| Ben Hanley | |
|---|---|
Hanley at the 2019 Indianapolis 500 | |
| Nationality | |
| Born | Benjamin Michael Hanley 22 January 1985 |
| FIA World Endurance Championship career | |
| Debut season | 2017 |
| Current team | DragonSpeed |
| Categorisation | |
| Car number | 21 |
| Former teams | TDS Racing G-Drive Racing CEFC Manor TRS Racing Team LNT |
| Starts | 26 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Best finish | 11th in 2021 |
| Previous series | |
| 2005 2006–07 2008 2008 | Formula Renault 2.0 Italia Formula Renault 3.5 Series GP2 Asia Series GP2 Series |
| Championship titles | |
| 2026 2023 2022 | European Le Mans Series - LMP2 IMSA Endurance Cup - LMP2 Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2 |
Benjamin Michael Hanley (born 22 January 1985) is a British racing driver competing in the European Le Mans Series for United Autosports in LMP2.
A Formula Renault 3.5 Series runner-up and Renault F1 junior in his youth, Hanley entered endurance racing in 2016 after a long hiatus. He has spent 11 seasons in the European Le Mans Series, primarily with DragonSpeed and United Autosports, and won the LMP2 title in 2026. Hanley also drove part-time in the IndyCar Series, and raced in the FIA World Endurance Championship for DragonSpeed and Ginetta in LMP1.
Hanley began his motorsport career in karting, where he experienced significant success on the international stage. His transition to single-seaters saw him compete in various junior formulae, including the Formula Renault UK and Eurocup championships. His early speed marked him as a promising talent and caught the attention of the Renault Driver Development Programme, which backed him from 2006 to 2008.
Under Renault's guidance, Hanley stepped up to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, where he quickly established himself as a frontrunner. In the 2007 season, he secured the runner-up position in the overall championship standings, finishing just behind Álvaro Parente.
For the 2008 season, Hanley graduated to the GP2 Series, the primary feeder category to Formula One, driving for the Barwa International Campos Team. However, after the first three rounds of the season (culminating at the Monaco round), he parted ways with the team by mutual consent. Hanley was immediately thrown a lifeline by the Durango team to race at Magny-Cours. Despite showcasing his pace, his GP2 campaign was ultimately hampered by early-season reliability issues and a lack of sustained funding.
In 2010, while competing in Superleague Formula, Hanley served as the official Dallara GP2/11 test driver for Dallara and Pirelli.
Following his departure from the GP2 Series, Hanley took an extended hiatus from professional car racing. He returned to his roots in karting, where he competed at the highest levels of CIK-FIA events for several years. This five-year break from car racing ultimately worked to his advantage later in his career, permitting him to re-enter professional sportscars under an adjusted FIA driver grading.

In late 2015, Hanley was one of six young drivers invited by Audi Sport to test its Audi RS5 DTM challenger at Circuito de Jerez.
Hanley's career was revitalized when he joined DragonSpeed, led by Elton Julian, to compete in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). He was instrumental in DragonSpeed's progression up the endurance ladder, taking overall victories in ELMS, including a notable LMP2 win at Spa in 2016 alongside Henrik Hedman and Nicolas Lapierre.
Hanley was also scheduled to make his Formula E debut at the upcoming 2016 Berlin ePrix due to Oliver Turvey's Super GT commitments. However, the Super GT event was postponed because of the Kumamoto earthquakes, and Turvey was reinstated into his NEXTEV TCR seat.
Hanley made his official WEC debut at Spa in 2017 when he was drafted in by the TDS Racing LMP2 squad to replace the injured Matthieu Vaxivière. With DragonSpeed, he later competed in the premier LMP1 class as a privateer entrant and achieved massive success in the LMP2 ranks, notably winning the class at the prestigious 2020 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

In recent years, Hanley has continued to be a highly sought-after prototype driver. For the 2023 WEC season, he was signed by United Autosports to substitute for Filipe Albuquerque in select races. United Autosports subsequently confirmed him for a full LMP2 championship tilt in the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship alongside Ben Keating.
In 2026, Hanley was confirmed as a development driver for the McLaren MCL-HY, the new top-class prototype developed by McLaren and United for the 2027 FIA World Endurance Championship.
Hanley made his NTT IndyCar Series debut alongside DragonSpeed in 2019. Despite the team being a part-time newcomer with limited testing, Hanley showcased strong performances. He competed in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, where he advanced to the second round of qualifying, started 12th, and finished 18th. He also raced at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.
