Darren Manning (born 30 April 1975) is a British

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of tw ...

driver who has raced in the IRL

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

for Chip Ganassi Racing and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

Career history

Early career

Manning was born in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, and began his racing career at the age of 10, competing in British and International karting events. In 1992, he took part in the

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hos ...

Formula First Winter Series, finishing second after recording two wins. His SpeedSport team took him in 1993 to race in the Formula Vauxhall championship again recording 2 victories en route to a second-place finish in the championship. He was also a finalist for the McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year award. He continued in Formula Vauxhall in 1994 and 1995 and moved up to Formula 3 in 1996 and 1997. Budget constraints meant that he only raced a limited F3 schedule in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, but he did achieve two wins including at Silverstone for the

British Grand Prix The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor race organised in the United Kingdom by the Royal Automobile Club. First held in 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 and has been a round of the FIA Formula One World C ...

support race.

International career

In 1999 Darren won the All-Japan Formula Three championship, and was the first driver to achieve the "perfect victory" at the Macau Grand Prix since

Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver who won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in , , and . Senna is one of three Formula One drivers from Brazil to win the World Championship and wo ...

by winning from pole position, leading every lap and setting a lap record. He also tested with the Williams F1 team. In 2000 he began working for the

BAR Honda British American Racing (BAR) was a Formula One constructor that competed in the sport from 1999 to 2005. BAR began by acquiring Tyrrell, and used Supertec engines for their first year. Subsequently, they formed a partnership with Honda which l ...

F1 team as a test driver while also racing in the FIA International Formula 3000 championship for Arden Team Russia. In 2002 he competed in the

ASCAR ASCAR (Anglo-American Stock Car Racing), was a stock car racing series that raced at circuits around the United Kingdom and Europe from 2001 until 2008. The series went through many guises during its seven year period and was known as the ASCAR M ...

(now SCSA) championship. He had a one-off drive in the FIA Sportscar championship at Magny-Cours driving a Tampolli SR2 RTA-2001 in the SR2 class for JCI Developments. He also had a one-off drive at Rockingham in the CART series for Team St George, leading 18 laps on the way to 9th place. This led to a full-time drive for Walker Racing in 2003, taking one top-3 finish and 9th overall in the championship. He joined Chip Ganassi's IRL team for 2004, in place of Tony Renna after Renna's fatal testing accident, finishing 11th in the championship having achieved 8 top-ten finishes, but he was released from his contract in the middle of 2005 after 24 starts, including the 2004 and 2005 Indianapolis 500. He raced at the last round of the 2005/6 A1 Grand Prix series at Shanghai, because main driver Robbie Kerr had other commitments and Darren helped secure A1 Team Great Britain third place in the overall standings. During 2006 he also drove a Nissan 350Z in the FIA GT Championship for RJN Motorsport. For the 2006-07 A1 Grand Prix season he moved into a permanent role in the Great Britain A1GP team, alongside Robbie Kerr and Oliver Jarvis. On 14 November 2006, Manning was named the driver of the A. J. Foyt Enterprises No. 14 car in the IRL IndyCar series for the 2007 season, marking his return to the league after a one-year absence.Manning lands with Foyt
www.grandprix.com Manning also drove in the 2007 24 Hours of Daytona and led his team to a second-place finish, leading the race during a long overnight stint in the rain. He finished 13th in IndyCar points in 2007, capturing 5 top-tens in what was widely considered a significant step forward for the previously struggling Foyt team. In 2008 he finished second at Watkins Glen, with six further top ten finishes en route to 14th overall. In 2009, he was racing for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in IndyCar, but left after two races. No reason has been given by either driver or team. In 2010 Manning drove for Spirit of Daytona Racing in the

Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layout ...

in the number 90 Daytona Prototype.

Motorsports career results

Complete International Formula 3000 results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

American Open-Wheel

( key)

CART

IndyCar Series

: : ''¹ Run on same day. : ''² Non-points-paying, exhibition race.''

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete American Le Mans Series results

References

External links

Indy Racing League stats page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manning, Darren 1975 births Living people IndyCar Series drivers English racing drivers FIA GT Championship drivers A1 Team Great Britain drivers Champ Car drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Auto GP drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers Japanese Formula 3 Championship drivers People from Knaresborough International Formula 3000 drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers American Le Mans Series drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Porsche Supercup drivers Sportspeople from Yorkshire ASCAR drivers Arden International drivers Dale Coyne Racing drivers Walker Racing drivers Chip Ganassi Racing drivers A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers Dreyer & Reinbold Racing drivers OAK Racing drivers TOM'S drivers