Brits on Pole

Darren Manning’s early promise showed when he was a finalist for the McLaren Autosport BRDC Driver of the Year Award, but his success didn’t come cheaply - his parents sold their house to fund his career, and later he worked at Silverstone as driving instructor while sleeping on friends’ sofas.

In 1999 he won the Macau Grand Prix, becoming the first driver since Ayrton Senna to win the race, the pole and set the fastest lap, and went on to test for the Williams F1 team. He spent 2000-02 as a BAR Honda test driver before making his Champ Car debut when the series visited the UK to race at Rockingham. He competed in CART for Walker Racing, then in the IRL for Target Chip Ganassi Racing in 2004-05.

These days he competes for AJ Foyt Racing in the IRL, but has also found time to line up for Team GBR in A1GP, the Daytona 24 Hours for Samax, and the European Le Mans Series for Embassy.

Darren Manning has lost his Indycar drive at Foyt Racing to Vitor Meira, the Brazilian who found himself suddenly out of work when Brit Dan Wheldon jumped from Target Chip Ganassi.

In part two of Brits On Pole’s exclusive interview with Indycar and Le Mans Series driver Darren Manning he talks about his plans for the future and how driving a prototype sports car around Silverstone is very different from the violence of the IRL.

The 1000km of Silverstone saw Indy Car driver Darren Manning return from the United States to compete for Embassy racing. He took time out after Saturday qualifying to chat with Brits On Pole about his career, his future plans, and how Formula One is failing fans and drivers.

While F1 was slip-sliding around a rain-soaked Monza on Saturday, BritsOnPole was at sunny Silverstone interviewing one of the most versatile British drivers in motor sport, Darren Manning.

Scott Dixon lost the Indy 300 to Helio Castroneves by the second closest margin in IRL history - but his runner-up spot was easily enough to crown him champion in a thrilling final race of the season.

Helio Castroneves can still win the IndyCar Series championship tonight - but he’s going to have to do it the hard way.

After seven second places, a season full of frustrations and a trailer fire that destroyed his first-choice car, Helio Castroneves finally managed to take the chequered flag first and win an IndyCar Series race.

Not even the destruction of their first-choice race cars in a fire could stop Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe from seizing the front row in qualifying for the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma County.

Darren Manning’s mid-season excursion away from American Indycar racing and into European Le Mans Series competition has begun with a success - a fourth place at the Nurburgring, seconds short of his team’s first podium.

Scott Dixon’s seemingly-unstoppable march to this year’s IRL championship continued in Kentucky with a last lap overtake of the luckless Helio Castroneves to take victory in the Meijer Indy 300.