James Allen (born 4 July 1996) is a professional racing driver from Australia. He currently competes in the European Le Mans Series. Allen has been a regular of LMP2 prototype racing since 2017, winning the 2023 European Le Mans Series with Algarve Pro Racing. He also won the LMP2 class at the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona in a photo finish.

Career

Junior formulae Having won several karting titles in Australia, Allen made his single-seater debut by racing in the 2013 Formula BMW Talent Cup. In 2014, Allen contested a double programme of the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series and Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0. Driving for ARTA Engineering in both series, Allen scored just a lone points finish in the Alps Series. He returned to both championships with ARTA in 2015, managing to finish 11th in the Alps Series and 17th in the Eurocup.

Ahead of 2016, Allen moved to JD Motorsport. He once again scored a lone top ten finish in the Eurocup, placing him 17th overall again. In the Northern European Cup, which Allen raced in alongside his Eurocup commitments, he scored his maiden podium in the category at Spa-Francorchamps. At the season finale in Hockenheim, Allen won race 3.

First prototype success, top class debut (2017–19) Allen entered the European Le Mans Series in 2017, joining Graff Racing in the LMP2 class. Having scored points in all of the opening four races, the trio of Allen, Richard Bradley and Gustavo Yacamán claimed a closely-fought victory at the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, with Allen passing fellow silver-ranked Will Owen for the lead during hour 2. They then won at the Portimão season finale to secure third in the standings. Allen also made his debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans during 2017, finishing fifth in the LMP2 class alongside Bradley and Franck Matelli despite beaching the car during the morning.

Heading into the 2018 ELMS season, Allen remained at Graff, driving for the G-Drive Racing-branded No. 40. With multiple teammate changes affecting the entry's season, Allen dropped to 15th in the drivers' standings. He retired from that year's Le Mans 24 Hours after a nighttime crash by co-driver José Gutiérrez. Towards the end of 2018, Allen made his FIA World Endurance Championship debut in the top class, LMP1. Driving for DragonSpeed, Allen retired at Fuji before finishing sixth at Shanghai alongside Ben Hanley and Renger van der Zande.

Allen remained at DragonSpeed for the 2019 ELMS season, partnering Hanley and bronze-ranked Henrik Hedman. With a strong performance at the opening round, which included him setting the fastest lap and passing Roman Rusinov for the race lead, Allen led the No. 21 crew to victory at Le Castellet. The team scored points throughout all of the other five races, taking a best finish of fourth at Silverstone from the remaining races. These results earned DragonSpeed fifth in the teams' standings.

Regular ELMS podiums (2020–2021) Ahead of 2020, Allen received a license update to become categorised as an FIA Gold driver. In the ELMS, he returned to Graff to partner Thomas Laurent and silver-ranked Alexandre Cougnaud. The trio finished second at Spa and third at Le Castellet, where Laurent made a late overtake on Will Stevens. They ended the season fifth in the teams' standings, having scored points in every weekend.

Allen switched teams in 2021, joining Will Stevens and silver Julien Canal at Panis Racing. After testing positive for COVID-19 prior to round 1 at Barcelona, Allen was replaced by Gabriel Aubry. He returned in time for round 2. At round 4 in Monza, Allen and his teammates combined to score Panis's first victory in the ELMS. They also finished third at Spa on their way to third in the teams' championship.

Title success at Algarve Pro (2022–2023) Heading into 2022, Allen contested a double programme with Algarve Pro Racing in both the FIA WEC and ELMS, racing in the LMP2 Pro-Am subclass in both series. In the former, Allen, alongside teammates René Binder and Steven Thomas, claimed two subclass wins on his way to second place overall. This included a subclass victory at Le Mans. In the latter meanwhile, three podiums placed the team of Allen, Alex Peroni, and John Falb fifth in the six-car subclass.

At the start of 2023, Allen joined Proton Competition at the 24 Hours of Daytona. Allen proved to be the deciding factor late in the race: having passed Matthieu Vaxivière for second, Allen chased down former teammate Ben Hanley and passed him at the line to claim the win; the margin of victory read 0.016 seconds. In addition, Allen raced in the Asian Le Mans Series with Algarve Pro in February 2023. Despite a spin from teammate Falb, Allen was able to take victory at the opening race in Dubai thanks to a quick final pit stop. After a puncture in race 2, they finished fourth. A late crash from Kyffin Simpson, Allen's other teammate, lost the team a potential podium spot in race 1 at Abu Dhabi, meanwhile another fourth in race 2 left the team third in the championship.

For his main campaign in the ELMS, Allen joined Simpson and Cadillac Hypercar driver Alex Lynn at Algarve Pro. At round 2 in Le Castellet, a late-race overtake from Allen on Louis Delétraz resulted in the No. 25 scoring victory. The team then finished third at Aragón, putting themselves firmly in title contention. They then took the championship lead at Spa, having stayed clean during a chaotic race. The double-header season finale yielded two second places for the team, enough to confirm Allen and his teammates as ELMS champions. Allen also recaptured his LMP2 Pro-Am victory at Le Mans that year, dominating alongside Colin Braun and George Kurtz.

Further LMP2 victories, GT3 debut (2024–present) Allen moved to Duqueine Team for the 2024 ELMS season. Partnering category rookies Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer and Niels Koolen, Allen experienced a challenging season, as Duqueine finished 13th of 14 teams in the standings. Allen and the team also retired from the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Towards year's end, Allen joined new team RD Limited in the 2024–25 Asian Le Mans Series. At the first race in Sepang, Allen took the lead from Matthieu Vaxivière during the third hour, before co-driver Tristan Vautier fended off the category veteran on the final lap to claim victory. They finished second in race 2. Sixth in race 1 at Dubai was followed by another second place in race 2, teeing up a title decider with just three points splitting RD Limited and points leader Algarve Pro. The latter ended up clinching the title in Abu Dhabi, as Allen and his teammates secured second in the championship with a podium in race 2. More success came Allen's way at the start of 2025: racing for United Autosports alongside Paul di Resta, Rasmus Lindh, and Dan Goldburg, Allen won the Daytona 24 Hours after original winners Tower Motorsports were disqualified.

