| Allan McNish | |
|---|---|
.jpg) McNish in 2017 | |
| Nationality |  British |
| Born | (1969-12-29)29 December 1969 (age 55) Dumfries,Dumfriesshire, Scotland |
| Championship titles | |
| 2000,2006,2007 2013 | American Le Mans Series FIA World Endurance Championship |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Years | 1997 – 2000, 2004 – 2013 |
| Teams | Roock Racing,Porsche AG,Toyota Motorsports,Audi SportJoest,Audi Sport UK, Champion Racing |
| Best finish | 1st (1998,2008,2013) |
| Class wins | 3 (1998,2008,2013) |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Active years | 2002 |
| Teams | Toyota |
| Entries | 17 (16 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Careerpoints | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 2002 Australian Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 2002 Japanese Grand Prix |
Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a British former racing driver, commentator, and journalist from Scotland.[1] He is a three-time winner of the24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in2013, as well as a three-time winner of theAmerican Le Mans Series, which he last won in2007. He won theFIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) in2013. He has also been a co-commentator andpundit for BBC Formula One coverage on TV, radio and online and was team principal of theAudi Sport ABT SchaefflerFormula E team.
McNish was born inDumfries, Scotland and playedfootball while at school. He was a fan ofNottingham Forest and also supported his local clubQueen of the South. It was not until McNish began inkarting that he found something at which he excelled.[2]
McNish began his career in karting like fellowDumfries and Galloway driverDavid Coulthard. McNish credited the start given to both of them andDario Franchitti as being largely down toDavid Leslie senior and junior.[3]
McNish and Coulthard both were recognised with a McLaren/Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year award having moved up to car racing. In 1988, he won the Formula Vauxhall Lotus championship and in 1989 finished runner up toDavid Brabham in a close foughtBritish Formula 3 Championship. During the late 1980s McNish shared a house with teammateMika Häkkinen.[4]
McNish first drove a Formula 1 car, aMcLaren, during a testing session atEstoril in mid-November 1989.[5] Tipped as a future Formula One driver, he tested with bothMcLaren andBenetton, whilst also competing in F3000, then the recognised second tier of European motorsport, in 1990–1992. Whilst racing his first season in F3000, McNish suffered a crash at a race in Donington Park where a bystander was fatally injured.[6] He went on to finish fourth overall in the championship that season. Concentrating on Formula One opportunities meant he appeared in F3000 only once during 1994, at Pau.
When a Formula One drive failed to materialise, McNish returned to F3000 in 1995 with Paul Stewart Racing (run by the son ofSir Jackie Stewart who went on to formStewart Grand Prix). While he was arguably the fastest driver of the year, a series of mishaps saw him well beaten by Super Nova driversVincenzo Sospiri andRicardo Rosset in the title race. McNish's career appeared to stall in early 1996 after a deal to race in Formula Nippon fell through andMark Blundell was preferred for a drive with thePacWestCART team. He also tested for Benetton during the year.
Despite devoting his career to the pursuit of a Formula One chance, McNish became one of the world's most highly rated sportscar drivers. His sportscar career began in 1996 withPorsche, at a time when their911 GT1 model revolutionised sportscar racing. With the factory team he took this car to victory in the1998 24 Hours of Le Mans, partnered byLaurent Aïello andStephane Ortelli. He subsequently appeared for Toyota and Audi in the race, and after losing a likely victory in the dying stages of the2007 event, scored a second triumph in2008 withTom Kristensen andRinaldo Capello driving anAudi R10.[7] He has also raced with great success for Audi in theAmerican Le Mans Series, winning the title with Dindo Capello in 2006 and 2007, and taking four overall victories at the12 Hours of Sebring (2004,2006,2009 and2012). At the 2011 Le Mans McNish destroyed the car in a spectacular crash early in the race and ended the race for Audi No. 3. And again at the 2012 Le Mans, McNish made a driving error and lost a first place by crashing the Audi No. 2 car a few hours before the finish.[citation needed] He also codrove the No. 8Starworks Motorsport Riley-Ford to a second-place finish at the2012 24 Hours of Daytona.
