Dan Clarke

Dan Clarke
Nationality	British
Born	4th October 1983 Mexborough, South Yorkshire
Firestone Indy Lights
Years active	2010
Teams	Walker Racing
Starts	12
Wins	0
Poles	0
Best finish	2nd in 2010

Dan Clarke
A1GP
Years active	2009
Teams	Great Britain
Starts	6
Wins	0
Poles	0
Best finish	7th in 2009
Previous series
2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001	Champ Car World Series Champ Car World Series British F3 UK Formula Ford UK Formula Ford UK FFord Jnr BRDC FFord

Dan Clarke is a British auto racing driver born 4 October 1983 in Mexborough, most recently competing in the Firestone Indy Lights series with Walker Racing, having previously competed in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport and the Champ Car World Series. Also nicknamed 'Speedy Dan'.

Early career

Dan Clarke on the podium at Silverstone 9th October 2005

Dan Clarke in his Räikkönen Robertson Racing F3 at Silverstone 9th October 2005

A veteran of British Formula Ford where he won the prestigious Formula Ford Festival in 2004, he moved up the British Formula Three Championship in 2005 in a team part owned by Kimi Räikkönen, Räikkönen Robertson Racing, and finished 5th overall, taking the team's first win Castle Combe.

2006 & 2007 - Champ Car and Beyond

With a series of impressive tests he was signed to drive in the Champ Car World Series for CTE Racing - HVM, owned jointly by Cedric the Entertainer and Keith Wiggins, in 2006 as a teammate to the even younger Nelson Philippe. This was despite Danish driver Ronnie Bremer having publicly claimed to have a drive with the team.

He finished 6th at Portland and 7th at Burke Lakefront Airport, where he was battling for 2nd with Mario Dominguez when they collided on the penultimate lap. Dan was again competitive at San Jose, moving up from 9th to 2nd before a gearbox failure put him out at mid-distance. At his next race, in Denver, Clarke moved into 3rd place in the final lap (because of a collision of two drivers ahead of him) to achieve his first podium finish as a Champ Car driver. Indeed, the Denver 3rd place was the first podium finish for a Champ Car Rookie driver in the 2006 racing season.

Following on from Denver, Clarke continued to run at the front and narrowly missed out on another podium finish at the next race in Montreal, Quebec, coming home in 4th place. Immediately after, Clarke won the Bridgestone Pole Position award at Road America, Wisconsin. The first rookie to do so since 2003 and the first British Rookie since Nigel Mansell in 1993. Clarke experienced misfortune towards the end of the season that would see him forced to settle for 'Rookie runner-up' to Will Power after an intense battle between the two drivers.

He returned to the team for the 2007 season, now named Minardi Team USA, joined by new teammate and former Minardi F1 driver Robert Doornbos. Clarke had a troubled season finishing 13th in the overall standings and missing one race, at Zolder having been ejected from the event for causing a multi-car crash in practice. He did however record a second place at Road America.

Upon the folding of the Champ Car series into the IndyCar Series the Minardi team became known as HVM racing and hired EJ Viso to drive, leaving Clarke without a ride.

2009 - A1 Team Great Britain

He has since driven for Great Britain in the A1GP series, participating in three rounds of the fourth season of the championship.

First announced as the Team GBR driver halfway into the 2008/2009 series at Taupo, New Zealand, Clarke had little time to adapt to the new car, team and track. He went on to build experience through that weekend and then at the Portimao, Portugal, races. The next race for Clarke was Brands Hatch, UK, in front of his home fans. Despite Qualifying technical issues, Clarke put on an impressive performance to drive back from 14th place in the feature to 7th scoring fastest race laps in the process.

Following the weekend, Clarke expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the A1GP Series, Team GBR and British fans' support and his desire to continue with the team through to the 2009/2010 season. However, for the second time in his career, his series folded in the off-season, leaving him without a drive.

2010 - Firestone Indy Lights

In 2010 Clarke signed on with Walker Racing in the Firestone Indy Lights series, the top feeder series to IndyCar. He joined the team at the second race of the season at Barber Motorsports Park. Clarke finished 7th in points with a pair of second-place finishes at Toronto and Mid-Ohio. After a slow start learning the car and working with the team, Dan scored a 4th place finish in his first outing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Freedom 100 and then went on to a successful 2nd half of the season with two 2nd place finishes at Toronto and Mid Ohio, five top-5s and 7 top-10s. Finishing up 7th in the series points.

2011 He will be running in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.

Motorsports Career Results

American Open-Wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Champ Car

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points
2006	CTE-HVM Racing	LBH 11	HOU Ret	MTY 13	MIL 8	POR 6	CLE 7	TOR Ret	EDM 9	SJO Ret	DEN 3	MTL 4	ROA 6	SRF Ret	MXC Ret	12th	175
2007	Minardi Team USA	LVS Ret	LBH 12	HOU Ret	POR 9	CLE 11	MTT Ret	TOR Ret	EDM 8	SJO Ret	ROA 2	ZOL DNP	ASN 11	SRF Ret	MXC Ret	13th	129

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Rank	Points
2010	Walker Racing	STP	ALA 7	LBH 13	INDY 4	IOW 9	WGL 13	TOR 2	EDM 5	MDO 2	SNM 13	CHI 5	KTY 10	HMS 17	7th	304

Complete A1 Grand Prix 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	12	13	14	DC	Points
2008–09	Great Britain	NED SPR	NED FEA	CHN SPR	CHN FEA	MYS SPR	MYS FEA	NZL SPR 12	NZL FEA 12	RSA SPR	RSA FEA	POR SPR 11	POR FEA 7	GBR SPR 13	GBR SPR 7	10th	28

External links

• Official web site
• Official Twitter page
• Speedy Dan Youtube channel

Sporting positions
Preceded by Joey Foster	Formula Ford Festival Winner 2004	Succeeded by Duncan Tappy

Persondata
Name	Clarke, Dan
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1983
Place of birth	Mexborough, South Yorkshire
Date of death
Place of death