🇧🇪 James Ruffier

James Ruffier was a professional endurance racing driver who competed in the FIA GT Championship, a multiclass series where amateurs and professionals shared the same grid and each car was crewed by two or more drivers taking turns during races. He raced for Selleslagh Racing Team across a career spanning four indexed seasons from 1999 to 2009.[1]

Ruffier took one win and two podiums from eleven starts in the FIA GT Championship. His strongest result came in a full season, when he finished third in the championship standings in 2009. He beat Michael Bartels twice; Bartels won the FIA GT Championship three times between 2006 and 2009 and had made 68 starts in the series. Ruffier also finished ahead of Olivier Panis, a former Formula 1 driver with 158 starts in the sport.[2]

His regular opponents in the championship were Mike Hezemans, an FIA Silver-graded professional, and Anthony Kumpen, both established entrants in the FIA GT field. Against these drivers, Ruffier proved closely matched, running at a level consistent with a professional competitor in a series where the calibre ranged from amateurs to graded professionals. His record against stronger drivers demonstrated occasional victories and podium finishes rather than consistent competition at the sharp end of the field.