted member of the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC), as a 'Rising Star'. Sutton stayed with the team where he won his first Formula Renault race at the opening round of the 2006 Formula Renault UK series at Brands Hatch.

In 2006 and 2005, competed in the Formula Renault championships for Fortec winning the opening race of the 2006 season.

Sutton is apparently campaigning for the introduction of guidelines, to be subjected to racing drivers involved in high speed racing crashes, that would regulate and control drivers competing and/or driving on the public highway. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/6293731.stm]

Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain

In February 2007 it was announced that Sutton will compete in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB series for the 2007 season, and that he will compete with the Redline Racing team, the same team that took Richard Westbrook to the championship in 2004 and took Danny Watts to 10 wins out of the 20 races in 2006.

On the 25th August 2007, Sutton was interviewed by Muriel Gray for the BBC Radio 4 show, Saturday Live. On the show James Sutton described how he has tried to come to terms with having been responsible for a road death. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/saturdaylive/topical_stories.shtml]

In October 2007, Sutton won the Porsche Carrera Cup GB championship in his debut season, making him the youngest driver to win the series. Having required only two sensible race finishes prior to the final weekend, Sutton was involved in a controversial penultimate race that opened the championship up to 3 drivers (himself, Steven Kane and Tim Harvey). Requiring only a 3rd place finish, Sutton, having started 7th on the grid, managed to the secure a podium finish and with that the overall title.

In November 2007, in an interview at the TOCA Awards ceremony, in the Intercontinental Hotel, London, Sutton said that an early retirement from motorsport had previously been contemplated at the end of the 2006 Formula Renault season. In an interview of the January 2008 edition of the 911 and Porsche World magazine, he stated that he chose to turn to sportscar racing when he was unable to raise the £400,000 needed to compete in F3. Similarly, Sutton has also expressed no current indication or favour as to what will happen in 2008.

British GT

In February 2008, Sutton was announced as the fourth driver to be signed for the newly formed CR Scuderia. James will partner Michael Meadows for the whole of the 2008 British GT season.

Whilst competing in the British GT, Sutton also raced once in the Porsche Super Cup at Silverstone (starting 19th on the grid to finish 4th), and the Spa 24 hour race of the FIA GT championship (alongside Andrew Kirkaldy, Rob Bell and Dirk Müller in the CR Scuderia no. 56 car).

[http://www.james-sutton.com Official website]