Allan McNish

Allan McNish

Born	29 December 1969 (1969-12-29)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	British
Active years	2002
Teams	Toyota, Renault (Test Driver)
Races	17 (16 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	2002 Australian Grand Prix
Last race	2002 Japanese Grand Prix

24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years	1997 - 2000, 2004 -
Teams	Roock Racing, Porsche AG, Toyota Motorsports, Audi Sport Joest, Audi Sport UK, Champion Racing
Best finish	1st (1998, 2008)
Class wins	2 (1998, 2008)

Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a Scottish racing driver. He is a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2008, and two-time American Le Mans Series champion.

Early life

McNish who was born in Dumfries, Scotland played football while at school. He was a fan of Nottingham Forest and also supported his local club Queen of the South. It wasn't until McNish began in karting that he found something at which he excelled.

Early career

McNish began his career in karting like fellow Dumfries and Galloway driver David Coulthard. McNish credited the start given to both of them and Dario Franchitti as being largely down to David Leslie senior and junior.

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 to David Brabham in a close fought British Formula Three Championship. During the late 1980s McNish shared a house with team mate Mika Häkkinen.

Tipped as a future F1 driver, he tested with both McLaren and Benetton, 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. He went on to finish 4th overall in the championship that season. Concentrating on F1 opportunities meant he appeared in F3000 only once during 1994, at Pau.

When an F1 drive failed to materialise, he returned to F3000 in 1995 with Paul Stewart Racing (run by the son of Sir Jackie Stewart who went on to form Stewart Grand Prix). While he was arguably the fastest driver of the year, a series of mishaps saw him well beaten by Super Nova drivers Vincenzo Sospiri and Ricardo Rosset in the title race. McNish's career appeared to stall in early 1996 after a deal to race in Formula Nippon fell through and Mark Blundell was preferred for a drive with the PacWest CART team. He also tested for Benetton during the year.

Sports cars

Having devoted his career to the pursuit of an F1 chance, it is ironic that McNish has become one of the world's most highly rated sportscar drivers. His sportscar career began in 1996 with Porsche, at a time when their 911 GT1 model revolutionized sportscar racing. With the factory team he took this car to victory in the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans, partnered by Laurent Aïello and Stephane Ortelli. He subsequently appeared for Toyota and Audi in the race, and after losing a likely victory in the dying stages of the 2007 event, scored a second triumph in 2008 with Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello driving an Audi R10. He has also raced with great success for Audi in the American Le Mans Series, winning the title with Dindo Capello in 2006 and 2007, and taking three overall victories at the 12 Hours of Sebring (2004, 2006 and 2009).

Formula One

McNish's Toyota engine fails at the 2002 French Grand Prix.

McNish finally found an opening into Formula One in 2001, when the newly formed Toyota 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 season. He did not score any points during the season's 17 races, and he and team-mate Mika Salo were replaced with a new line-up of Olivier Panis and Cristiano 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 the Malaysian 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's Martin 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 the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, but escaped serious injury. This led to the corner being reprofiled the following year^{[citation needed]}.

After Formula One

McNish driving an Audi R10 TDI at the 2008 1000km of Silverstone

In 2003 he was a test driver for Renault F1, also doing a little TV work for ITV, but the next year he returned to his successful sports car racing career, winning the 12 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 F1 men Mika Häkkinen and Jean Alesi. He also won Sportscar Driver of the Year awards from the Autosport and Le 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 Sir Jackie Stewart.

In 2006, he continued racing with the Audi factory team and was part of the driving line up which won the 12 Hours of Sebring in the new Audi R10 TDI diesel, setting pole position and breaking the lap record. In 2008, McNish won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Audi alongside Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello. It was his first win at la Sarthe since 1998.

Since Formula 1 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, in Monaco and most recently in Hungary and on both occasions he has penalised the McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton for various trangressions. He has also appeared in a Scania video test driving their new R730 V8.

Other formulae

As well as those above, McNish has also raced in the following racing series:

• Karting
• Formula Ford
• Vauxhall Lotus
• British Formula 3
• North American GT
• FIA GT

Personal life

He lives in Monaco with his wife Kelly. Prior to his marriage, McNish's stag party in Dumfries was attended by Dario Franchitti and Marino Franchitti and included taking in a Queen of the South football match.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics 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				9th	6
1995	Paul Stewart Racing	SIL 3	CAT Ret	PAU 2	PER Ret	HOC 6	SPA Ret	EST Ret	MAG 7				7th	11

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Car	Team mate	Team mate	Position
1997	Rook Racing	Porsche 911 GT1 Evo	Karl Wendlinger	Stephane Ortelli	DNF
1998	Porsche AG	Porsche 911 GT1-98	Laurent Aiello	Stephane Ortelli	1st
1999	Toyota Motorsports	Toyota GT-One	Thierry Boutsen	Ralf Kelleners	DNF
2000	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R8	Laurent Aiello	Stephane Ortelli	2nd
2004	Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx	Audi R8	Frank Biela	Pierre Kaffer	5th
2005	ADT Champion Racing	Audi R8	Frank Biela	Emanuele Pirro	3rd
2006	Audi Sport North America	Audi R10 TDI	Tom Kristensen	Rinaldo Capello	3rd
2007	Audi Sport North America	Audi R10 TDI	Tom Kristensen	Rinaldo Capello	DNF
2008	Audi Sport North America	Audi R10 TDI	Tom Kristensen	Rinaldo Capello	1st
2009	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R15 TDI	Tom Kristensen	Rinaldo Capello	3rd
2010	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi R15+ TDI	Tom Kristensen	Rinaldo Capello	3rd
2011	Audi Sport North America	Audi R18 TDI	Tom Kristensen	Rinaldo Capello	DNF

