Darren Manning

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Darren Manning
Manning (left) and car owner A.J. Foyt at the 2007 Indianapolis 500
Nationality	United Kingdom
Date of Birth	April 30, 1975 (1975-04-30) (age 33)
Place of Birth	Knaresborough, England
2008 IRL IndyCar Series
Debut season	2004
Current team	A. J. Foyt Enterprises
Car No.	14
Former teams	Chip Ganassi Racing
Starts	48
Wins	0
Poles	0
Best finish	11th in 2004
Previous series
2000 2002 2002-2003 2006-2007	Formula 3000 ASCAR CART A1 Grand Prix

Darren Manning (born April 30, 1975) is a motor racing driver from Knaresborough, England. He currently races in the Indy Racing League series for A.J. Foyt Enterprises.

Contents 1 Career history 1.1 Early career 1.2 International career 2 Motorsports Career Results 2.1 American Open-Wheel 2.1.1 IndyCar 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Career history

[edit] Early career

Darren 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 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, but he did achieve two wins including at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix support race.

[edit] 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 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 F1 team as a test driver whilst also racing in the FIA International Formula 3000 championship for Arden Team Russia.

In 2002 he competed in the ASCAR (now SCSA) championship. He also made 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, 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 November 14, 2006, Manning was named the driver of the A.J. Foyt Enterprises #14 car in the IRL IndyCar series for the 2007 season, marking his return to the league after a one year absence.^[1] 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.

[edit] Motorsports Career Results

[edit] American Open-Wheel

[edit] IndyCar

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2004	Ganassi	HMS 6	PHX 5	MOT 4	INDY Ret	TXS 8	RIR Ret	KAN 11	NSH 4	MIL Ret	MIS 13	KTY 10	PPIR 4	NZR 6	CHI Ret	FON DNS	TX2 INJ				11th	323
2005	Ganassi	HMS 6	PHX 8	STP 9	MOT 8	INDY Ret	TXS 17	RIR Ret	KAN 7	NSH Ret	MIL Ret	MIS	KTY	PPIR	SNM	CHI	WGL	FON			21st	186
2007	Foyt	HMS Ret	STP 12	MOT 12	KAN 11	INDY 20	MIL 11	TXS Ret	IOW 5	RIR 14	WGL 9	NSH 9	MDO 6	MIS Ret	KTY 13	SNM 12	DET 4	CHI Ret			13th	332
2008	Foyt	HMS 13	STP 13	MOT1 8	LBH1 DNP	KAN Ret	INDY 9	MIL 13	TXS Ret	IOW	RIR	WGL	NSH	MDO	EDM	KTY	SNM	DET	CHI	SRF2	19th*	119*

* 2008 season in progress

¹ Run on same day.

² Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)	Top 10s (Non-podium)	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
4	2	48	0	0	0	20	0	0

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official web site
• Indy Racing League stats page

Sporting positions
Preceded by Peter Dumbreck	All-Japan Formula Three Champion 1999	Succeeded by Sebastien Philippe
Preceded by Peter Dumbreck	Macau GP winner 1999	Succeeded by André Couto

v • d • e 2008 IndyCar Series season Teams Andretti Green Ganassi Penske RLR D & R Vision Panther 7 Patrick 11 Kanaan 26 M. Andretti 27 Mutoh 9 Dixon 10 Wheldon 3 Castroneves 6 Briscoe 17 Hunter-Reay 15 Rice 23 Duno/Bell 2 Foyt 20 Carpenter 4 Meira Foyt Roth Conquest N/H/L KV Racing Coyne HVM PCM 14 Manning 24 Howard/J. Andretti 25 Roth 34 Camara 36 Bernoldi 02 Wilson 06 Rahal 5 Servia 8 Power 18 Junqueira 19 Moraes 33 Viso 96 Dominguez Races Homestead • St. Pete • Motegi • Long Beach • Kansas • Indy 500 • Milwaukee • Texas • Iowa • Richmond •  Watkins Glen • Nashville • Mid-Ohio • Edmonton • Kentucky • Infineon • Belle Isle • Chicagoland • Surfers Paradise