Allan McNish

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Allan McNish bigraphy, stories - Scottish racing driver

Allan McNish : biography

29 September 1969 –

Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a British racing driver. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2013, and three-time American Le Mans Series champion. He is also a co-commentator for BBC Radio 5 Live’s Formula One coverage.

After Formula One

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 .

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.

Early life

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

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 revolutionised 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 four overall victories at the 12 Hours of Sebring (2004, 2006, 2009 and 2012). 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. He also codrove the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Riley-Ford to a 2nd place finish at the 2012 24 Hours of Daytona.

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 DIJ8 NC 0
1990 :DAMS DONRet SIL1 PAU6 JER16 MNZ6 PER2 HOCRet BRH1 BIRRet BUGRet NOG8 4th 26
1991 DAMS VALDNQ PAU13 JERDNQ MUG5 PER8 HOCRet BRHRet SPA8 BUGRet NOG8 16th 2
1992 3001 International SILRet PAU CAT5 PERRet HOC3 NÜRRet SPA12 ALB5 NOG MAG 11th 8
1994 Vortex Motorsport SIL PAURet CAT PER HOC SPA EST MAG NC 0
1995 Paul Stewart Racing SIL3 CATRet PAU2 PERRet HOC6 SPARet ESTRet MAG7 7th 11