Ben Barker

Benjamin William Barker (born 23 April 1991) is a British professional racing driver currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship. A Porsche stalwart for over a decade, he is an Australian Formula 3 champion, a Porsche Carrera Cup GB runner-up, a four-time Bathurst 12 Hour class winner and a Dubai 24 Hour overall winner. Despite limited success in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Barker is considered one of the strongest GTE Am drivers, having broken the lap record for the category at the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ahead of the 2024 season, Barker left GR Racing after eight seasons to become a Ford factory driver, moving to Proton Competition.

Early career Having started his career in karts in 2004, Barker would step into the British Formula Ford Championship in 2009 with Fluid Motorsport Development. Following a year in which he scored one win at Knockhill, the Brit would migrate to Australia for a season in the 2010 Australian Formula 3 Championship. He won the title by one point versus Mitch Evans, having taken six race wins.thumb

Sportscar career

National Porsche Cups Barker moved into the Australian Porsche Carrera Cup in 2011, remaining with Team BRM, where he would finish fifth in the standings. The following year saw him return to Britain, partaking in a full-time campaign in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB. Despite having to wait for his first victory until the round at Knockhill, Barker would finish second in the championship, having won five races in a row in the latter half of the season.

Porsche Supercup In 2013, Barker graduated to the Porsche Supercup as part of Team Bleekemolen. With a best result of fourth at the final round, Barker finished tenth in the overall standings and third in the rookie classification. At the end of the year, Barker would receive a silver ranking by the FIA.

Remaining in the Supercup for 2014, Barker would score one podium for the Lechner Racing Team. He also took part in the support race of the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans, where he won with a gap of five seconds to Tom Dillmann. As well as this, Barker paired up with businessman Michael Wainwright at his team Gulf Racing in the LMGTE class of the European Le Mans Series, driving a Porsche 911 RSR. Finally, Barker made six appearances for GB Autosport in the United SportsCar Championship.

At the start of 2015, Barker would be upgraded to gold by the FIA. He switched to MOMO-Megatron Team PARTRAX in the Porsche Supercup, where a podium at Monaco helped him to ninth in the standings. He also appeared in the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany, in which the Briton scored two podiums.

Tenure with GR Racing Before the 2016 season, it was announced that Barker would partner Michael Wainwright and Adam Carroll at Gulf Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Driving in the LMGTE Am category, the trio scored four fourth places and finished fifth in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, thereby ending up sixth in the teams' championship. Barker partook in a round of the ELMS with Proton Competition, scoring a pole position at Estoril.

Barker remained with Wainwright and Gulf Racing for the 2017 season, this time being partnered by Nick Foster. Their results improved, as Barker was able to guide the team to third place at Mexico and to second in Shanghai, though the team would once again finish the championship as the lowest full-time entrant with fifth place overall.

For the 2018–19 WEC "super-season", Barker and Wainwright were joined by Alex Davison for the first three rounds and by Thomas Preining during subsequent events. The season itself brought few peaks, with the team failing to score a podium, though their consistency of finishing every race would bring Gulf Racing sixth in the standings. Barker managed to stand out, setting a new lap record for his category at the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In the 2019–20 WEC campaign, Barker, Wainwright, and new teammate Andrew Watson managed to score a lone podium in Bahrain, finishing third. They ended up seventh in the standings, having once again completed every race. At the start of 2020, Barker would attain overall victory at the Dubai 24 Hours and took another Bathurst victory, this one coming in the GT3 Pro-Am class.

The 2021 season proved to be a disappointment, as the team dropped to twelfth and last of all full-time LMGTE Am entries with a best race result of sixth place.

Having started his 2022 season by leading Dinamic Motorsport in the Asian Le Mans Series, Barker returned to GR Racing with Wainwright and new silver-ranked driver Riccardo Pera. Even though they missed the opening round, the team improved by scoring a then-record fourth place at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and rising to eighth in the teams' standings. Barker would play his part, setting two overall fastest laps in class at Spa and Monza.