The highlight of his 2019 IndyCar campaign was successfully qualifying for the 103rd Indianapolis 500. Having never raced on an oval before, Hanley secured the 27th starting position, pushing his Chevrolet-powered Dallara to a 227.482 mph average. He was classified 32nd in the race following a mechanical failure. Hanley returned for the 2020 Indianapolis 500, again partnering with DragonSpeed.
† As Hanley was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points. ‡ Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP2 Championship. * Season still in progress.
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Cram Competition | VLL 1 8 |
VLL 2 19 |
IMO 1 11 |
IMO 2 5 |
SPA 1 4 |
SPA 2 Ret |
MNZ1 1 11 |
MNZ1 2 1 |
MNZ1 3 2 |
MUG 1 1 |
MUG 2 1 |
MIS 1 22 |
MIS 2 1 |
MIS 3 1 |
VAR 2 |
MNZ2 1 2 |
MNZ2 2 1 |
3rd | 208 |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Team AKA | DON 1 |
DON 2 |
THR 1 |
THR 2 |
BRH 1 |
BRH 2 |
OUL 1 |
OUL 2 |
CRO 1 11 |
CRO 2 10 |
SNE 1 |
SNE 2 |
KNO 1 |
KNO 2 |
DON 1 |
DON 2 |
SIL 1 |
SIL 2 |
BRH 1 |
BRH 2 |
28th | 21 |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Cram Competition | ZOL 1 |
ZOL 2 |
VAL 1 |
VAL 2 |
LMS 1 |
LMS 2 |
BIL 1 |
BIL 2 |
OSC 1 |
OSC 2 |
DON 1 3 |
DON 2 10 |
EST 1 |
EST 2 |
MNZ 1 |
MNZ 2 |
NC† | 0 |
† As Hanley was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Cram Competition | ZOL 1 |
ZOL 2 |
MON 1 |
VAL 1 |
VAL 2 |
LMS 1 |
LMS 2 |
BIL 1 |
BIL 2 |
OSC 1 |
OSC 2 |
DON 1 |
DON 2 |
EST 1 17 |
EST 2 Ret |
MNZ 1 |
MNZ 2 |
39th | 0 |
| 2006 | Cram Competition | ZOL 1 10 |
ZOL 2 17† |
MON 1 Ret |
IST 1 Ret |
IST 2 4 |
MIS 1 1 |
MIS 2 2 |
SPA 1 Ret |
SPA 2 7 |
NÜR 1 10 |
NÜR 2 13 |
DON 1 10 |
DON 2 6 |
LMS 1 10 |
LMS 2 20† |
CAT 1 16 |
CAT 2 7 |
8th | 55 |
| 2007 | Prema Powerteam | MNZ 1 Ret |
MNZ 2 9 |
NÜR 1 2 |
NÜR 2 7 |
MON 1 6 |
HUN 1 3 |
HUN 2 4 |
SPA 1 3 |
SPA 2 2 |
DON 1 16 |
DON 2 Ret |
MAG 1 1 |
MAG 2 14 |
EST 1 Ret |
EST 2 23 |
CAT 1 9 |
CAT 2 1 |
2nd | 102 |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | DC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Barwa International Campos Team | CAT FEA Ret |
CAT SPR 9 |
IST FEA 17 |
IST SPR 6 |
MON FEA 16 |
MON SPR 14 |
24th | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Durango | MAG FEA Ret |
MAG SPR Ret |
SIL FEA |
SIL SPR |
HOC FEA |
HOC SPR |
HUN FEA |
HUN SPR |
VAL FEA |
VAL SPR |
SPA FEA |
SPA SPR |
MNZ FEA |
MNZ SPR | |||||||||
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Barwa International Campos Team | DUB1 FEA |
DUB1 SPR |
SEN FEA 3 |
SEN SPR 16 |
SEP FEA Ret |
SEP SPR 14 |
BHR FEA Ret |
BHR SPR 10 |
DUB2 FEA Ret |
DUB2 SPR Ret |
15th | 6 |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | FMS International | ALG 1 |
ALG 2 |
MAG 1 6 |
MAG 2 1 |
6th | 22 | ||||||||||
| Team Costa Rica | DON 1 C |
DON 2 C |
ZOL 1 3 |
ZOL 2 4 |
VAL 1 |
VAL 2 |
VLL 1 5 |
VLL 2 Ret |
MNZ 1 |
MNZ 2 | |||||||
(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Pos | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Olympiacos CFP GU-Racing International |
SIL 1 |
SIL 2 |
ASS 1 |
ASS 2 |
MAG 1 |
MAG 2 |
JAR 1 |
JAR 2 |
NÜR 1 |
NÜR 2 |
ZOL 1 |
ZOL 2 |
BRH 1 |
BRH 2 |
ADR 1 3 |
ADR 2 10 |
POR 1 |
POR 2 |
ORD 1 1 |
ORD 2 4 |
BEI 1 9 |
BEI 2 14 |
NAV 1 12 |
NAV 2 8 |
4th | 653 |
(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Olympiacos CFP GU-Racing International |
SIL | ASS | MAG | JAR | NÜR | ZOL | BRH | ADR 3 |
POR | ORD 5 |
BEI C |
NAV DNQ |
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
* Season still in progress.
