Ryan Briscoe

Infobox racing driver
name = Ryan Briscoe


pixels =
caption = Ryan Briscoe at Watkins Glen International in 2006
nationality = flagicon|AUS Australian
date of birth = Birth date and age|1981|09|24
related to =
current series = IRL IndyCar Series
first year = 2005
current team = Penske
car number = 6
former teams = Ganassi Racing
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
Luczo-Dragon Racing
starts = 38
wins = 2
poles = 3
fastest laps = 0
best finish = 5th
year = 2008Infobox racing driver
last series = American Le Mans Series
years active = 2007
teams = Penske
car number = 6
starts = 12
wins = 3 (1 class, 2 outright)
poles = 0
fastest laps = 2
best finish = 3rd (LMP2)
year = 2007
prev series = Italian Formula Renault
Formula 3000 and German F3
Formula Three Euroseries
Champ Car World Series
prev series years = 2001
2002
2003
2006
titles = Italian Formula Renault
Formula Three Euroseries
title years = 2001
2003
awards =
award years =

Ryan Briscoe (born September 24, 1981 in Sydney) is an Australian auto racing driver who has raced open wheel and sports cars in Europe and America.

Career biography

Early career

Like many auto 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 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 constructor. 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 3 series, taking 3 podiums in the last 6 rounds. He won the Formula Three Euroseries in 2003 (winning 8 races in the process). He became the Toyota F1 team's 'third' driver (ie, 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.

2005

There were rumorscite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/4182769.stm |title=Briscoe ready to debut at Daytona |publisher=BBC Sport |date=2005-01-17 |accessdate=2005-01-19] that Briscoe was set to race for the Jordan Grand Prix F1 team in 2005, due to the team's acquisition of Toyota power. Instead, Briscoe raced for Target Chip Ganassi Racing in the Indy Racing League, including a 10th place finish in the Indianapolis 500. He also made his Rolex Grand-Am debute with Ganassi at the 24 Hours of Daytona. He took pole position at Sears Point, but struggled on the ovals and was involved in several crashes.

On September 11, 2005 he was involved in an enormous crash at Chicagoland Speedway, breaking both clavicles among other injuries. He was released from the hospital on September 19 and following some initial treatment in the USA, 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 November 14, 2005. Following the incident Ryan was nicknamed "Briscoe Inferno".Fact|date=October 2007

2006

Briscoe was dropped by Ganassi for 2006, replaced by 2005 IRL 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 Mi Jack Conquest 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, set to partner Jim Richards at the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000. He also drove in the A1 Grand Prix race at Laguna Seca in the USA 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.

2007

Briscoe signed a deal to drive for Penske Racing's Porsche LMP2 car in the American Le Mans Series and was named to a ride in the Indy 500 in a car owned by Stephen J. Luczo and Jay Penske with equipment leased from defending '500' champion Penske Racing.

Driving the #12 Symantec Luczo Dragon Racing machine, Briscoe qualified 7th with a four lap average speed of 224.410. In the race on May 28, 2007, he completed all 166 laps before the race was called due to a driving rain. Briscoe finished 5th amongst the 33 participants earning him $302,305 and 30 driver's points.

2008

Ryan Briscoe signed to drive for Penske's Indy Car team as a race driver for the 2008 Indy Car Series season, replacing the former driver Sam Hornish Jr., who is racing full time in Penske's NASCAR team in 2008. Briscoe knocked himself out of the Indianapolis 500 along with Danica Patrick when Briscoe came out of the pits and ran into Patrick tearing up her suspension and tearing the front end of Briscoe's car. [cite news | url = http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/racing/indycar/columns/story?columnist=schwarb_john&id=3412112 | title = Patrick struggled with car all day before late crash took her out |author=John Schwarb | date = 2008-05-25 | accessdate = 2008-05-25 ]

Briscoe earned his first career win at Milwaukee the week after Indy. Holding off Scott Dixon and avoiding a late crash involving Marco Andretti, Ed Carpenter, and Vitor Meira. He followed up his first career win with a victory, shortly after the halfway point of the season, at the Honda 200 on the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Motorsports Career Results

Junior Series

(Races in bold indicate pole position)

: "* 2008 season in progress": "¹ Run on same day": "² Non-points-paying, exhibition race"

Touring/Sports Car Racing

(Races in bold indicate pole position)

Trivia

*In addition to his native English, Briscoe speaks Italian and French.
*Is good friends with Champ Car driver Robert Doornbos. While recovering from his crash at Chicagoland Speedway in 2005, Briscoe had surgery in Italy and stayed at Doornbos' house while he was away racing with Minardi.
*Attended Trinity Grammar School in Summer Hill, Sydney, Australia.

References

External links

* [http://www.ryanbriscoe.com/ Ryan Briscoe's official website]
* [http://bop.nppa.org/2006/thumbnails/512/00010845-SAI-email-70162.jpgPhotograph of Ryan's huge crash in 2005]
* [http://www.paddocktalk.com/news/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=21267 Photo sequence of infernal 2005 Chicagoland crash (from Paddocktalk).]