The team retained their lineup for the 2023 WEC season, the last of the LMGTE era. The year proved to be the team's magnum opus, as Barker helped GR to finish third at the Centenary Le Mans 24 Hours, where Barker proved to be the fastest LMGTE driver, before managing another third place in Monza. These two podiums helped the team to sixth in the championship. Barker concluded his tenure with GR Racing by racing in the 2023–24 Asian Le Mans Series, stating that Wainwright and the team had "put [him] on a pedestal" by giving him the chance to race in the WEC for seven seasons.

Ford factory driver At the end of 2023, it was announced that Barker would become part of the Ford factory driver lineup in the WEC and join the Canada-based Multimatic Motorsports operation. He would migrate to Proton Competition, driving a Ford Mustang GT3 alongside Zacharie Robichon and Ryan Hardwick in 2024.

Racing record Racing career summary † As Barker was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points. Season still in progress.

Complete Porsche Supercup 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 Points 2013 Team Bleekemolen CAT MON SIL GER HUN SPA MNZ UAE UAE 10th 66 2014 Verva Lechner Racing Team CAT MON RBR SIL GER HUN SPA MNZ USA USA 6th 96 2015 MOMO Megatron Team PARTRAX CAT MON RBR SIL HUN SPA SPA MNZ MNZ USA USA 9th 69 2016 MOMO-Megatron Team Partrax CAT MON RBR SIL HUN HOC SPA MNZ COA COA 12th 43

Complete European Le Mans Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rank Points 2014 Gulf Racing UK GTE Porsche 997 GT3-RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SIL IMORBR 12th 26 Porsche 911 RSR LEC EST 2016 Proton Competition LMGTE Porsche 911 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SIL IMO RBR LEC SPA EST 18th 11 2018 Gulf Racing LMGTE Porsche 911 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 LEC MNZ RBR SIL SPA ALG 7th 10 2020 Gulf Racing UK LMGTE Porsche 911 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 LEC SPA LEC MNZ ALG NC 0

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Class Make Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Rank Points 2014 GB Autosport GTD Porsche 911 GT America Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 DAY SEB LGA DET WGL MOS IND ELK VIR COA PET 26th 139 2016 TRG-AMR GTD Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 Aston Martin 6.0 L V12 DAY SEB LGA DET WGL MOS LIM ELK VIR COA PET 45th 26 2024 Proton Competition GTD Ford Mustang GT3 Ford Coyote 5.4 L V8 DAY SEB LBH LGA WGL MOS ELK VIR IMS PET 69th 172 2025 Ford Multimatic Motorsports GTD Pro Ford Mustang GT3 Ford Coyote 5.4 L V8 DAY SEB LGA DET WGL MOS ELK VIR IMS PET 22nd 586 2026 Ford Racing GTD Pro Ford Mustang GT3 Evo Ford Coyote 5.4 L V8 DAY SEB LGA DET WGL MOS ELK VIR IMS PET 8th* 1885*Source:

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Class Car Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rank Points 2016 Gulf Racing LMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SIL SPA LMS NÜR MEX COA FUJ SHA BHR 7th 106 2017 Gulf Racing LMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SIL SPA LMS NÜR MEX COA FUJ SHA BHR 6th 97 2018–19 Gulf Racing UK LMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SPA LMS SIL FUJ SHA SEB SPA LMS 7th 79 2019–20 Gulf Racing LMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSR Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6 SIL FUJ SHA BHR COA SPA LMS BHR 9th 85 2021 GR Racing LMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSR-19 Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6 SPA ALG MNZ LMS BHR BHR 15th 23 2022 GR Racing LMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSR-19 Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6 SEB SPA LMS MNZ FUJ BHR 10th 50 2023 GR Racing LMGTE Am Porsche 911 RSR-19 Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6 SEB PRT SPA LMS MNZ FUJ BHR 6th 64 2024 Proton Competition LMGT3 Ford Mustang GT3 Ford Coyote 5.4 L V8 QAT IMO SPA LMS SÃO COA FUJ BHR 22nd 18 2025 Proton Competition LMGT3 Ford Mustang GT3 Ford Coyote 5.4 L V8 QAT IMO SPA LMS SÃO COA FUJ BHR 14th 39Source:

Complete Asian Le Mans Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete GT World Challenge Europe results GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pos. Points 2022 Barwell Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo Pro-Am BRH1 BRH2 MAG1 MAG2 ZAN1 ZAN2 MIS1 MIS2 VAL1 VAL2 7th 1