During the 2025 season, Allen split his attention between an ELMS campaign with Nielsen Racing in the LMP2 Pro-Am class and a drive in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, where he made his GT3 debut at Optimum Motorsport. Driving in the Gold Cup class in the latter alongside Mikey Porter and Largim Ali, Allen finished sixth in the class standings after scoring points in all five races. In the ELMS, Allen scored a single class victory, coming second overall at Le Castellet after profiting from a successful tyre strategy that helped bronze-ranked teammate Anthony Wells to take the lead early on. With another podium, third at Portimão, the team finished seventh in the eight-car championship. Allen once again partook in the Asian Le Mans Series during the winter, scoring two podiums for RD Limited to finish fifth in the standings.

Allen remained at Nielsen heading into the 2026 ELMS campaign, partnering Alex Quinn and bronze-ranked Kriton Lendoudis. At round 2 in Le Castellet, the trio claimed Pro-Am class victory after a penalty for AF Corse and a late pit stop for CLX Motorsport.

Racing record Karting career summary SeasonSeriesPosition 2011Australian National Sprint Kart Champiosnhip - Junior National Heavy 12thAustralian National Sprint Kart Champiosnhip - Junior Clubman 24thNorthern Territory Karting Championship - Junior Rotax 2ndNorthern Territory Karting Championship - National Heavy 3rd 2012Australian National Sprint Kart Champiosnhip - Junior National Heavy 29thSKUSA SuperNationals XVI - TaG Senior 52ndNorthern Territory Karting Championship - National Heavy 2ndAustralian Non Gearbox Nationals - Junior 3rd West Australian Kart Championship - Junior Clubman 3rd West Australian Kart Championship - Junior National Heavy1stQueensland Karting Championship - Junior National Heavy 2ndAustralian Sprint Kart Championship - Junior National Heavy1stIAME International B Final - X30 4th

Career summary SeasonSeriesTeamRacesWinsPolesF/lapsPodiumsPointsPosition 2013 Formula BMW Talent Cup N/A301??315th 2014 Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series ARTA Engineering 14 0 0 0 0 2 23rd Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup 12 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2015 Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series ARTA Engineering 16 0 0 0 0 48 11th Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup 17 0 0 0 0 10 17th 2016 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC JD Motorsport 15 1 0 0 3 177 7th Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup 15 0 0 0 0 11 17th 2017 European Le Mans Series - LMP2 Graff Racing 6 2 0 0 2 86 3rd 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 5th 2018 European Le Mans Series - LMP2 G-Drive Racing 6 0 0 0 0 15.25 15th 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship DragonSpeed 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2019 European Le Mans Series - LMP2DragonSpeed 6 2 0 1 2 48 7th IMSA SportsCar Championship - LMP2 1 0 1 0 1 30 13th TCR Australia Touring Car Series Ashley Seward Motorsport 3 0 0 0 0 24 32nd2020 European Le Mans Series - LMP2 Graff Racing 5 0 0 0 2 43 6th 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 SO24-HAS by Graff 1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF2021 European Le Mans Series - LMP2Panis Racing 5 1 0 0 1 56.5 6th 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 1 0 0 0 1 N/A 3rd Le Mans Cup - LMP3 Mühlner Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 0.5 44th 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMP2 Algarve Pro Racing600001019th European Le Mans Series - LMP260000721st 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP210000N/A15th IMSA SportsCar Championship - LMP2 G-Drive Racing by APR100000NC† 2023 Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2 Algarve Pro Racing41001513rd European Le Mans Series - LMP2 6 2 1 0 5 113 1st 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP210000N/A10th IMSA SportsCar Championship - LMP2 Proton Competition110010NC†2024 European Le Mans Series - LMP2 Duqueine Team 6 0 0 0 0 20 16th 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 Duqueine Team 1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF IMSA SportsCar Championship - LMP2 DragonSpeed 1 0 0 0 0 262 48th2024–25 Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2 RD Limited 6 1 0 0 4 88 2nd2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship - LMP2 United Autosports USA 1 1 0 0 1 385 41st European Le Mans Series - LMP2 Pro-Am Nielsen Racing 6 1 0 0 2 58 8th GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Optimum Motorsport 5 0 0 0 0 0 NC2025–26Asian Le Mans Series - LMP2RD Limited 6 0 0 2 2 52 5th2026European Le Mans Series - LMP2Nielsen Racing 5 1 0 0 1 30* 9th* 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMP2 Pro-Am AO by TF 1 0 0 0 1 N/A3rdSource: † Ineligible for points.

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results (key) (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 Pos Points 2014 ARTA EngineeringALC1ALC2SPA1SPA2MSC1MSC2NÜR1NÜR2HUN1HUN2LEC1LEC2JER1JER2 27th 0 2015 ARTA Engineering ALC1 ALC2 ALC3 SPA1 SPA2 HUN1 HUN2 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 NÜR1 NÜR2 LMS1 LMS2 JER1 JER2 JER3 17th 10 2016 JD Motorsport ALC1 ALC2 ALC3 MON1 MNZ1 MNZ2 MNZ3 RBR1 RBR2 LEC1 LEC2 SPA1 SPA2 EST1 EST2 17th 11 † As Allen was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)