James Rossiter competed in 20 karting events between 1998 and 2000 and got some single-seater track experience in 2001 in Formula Palmer Audi and Formula Renault. 2002 saw Rossiter compete in the Formula Renault series with Falcon with a best position of fourth to his credit before joining Fortec to compete in the winter series.

Remaining with Fortec in 2003, Rossiter took ten podium finishes on his way to third position in the championship. A move up to British Formula 3 followed with Rossiter finishing third behind Nelson Piquet Jr and Adam Carroll - again with Fortec.

A move to Formula 3 Euroseries followed in 2005 finishing seventh in the standings, but critically for his career, was taken under the wing of Honda and its F1 driver development programme.

Rossiter competed in the World Series by Renault in 2006 with the Spanish Pons Racing. However, it was not a particularly successful season with the British racer classified 15th in the standings.

The silver-lining to Rossiter's season was his role over the winter with Honda as test driver before moving across to Super Aguri Honda in May 2007 as the team's test driver where he is expected to remain in 2008.