Nationality: Scottish Born: 29th December 1969, Dumfries, Scotland Lives in: Warfield, England Status: Single Height: 1.65m Weight: 58kg Interests: Water skiing, sport in general
Nationality: Scottish Born: 29th December 1969, Dumfries, Scotland Lives in: Warfield, England Status: Single Height: 1.65m Weight: 58kg Interests: Water skiing, sport in general |
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[Role]
One of the two drivers spending 2001 track-testing Toyota Motorsport's Formula 1 prototypes, concentrating on development work at the team's test base at Paul Ricard and at GP circuits around the world.
[Fast Facts]
Scottish-born multiple champion in 'junior' single-seaters 1998 Le Mans 24 Hours winner for Porsche 2000 American Le Mans Series Champion for Audi
[Profile]
Allan McNish was in the midst of a successful professional career in sports-prototype racing when he was made an irresistible offer to become one of the development drivers for the Toyota Formula 1 project. The Scot showed all the hallmarks of Formula 1 talent as a young racer, yet has never started a Grand Prix. He won honour after honour in the 'junior' single-seater divisions, progressing from Formula Ford via Formula 3 to the FIA Formula 3000 Championship. When he secured a Formula 1 testing contract with McLaren, he looked unstoppable. But fortunes change quickly in motorsport. Inexplicably, McNish entered a lean period at the start of the 1990s, from which he emerged determined to re-establish his career in sportscar racing. He made his point by winning the world-famous Le Mans 24 Hours for Porsche in 1998. The following year at Le Mans, he forged a link with Toyota, which was cemented with a new lap record. Before his car racing debut, in 1987, Allan had shown huge promise in karting, winning multiple Scottish and British titles by the age of 14. He won races in his first season of Formula Ford, and then won the 1988 British Vauxhall Lotus title. It was no surprise when the top team, West Surrey Racing, snapped him up for the 1989 British Formula 3 Championship (in which he raced against Mika Salo, now his Toyota team-mate). He finished runner-up behind David Brabham after five wins. He made an impressive Formula 3000 debut in the final race of the 1989 season, which led to a top drive with the DAMS team for 1990, and the Formula 1 test role with the McLaren team. In 1990 Formula 3000 series Allan won at Silverstone and Brands Hatch and finished second at Enna, ending the season fourth in the championship. But the following seasons brought disappointment. The DAMS team's 1991 cars were uncompetitive, and McNish had only one finish in the points. Moving to the 3001 team in 1992, he was struck down by a virus, and could not race until late in the season - and then his struggling team was forced to replace him with a sponsored driver. The Formula 1 break he sought finally seemed close when Allan secured a test driving role at Benetton. He gained more experience, and his test work contributed to Michael Schumacher's first World Championship, for Benetton in 1994. But there was no Formula 1 opportunity on the horizon, so he returned to Formula 3000 in 1995, driving for Paul Stewart Racing. A second and a third were his best results. Allan made the switch to top-level sportscar racing in 1997, when he won three races in a Porsche in North America. He was then invited to drive for the factory team in the 1998 FIA GT Championship, in which he consistently gained top-three finishes, and was third in the championship standings. But the team's main objective was the victory at Le Mans which, as its lead driver, Allan was thrilled to achieve, sharing the victorious works Porsche 911 GT1 with Laurent Aiello and Stephane Ortelli. His 1999 season also began in the USA, at the wheel of a Ferrari 333SP in the Daytona 24 Hours, finishing second. He was then invited to join Toyota Motorsport for its second Le Mans, co-driving a GT-One with Thierry Boutsen and Ralf Kelleners. As Allan set a new lap record, they fought for the lead with the eventual winners until Boutsen was caught up in a crash with a backmarker. In 2000, Allan joined the factory Audi team to compete in the American Le Mans Series and at Le Mans itself, where he finished second in an Audi 1-2-3. He ran up a title-winning sequence of six ALMS wins, including an exceptional victory in the final round in Adelaide. It was a measure of his well-known tenacity that he dominated the race. Now Allan intends that this tenacity will finally take him into Formula 1 racing at last with Toyota in 2002.
[Carrier events] 1982 Scottish Junior Kart Championship: 1st 1983 British Junior Kart Championship: 1st Scottish Junior Kart Championship: 1st 1984 Scottish Kart Championship: 1st1985 World Kart Championship: 3rd Scottish Kart Championship: 1st 1986 British Senior Kart Championship: 1st Scottish Kart Championship: 1st 1987 British Junior Formula Ford Championship: 2nd (Van Diemen) British Formula Ford Championship: 3rd (Van Diemen)Formula Ford Festival: 5th (Van Diemen) 1988 British Vauxhall Lotus Championship: 1st GM Lotus Euroseries: 3rdCellnet Award: 1st 1989 British Formula 3 Championship: 2nd (Ralt) FIA Formula 3000 Championship (Reynard, 1 race) 1990 FIA Formula 3000 Championship: 4th (Lola) Formula 1 World Championship: Test Driver (McLaren) 1991 FIA Formula 3000 Championship: 16th (Lola)1992 FIA Formula 3000 Championship: 11th (Reynard)1993 Formula 1 World Championship: Test Driver (Benetton)1994 Formula 1 World Championship: Test Driver (Benetton)1995 FIA Formula 3000 Championship: 7th (Reynard)1996 Porsche Supercup (1 race)1997 North American GT Championship (Porsche)1998 FIA GT Championship: 3rd (Porsche) Daytona 24 Hours: 1st GT (Porsche)Le Mans 24 Hours: 1st (Porsche) 1999 Le Mans 24 Hours: Lap Record (Toyota)2000 American Le Mans Series: 1st (Audi) Le Mans 24 Hours: 2nd , pole position (Audi) 2001 Formula 1 Test Driver (Toyota)