Joey Hand

Joseph Alan Hand (born February 10, 1979) is an American professional racing driver who competes in sports car racing as a Ford factory driver. A former champion of the Star Mazda Series, Hand is the co-winner of the 2011 24 Hours of Daytona driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring GT class for BMW Team Rahal, and the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans LMGTE Pro class for Ford Chip Ganassi Team USA driving the Ford GT.

Racing career

Early career

Hand began his career in kart racing, starting at age 12. Moving up to the Star Mazda Series in 1998, Hand won nine races in the series, winning the rookie of the year award in 1998 and the series championship in 1999.

Following an injury that sidelined him for most of the 2000 season, Hand moved up to the Toyota Atlantic series in 2001, scoring two wins in three years spent in the series, with a best championship finish of third in 2001.

Grand-Am, ALMS and IMSA

Beginning with the 2004 season, Hand has raced in the Grand American Road Racing Association's Rolex Sports Car Series, racing in both the Grand Touring and Daytona Prototype classes, winning five times in the GT category while driving BMWs. Hand has also raced sporadically in the American LeMans Series; in 2006, Hand was involved in a spectacular end-over-end crash at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, while in 2009, he won the first pole position for a BMW in eight years in the ALMS at Road America.

Driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, Hand, along with co-drivers Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and Graham Rahal, won the 2011 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race at Daytona International Speedway, driving the #01 Riley-BMW Daytona Prototype. The team was set back by a pit road penalty while Hand was driving; however, he was able to recover, and co-driver Pruett took the car to victory. The following month, the BMW Motorsport team he drove for won the GT class of the 2011 12 Hours of Sebring. Later, he joined the BMW Motorsport factory team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where he finished third in the GTE-Pro class driving again a BMW M3. Also in 2011, Hand competed full-time in the Grand-Am Sports Car Challenge for Turner, finishing runner-up with Michael Marsal as a teammate.[citation needed]

Hand returned to BMW Rahal for the 2012 American Le Mans Series season. He again won the GT class at the 12 Hours of Sebring and took three podiums out of seven appearances. Meanwhile, he finished sixth overall at the 24 Hours of Daytona driving a Ganassi BMW.[citation needed]

In the 2013 ALMS season, Hand got a second-place class finish and two-fourths out of six appearances for BMW Rahal with a BMW Z4 de Rahal. Again, he raced for Ganassi at the 24 Hours of Daytona and later the Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis.[citation needed]

As the new United SportsCar Championship launched in 2014, Hand finished second in the GTLM class at the 24 Hours of Daytona and third at the 12 Hours of Sebring for BMW Rahal.[citation needed]

In 2016, Hand joined the Ford factory program for the 2016 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He was reunited with teammate Dirk Müller, while Sébastien Bourdais joined the team for the endurance races, including Le Mans. Hand, Müller, and Bourdais went on to win the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMGTE Pro category while driving the 2017 Ford GT LME GTE-Pro.[citation needed]

Other racing

On October 22, 2011, Hand made his debut in the International V8 Supercars Championship, driving for Dick Johnson Racing in the Gold Coast 600. finishing fourth with co-driver James Moffat In November, he drove a DTM car for the first time, testing for BMW at Circuito Monteblanco in Spain.

On October 5, 2021, Rick Ware Racing announced that Hand would make his NASCAR debut in the NASCAR Cup Series race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval driving the No. 52. Hand started 36th and finished in 27th. In 2022, Hand drove in all six of the Cup Series road course races, driving for Rick Ware in the No. 15. His best finish was twentieth at Sonoma, and his best starting spot was ninth in Road America. On June 12, 2024, it was announced that Hand would be driving the No. 60 car for RFK Racing in the Chicago Street race. Hand won the second stage in that race for his first career stage win in the NASCAR Cup Series. Hand led seven laps and almost won the race entirely before being passed by eventual race winner Alex Bowman, after which Hand fell back to fourth.

DTM

On December 15, 2011, Hand was announced as one of BMW's factory drivers for the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, which saw him compete in the entire 2012 championship, alongside a limited-season American Le Mans Series campaign with BMW Team RLL. He was the first American to have a full-season factory contract in the series since its inception in 1984. In three seasons, he had a best race result of fifth at Brand Hatch and a best season result of twelfth, both in 2013.[citation needed]

Personal life

Born in Sacramento, California, Hand and his wife, Natalie, have two children.

Motorsports career results

Career summary

American open–wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Atlantic Championship

American Le Mans Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Rolex Sports Car Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete DTM results

(key)

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

(key)(Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

* Season still in progress. † Hand did not complete sufficient laps to score full points.

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Cup Series

Xfinity Series

* Season still in progress 1 Ineligible for series points

External links

• driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• career summary at DriverDB.com