In the2000 American Le Mans Series season, McNish set a track record for the full circuit configuration atSears Point International Raceway.[citation needed]
McNish finally found an opening into Formula One in 2001, when the newly formedToyota F1 team required a development driver. Given his link with Toyota through sportscars he was an obvious choice for this role, and after impressing in testing he was hired to race for the 2002 season. He did not score any points during the season's 17 races, and he and teammateMika Salo were replaced with a new line-up ofOlivier Panis andCristiano da Matta for 2003. Salo had scored points for the team on their debut in Melbourne and McNish had very nearly done the same in theMalaysian Grand Prix, only for a pit lane mistake by the team to cost him the result. Both drivers were told of their replacement before Da Matta was announced, and ITV'sMartin Brundle commented that "replacing Salo and McNish with Panis and A.N. Other" was not, in his view, a step forward.[citation needed]
McNish had a dramatic accident at the 130R corner while practising for Toyota's home race the Japanese Grand Prix atSuzuka, but escaped serious injury. This led to the corner being reprofiled the following year.[citation needed]
In 2003, McNish was a test driver forRenault F1, also doing a little TV work for ITV, but the next year he returned to his successful sports car racing career, winning the12 Hours of Sebring, combining this in 2005 with a venture into the highly competitive DTM (German Touring Car Championship), where he competed against the likes of former Formula One driversMika Häkkinen andJean Alesi. He also won sportscar driver of the year awards fromAutosport andLe Mans magazines and the (Jackie) Stewart Medal Award for services to Scottish motor sport. He was made the president of the Scottish Motor Racing Club at their annual prize giving and dinner in 2007, succeeding Stewart. McNish served as a pit reporter for ITV at the2004 British Grand Prix standing in forLouise Goodman who was absent for event following the death of her partnerJohn Walton days prior to that race.[8]
In 2006, McNish continued racing with theAudi factory team and was part of the driving line-up which won the12 Hours of Sebring in the newAudi R10 TDI diesel, setting pole position and breaking the lap record. In 2008, McNish won the24 Hours of Le Mans for Audi alongsideTom Kristensen andRinaldo Capello. It was his first win atla Sarthe since1998. McNish won the2013 24 Hours of Le Mans as well with Tom Kristensen andLoïc Duval. In 2011 McNish suffered a catastrophic crash at the Le Mans race, one which left his car virtually disintegrated. However McNish walked away from the vehicle unharmed thanks largely due to the safety improvements that had been made in recent years.[9]
In 2013, McNish became a world champion as he won the2013 FIA World Endurance Championship alongside Kristensen and Duval.
Since Formula One has introduced the drivers' representative on the stewards panel at all Grands Prix, McNish has featured as the drivers' representative twice in the 2011 season, inMonaco and most recently inHungary and on both occasions he has penalised the McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton for various transgressions. He has also appeared in aScania video test driving their newR 730 V8.
On 17 December 2013, McNish announced his retirement from Audi Sport and from racing full-time. He has not ruled out racing individual events in the future.[10] After retiring, he took on a role with Audi Sport, including liaising between the team's drivers and engineers, between the team and motorsport organisers, and driver development. He is also manager of racing driverHarry Tincknell.[11] He also works forBBC Sport as a commentator and pundit for their Formula One coverage.[12] McNish became team principal for Audi'sFormula E team, starting for the 2017–18 season, following Audi's official take over of the Abt Sportsline run entry.
McNish is two-time winner of theSegrave Trophy (2009/2014), was awarded the BRDC Gold Star in 2014, and won the BARC Gold Medal in 2015.
As well as those above, McNish has also raced in the following racing series:
McNish lives inMonaco with his wife Kelly and their two children. Prior to his marriage, McNish's stag party in Dumfries was attended byDario andMarino Franchitti and included watching aQueen of the South football match.[2]He speaks English and French.
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap.)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Pacific Racing | SIL | VAL | PAU | JER | PER | BRH | BIR | SPA | BUG | DIJ 8 | NC | 0 | |
