 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "David Besnard" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(July 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| David Besnard | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Australian |
| Born | (1977-01-21)21 January 1977 (age 49) Sydney, Australia |
| Supercars Championship career | |
| Championships | 0 |
| Races | 151 |
| Wins | 2 |
| Podiums | 8 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
David John Besnard (born 21 January 1977 inSydney, Australia) is anAustralian retired professional racing driver.
Starting inkarts in 1991, Besnard quickly proceeded intoFormula Ford in 1995. After initial success, he had a major accident atEastern Creek Raceway and broke his leg. In 1996 he made a comeback and won the Australian title.[1] He made a venture to the United States, with a small budget, and limited success. In 1998, he returned to win theU.S F2000 National Championship. 1999, saw David enter the US Formula Atlantic Championship. After a heavy crash atNazareth Speedway, the team had to buy a new chassis and ran out of budget halfway through the season. 2000 saw Besnard again in the United States, running various Sports Car races, untilStone Brothers Racing picked him up for theKonica V8 Supercar Series and theBathurst 1000. From there he drove with Stone Brothers for several seasons, with the highlight being winning the2002 Queensland 500 withSimon Wills. He raced withFord Performance Racing for one season in 2003, andWPS Racing for three seasons following that.
In 2004, with his links with WPS, a drive in theChamp Car World Series came about atSurfers Paradise. His finishing position of seventh is still the highest finish for an Australian at that event (but bettered by Ryan Briscoe's 2008 IRL win after the CCWS collapsed). After being dropped by WPS in 2006, Besnard has been racing in theNew Zealand Touring Car Championship, picking up an endurance race co-driver role withStone Brothers Racing in 2007, paired withJames Courtney, which resulted in a second place atBathurst.
| Season | Series | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | CIK-FIA Karting European Championship - Junior A | 1st |
| FIA Karting World Championship - Junior A | 30th | |
| 1993 | FIA Karting World Championship - Formula A | 15th |
| World Cup Karting - Formula A | 8th | |
| Andrea Margutti Trophy - ICA | 13th |
| Year | Team | Car | Qualifying | Main race |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 |  David Besnard | Tatuus TT104ZZ -Toyota | 7th | 15th |
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Transatlantic Racing | Riley & Scott -Ford | CA | D24 | HOM | MID | MIN | WGL 5 | 43rd | 26 | ||||
| 2000 | Dyson Racing | Riley & Scott -Lincoln | SA | D24 | PHX | HOM 9 | LRK | MID | DAY | RAM | CTR | WGL | 83rd | 22 |
(key)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Rank | Points | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Hylton Motorsports | LBH 7 | NAZ 11 | GAT | MIL | MTL 7 | ROA | TRR | MOH | CHI | VAN | LS | HOU | 15th | 16 | [2] |
| Year | Team | No. | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Rank | Points | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Walker Racing | 15 | Reynard 02i | FordXFEV8t | LBH | MTY | MIL | POR | CLE | TOR | VAN | ROA | DEN | MTL | LS | LVS | SRF 7 | MXC | 20th | 18 | [3] |
(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Car# | Team | Car | Co-driver | Position | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 9 | Stone Brothers Racing | Ford AU Falcon | Tony Longhurst | DNF | 151 |
| 2001 | 9 | Stone Brothers Racing | Ford AU Falcon | Matthew White | DNF | 84 |
| 2002 | 5 | Glenn Seton Racing | Ford AU Falcon | Glenn SetonOwen Kelly‡ | DNF | 102 |
| 9 | Stone Brothers Racing | Ford AU Falcon | Wayne Gardner | DNS | ||
| 2003 | 19 | Ford Performance Racing | Ford BA Falcon | Owen Kelly | DNF | 115 |
| 2004 | 23 | WPS Racing | Ford BA Falcon |  John McIntyre | DNF | 99 |
| 2005 | 48 | WPS Racing | Ford BA Falcon | Craig Baird | 8th | 158 |
| 2006 | 8 | WPS Racing | Ford BA Falcon |  Max Wilson | 14th | 160 |
| 2007 | 4 | Stone Brothers Racing | Ford BF Falcon | James Courtney | 2nd | 161 |
| 2008 | 4 | Stone Brothers Racing | Ford BF Falcon | James Courtney | 3rd | 161 |
| 2009 | 33 | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Holden VE Commodore | Greg Ritter | 9th | 161 |
| 2010 | 33 | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Holden VE Commodore | Lee Holdsworth | 7th | 161 |
| 2011 | 17 | Dick Johnson Racing | Ford FG Falcon | Steven Johnson | DNF | 112 |
| 2012 | 14 | Brad Jones Racing | Holden VE Commodore | Fabian Coulthard | 23rd | 147 |
‡ Besnard replaced Kelly due to illness
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jordi Suralles | CIK-FIA Karting European Championship Champion 1992 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Australian Formula Ford Championship Champion 1996 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Formula Ford 2000 Championship Champion 1998 | Succeeded by |