Dan Clarke

Dan Clarke
Dan Clarke
	Clarke at Silverstone in 2005
Nationality	British
Born	4 October 1983 (age 41); Mexborough, South Yorkshire, England
Achievements	2004 Formula Ford Festival Winner
Champ Car career
	27 races run over 2 years
Years active	2006–2007
Team(s)	CTE Racing-HVM (2006); Minardi Team USA (2007)
Best finish	12th – 2006
First race	2006 Grand Prix of Long Beach (Long Beach)
Last race	2007 Gran Premio Tecate (Mexico City)
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
	1 race run over 1 year
2011 position	87th
Best finish	87th (2011)
First race	2011 Zippo 200 (Watkins Glen)
	Statistics current as of 29 May 2012.
Previous series
2010; 2009; 2007; 2006; 2005; 2004; 2003; 2002; 2001	Firestone Indy Lights; A1 Grand Prix; Champ Car World Series; Champ Car World Series; British F3; UK Formula Ford; UK Formula Ford; UK FFord Jnr; BRDC FFord

Daniel Clarke (born 4 October 1983) is a British auto racing driver, 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.

Early career

A veteran of British Formula Ford where he won the Formula Ford Festival in 2004, Clarke moved up the British Formula 3 Championship in 2005 in a team part owned by Kimi Räikkönen of Räikkönen Robertson Racing, and finished 5th overall, taking the team's first win at Castle Combe and setting the circuit outright lap record which he still holds.

2006 & 2007 – Champ Car and Beyond

After a series of 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 Nelson Philippe.

He finished 6th at Portland International Raceway and 7th at Burke Lakefront Airport, where he was battling for 2nd with Mario Domínguez when they collided on the penultimate lap. Dan also competed 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 & Red Bull Racing 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 E. J. 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 Portimão, 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.

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

In 2011, Clarke competed in a NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Watkins Glen International, finishing 39th following an engine failure.^[1]

2023

Clarke returned to professional racing in 2023, taking part in the Porsche Carrera Cup North America for the Nolasport team.^[2]

Motorsports career results

American open-wheel racing results

(key)

Champ Car

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points	Ref
2006	CTE-HVM Racing	LBH 11	HOU 16	MTY 13	MIL 8	POR 6	CLE 7	TOR 17	EDM 9	SJO 16	DEN 3	MTL 4	ROA 6	SRF 17	MXC 18	12th	175	^[3]
2007	Minardi Team USA	LVS 15	LBH 12	HOU 17	POR 6	CLE 11	MTT 14	TOR 12	EDM 8	SJO 17	ROA 2	ZOL Wth	ASN 11	SRF 17	MXC 17	13th	129	^[4]

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

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Nationwide Series

NASCAR Nationwide Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	NNSC	Pts	Ref
2011	Means Motorsports	52	Chevy	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	TEX	TAL	NSH	RCH	DAR	DOV	IOW	CLT	CHI	MCH	ROA	DAY	KEN	NHA	NSH	IRP	IOW	GLN 39	CGV	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	DOV	KAN	CLT	TEX	PHO	HOM	87th	5	^[5]

References

^ "Clarke soaks up Nationwide atmosphere on debut". Racer. 17 August 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
^ Dagys, John (6 March 2023). "Clarke, Merrill Confirmed in Two-Car Nolasport Effort". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 16 March 2023.
^ "Dan Clarke – 2006 Champ Car World Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
^ "Dan Clarke – 2007 Champ Car World Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
^ "Dan Clarke – 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved 25 April 2023.

External links

Official website
Dan Clarke driver statistics at Racing-Reference

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

[1] "Clarke soaks up Nationwide atmosphere on debut". Racer. 17 August 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2012.

[2] Dagys, John (6 March 2023). "Clarke, Merrill Confirmed in Two-Car Nolasport Effort". Sportscar365. John Dagys Media. Retrieved 16 March 2023.

[3] "Dan Clarke – 2006 Champ Car World Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 14 August 2023.

[4] "Dan Clarke – 2007 Champ Car World Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 14 August 2023.

[5] "Dan Clarke – 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved 25 April 2023.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]