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Class | Make | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pos. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | DragonSpeed | P | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY 10 |
SEB | LBH | COA | DET | WGL | MOS | ELK | LGA | PET | 39th | 21 |
| 2019 | DragonSpeed | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY 3 |
SEB | MDO | WGL | MOS | ELK | LGA | PET | 13th | 30 | ||
| 2020 | DragonSpeed USA | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY 1† |
SEB | ELK 1 |
ATL | PET | LGA |
SEB |
13th | 35 | |||
| 2021 | DragonSpeed USA | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY 10† |
SEB | WGL | WGL | ELK | LGA | PET | NC† | 0† | |||
| 2023 | CrowdStrike Racing by APR |
LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY 2† |
SEB 5 |
LGA 3 |
WGL 1 |
ELK 7 |
IMS 3 |
PET 1 |
2nd | 1958 | |||
| 2024 | United Autosports USA | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY 6 |
SEB 10 |
WGL 8 |
MOS 4 |
ELK 1 |
IMS 9 |
PET 10 |
5th | 1962 | |||
| 2025 | United Autosports USA | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY 11 |
SEB 5 |
WGL 10 |
MOS 4 |
ELK 4 |
IMS 6 |
PET 9 |
6th | 1899 | |||
| 2026 | United Autosports USA | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | DAY 10 |
SEB | WGL | MOS 5 |
ELK | IMS | PET | 27th | 521 | |||
† Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP2 Championship.
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | TDS Racing | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | SIL | SPA 9 |
LMS | 17th | 53 | ||||||
| G-Drive Racing | NÜR 6 |
||||||||||||||
| CEFC Manor TRS Racing | MEX 3 |
COA 6 |
FUJ 5 |
SHA 9 |
BHR 6 | ||||||||||
| 2018–19 | DragonSpeed | LMP1 | BR Engineering BR1 | Gibson GL458 4.5 L V8 | SPA DNS |
LMS Ret |
SIL 25 |
FUJ Ret |
SHA 6 |
SEB Ret |
SPA | LMS Ret |
28th | 8.5 | |
| 2019–20 | Team LNT | LMP1 | Ginetta G60-LT-P1 | AER P60C 2.4 L Turbo V6 | SIL 3 |
FUJ 11 |
SHA 4 |
BHR Ret |
15th | 27.5 | |||||
| DragonSpeed | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | COA 9 |
SPA | LMS 12 |
BHR | NC† | 0 | ||||||
| 2021 | DragonSpeed USA | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | SPA 7 |
ALG 8 |
MNZ 6 |
LMS 5 |
BHR 11 |
BHR 10 |
11th | 42.5 | |||
| 2022 | Nielsen Racing | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | SEB | SPA | LMS 16 |
MNZ | FUJ | BHR | NC† | 0† | |||
| 2023 | United Autosports | LMP2 | Oreca 07 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | SEB | ALG 2 |
SPA | LMS | MNZ 6 |
FUJ 4 |
BHR | 13th | 38 | ||
† Not eligible for points.
(key)
(key)
| Year | Team | No. | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Rank | Points | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | DragonSpeed | 81 | Dallara DW12 | Chevrolet | STP 18 |
COA | ALA 21 |
LBH | IMS | INDY 32 |
DET | DET | TXS | RDA | TOR | IOW | MDO | POC | GTW | POR | LAG | 30th | 31 | |
| 2020 | TXS | IMS | ROA | ROA | IOW | IOW | INDY 23 |
GTW | GTW | MDO | MDO | IMS | IMS | STP | 33rd | 14 | ||||||||
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Start | Finish | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Dallara | Chevrolet | 27 | 32 | DragonSpeed |
| 2020 | Dallara | Chevrolet | 33 | 23 | DragonSpeed |