Complete American Le Mans Series results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
1999	Champion Racing	LMP	Porsche 911 GT1 Evo	Porsche 3.2 L Turbo Flat-6	SEB	ATL	MOS ovr:6 cls:6	SON ovr:12 cls:12	POR ovr:8 cls:8	PET ovr:7 cls:7	MON ovr:Ret cls:Ret	LSV ovr:Ret cls:Ret					25th	47
2000	Audi Sport North America	LMP	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	SEB ovr:2 cls:2			NÜR ovr:Ret cls:Ret	SON ovr:1 cls:1	MOS ovr:1 cls:1	TEX ovr:2 cls:2	ROS ovr:1 cls:1	PET ovr:1 cls:1	MON ovr:1 cls:1	LSV ovr:2 cls:2	ADE ovr:1 cls:1	1st	270
			Audi R8R			CHA ovr:20 cls:8	SIL ovr:3 cls:3
2004	Audi Sport UK Team Veloqx	LMP1	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	SEB ovr:1 cls:1	MID	LIM	SON	POR	MOS	AME	PET	MON				7th	26
2005	ADT Champion Racing	LMP1	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	SEB ovr:2 cls:2	ATL	MID	LIM	SON	POR	AME	MOS	PET	MON			10th	22
2006	Audi Sport North America	LMP1	Audi R10 TDI	Audi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	SEB ovr:1 cls:1				UTA ovr:4 cls:3	POR ovr:1 cls:1	AME ovr:2 cls:2	MOS ovr:1 cls:1	PET ovr:1 cls:1	MON ovr:1 cls:1			1st	204
			Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8		TEX ovr:1 cls:1	MID ovr:3 cls:1	LIM ovr:1 cls:1
2007	Audi Sport North America	LMP1	Audi R10 TDI	Audi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	SEB ovr:4 cls:2	STP ovr:1 cls:1	LNB ovr:7 cls:1	TEX ovr:3 cls:1	UTA ovr:2 cls:1	LIM ovr:5 cls:1	MID ovr:5 cls:2	AME ovr:2 cls:1	MOS ovr:2 cls:1	DET ovr:3 :cls:2	PET ovr:1 cls:1	MON ovr:1 cls:1	1st	246
2008	Audi Sport North America	LMP1	Audi R10 TDI	Audi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	SEB ovr:3 cls:1	STP	LNB	UTA	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	DET	PET ovr:1 cls:1	MON		8th	60
2009	Audi Sport Team Joest	LMP1	Audi R15 TDI	Audi 5.5L Turbo V10 (Diesel)	SEB ovr:1 cls:1	STP	LNB	UTA	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	PET ovr:3 cls:3	MON			10th	30
2010	Audi Sport Team Joest	LMP1	Audi R15 TDI plus	Audi 5.5L Turbo V10 (Diesel)	SEB	LNB	MON	UTA	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	PET ovr:3 cls:3				NC	-
2011	Audi Sport Team Joest	LMP1	Audi R15 TDI plus	Audi 5.5L Turbo V10 (Diesel)	SEB ovr:4 cls:4	LNB	LIM	MOS	MID	AME	BAL	MON					NC	-
			Audi R18 TDI	Audi 3.7L Turbo V6 (Diesel)									PET ovr:Ret cls:Ret

Complete Formula One results

(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	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota TF102	Toyota V10	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 Seven Renault F1 Team	Renault R23	Renault V10	AUS TD	MAL TD	BRA TD	SMR TD	ESP TD	AUT TD	MON TD	CAN TD	EUR TD	FRA								-	-
		Renault R23B												GBR TD	GER TD	HUN TD	ITA TD	USA TD	JPN TD

Complete DTM results

(key)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos	Points
2005	Abt Sportsline	Audi A4 DTM 2005	HOC1 11	LAU1 Ret	SPA Ret	BRN 7	OSC 6	NOR 4	NÜR 6	ZAN Ret	LAU2 9	IST 15	HOC2 17	10th	13

External links

• Allan McNish's official website
• Allan McNish's official blog
• Richard's F1 interview with Allan McNish
• Profile - by FIA GT Championship official website

Sporting positions
Preceded by Michele Alboreto Stefan Johansson Tom Kristensen	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1998 with: Laurent Aïello Stéphane Ortelli	Succeeded by Pierluigi Martini Yannick Dalmas Joachim Winkelhock
Preceded by Elliott Forbes-Robinson	American Le Mans Series champion 2000	Succeeded by Emanuele Pirro
Preceded by Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro	American Le Mans Series champion 2006-2007 with Rinaldo Capello	Succeeded by Lucas Luhr Marco Werner
Preceded by Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro Marco Werner	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2008 with: Rinaldo Capello Tom Kristensen	Succeeded by David Brabham Marc Gené Alexander Wurz
Awards
Preceded by Eddie Irvine	Autosport British Club Driver of the Year 1988	Succeeded by David Coulthard
Preceded by JJ Lehto	Autosport National Racing Driver of the Year 1989	Succeeded by Robb Gravett
Preceded by Lewis Hamilton	Autosport British Competition Driver of the Year 2008	Succeeded by Jenson Button
Preceded by Lewis Hamilton	Segrave Trophy 2008	Succeeded by Paul Bonhomme