| 1990 | DAMS | DON Ret | SIL 1 | PAU 6 | JER 16 | MNZ 6 | PER 2 | HOC Ret | BRH 1 | BIR Ret | BUG Ret | NOG 8 | 4th | 26 |
| 1991 | DAMS | VAL DNQ | PAU 13 | JER DNQ | MUG 5 | PER 8 | HOC Ret | BRH Ret | SPA 8 | BUG Ret | NOG 8 | 16th | 2 | |
| 1992 | 3001 International | SIL Ret | PAU | CAT 5 | PER Ret | HOC 3 | NÜR Ret | SPA 12 | ALB 5 | NOG | MAG | 11th | 8 | |
| 1994 | Vortex Motorsport | SIL | PAU Ret | CAT | PER | HOC | SPA | EST | MAG | NC | 0 | |||
| 1995 | Paul Stewart Racing | SIL 3 | CAT Ret | PAU 2 | PER Ret | HOC 6 | SPA Ret | EST Ret | MAG 7 | 7th | 11 | |||
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 |  Audi Sport North America |  Rinaldo CapelloMichele Alboreto | Audi R8 | LMP | 360 | 2nd | 2nd |
| 2004 | Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx | Frank BielaPierre Kaffer | Audi R8 | LMP1 | 350 | 1st | 1st |
| 2005 |  ADTChampion Racing | Emanuele PirroFrank Biela | Audi R8 | LMP1 | 361 | 2nd | 2nd |
| 2006 | Audi Sport North America | Rinaldo Capello Tom Kristensen | Audi R10 TDI | LMP1 | 349 | 1st | 1st |
| 2007 | Audi Sport North America | Rinaldo CapelloTom Kristensen | Audi R10 TDI | LMP1 | 353 | 4th | 2nd |
| 2008 | Audi Sport North America | Rinaldo CapelloTom Kristensen | Audi R10 TDI | LMP1 | 351 | 3rd | 1st |
| 2009 | Audi Sport Team Joest | Rinaldo CapelloTom Kristensen | Audi R15 TDI | LMP1 | 383 | 1st | 1st |
| 2011 | Audi Sport Team Joest | Rinaldo CapelloTom Kristensen | Audi R15 TDI plus | LMP1 | 327 | 4th | 4th |
| 2012 | Audi Sport Team Joest | Rinaldo CapelloTom Kristensen | Audi R18 TDI | LMP1 | 325 | 1st | 1st |
| 2013 | Audi Sport Team Joest | Tom Kristensen Lucas di Grassi | Audi R18 e-tron quattro | P1 | 364 | 2nd | 2nd |
Source:[28] | |||||||
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | PanasonicToyota Racing | ToyotaTF102 | Toyota RVX-02 3.0V10 | AUS Ret | MAL 7 | BRA Ret | SMR Ret | ESP 8 | AUT 9 | MON Ret | CAN Ret | EUR 14 | GBR Ret | FRA 11† | GER Ret | HUN 14 | BEL 9 | ITA Ret | USA 15 | JPN DNS | 19th | 0 |
| 2003 | Mild SevenRenault F1 Team | RenaultR23 | Renault RS23 3.0V10 | AUS TD | MAL TD | BRA TD | SMR TD | ESP TD | AUT TD | MON TD | CAN TD | EUR TD | FRA | — | — | |||||||
| RenaultR23B | GBR TD | GER TD | HUN TD | ITA TD | USA TD | JPN TD | ||||||||||||||||
Source:[29] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
(key)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Abt Sportsline | Audi A4 DTM 2005 | HOC 11 | LAU Ret | SPA Ret | BRN 7 | OSC 6 | NOR 4 | NÜR 6 | ZAN Ret | LAU 9 | IST 15 | HOC 17 | 10th | 13 |
| Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx | LMP1 | Audi R8 | Audi 3.6 L Turbo V8 | MON 2 | NÜR 1 | SIL 1 | SPA Ret | 2nd | 28 | |
| 2005 | AudiPlayStation TeamOreca | LMP1 | Audi R8 | Audi 3.6 L Turbo V8 | SPA 4 | MON 6 | SIL 1 | NÜR 2 | IST 2 | 3rd | 26 |
| 2008 | Audi Sport Team Joest | LMP1 | Audi R10 | Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel) | CAT 5 | MON 6 | SPA 4 | NÜR 4 | SIL 1 | 5th | 27 |
| 2010 | Audi Sport Team Joest | LMP1 | Audi R15 TDI plus | Audi TDI 5.5 L Turbo V10 (Diesel) | CAS 1 | SPA 3 | ALG | HUN | SIL Ret | 9th | 45 |
| 2011 | Audi Sport Team Joest | LMP1 | Audi R18 TDI | Audi TDI 3.7 L Turbo V6 (Diesel) | CAS | SPA 3 | IMO 4 | SIL 7 | EST | NC | 0 |
Source:[14] | |||||||||||
| Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Audi Sport Team Joest | LMP1 | Audi R18 e-tron quattro | Audi TDI 3.7L Turbo V6 (Hybrid Diesel) | SEB 1 | SPA 3 | LMS 2 | SIL 3 | SÃO 3 | BHR 2 | FUJ 3 | SHA 2 | 2nd | 159 |
| 2013 | Audi Sport Team Joest | LMP1 | Audi R18 e-tron quattro | Audi TDI 3.7L Turbo V6 (Hybrid Diesel) | SIL 1 | SPA 2 | LMS 1 | SÃO 2 | COA 1 | FUJ 2 | SHA 3 | BHR Ret | 1st | 162 |
Source:[14] | ||||||||||||||
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1998 With:Laurent Aïello &Stéphane Ortelli | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | American Le Mans Series Champion 2000 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | American Le Mans Series Champion 2006–2007 With:Rinaldo Capello | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2008 With:Rinaldo Capello &Tom Kristensen | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2013 With:Tom Kristensen &Loïc Duval | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | FIA World Endurance Champion 2013 With:Tom Kristensen &Loïc Duval | Succeeded by |
| Awards | ||
| Preceded by | Autosport British Club Driver of the Year 1988 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Autosport National Racing Driver of the Year 1989 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Autosport British Competition Driver of the Year 2008 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Segrave Trophy 2008 | Succeeded by |
