Jan Magnussen

Jan Ellegaard Magnussen (born 4 July 1973) is a Danish professional racing driver and was a factory driver for General Motors until the end of the 2020 season. He has competed in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), NASCAR, the FIA Formula One World Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. With the Corvette Racing team, Magnussen won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in class on four occasions, in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2009, as well as the IMSA Sportscar Championship twice in 2017 and 2018. He also won the 2015 24 Hours of Daytona in the GTLM class.

Career history

Lower series racing

Born in Roskilde, Magnussen won the 1992 Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch, then dominated the 1994 British Formula 3 championship with Paul Stewart Racing, winning fourteen of the eighteen events and breaking Ayrton Senna's F3 record. Magnussen scored his first British F3 win that April at Donington Park, also taking pole for the race. He also won at Brands Hatch, twice at Silverstone, and at Thruxton. He won six of the first eight races. He then won again at Donington Park, and both season-ending rounds at Silverstone.

Major series racing

Magnussen made his Formula One debut at the 1995 Pacific Grand Prix in Aida, sitting in for Mika Häkkinen, who was unwell; becoming the first Danish to race in the category since Tom Belsø in 1974. In 1996, Magnussen drove in the CART series and International Touring Car Championship.[citation needed]

For 1997–1998, Magnussen had a seat in Formula One with the newly founded Stewart Grand Prix team, owned in part by his old F3 boss Paul Stewart. Team founder Jackie Stewart once described him as "the most talented young driver to emerge since Ayrton Senna", but his performance was underwhelming. He scored his only championship point in his last race in F1, the 1998 Canadian Grand Prix; for the rest of the season he was replaced by Jos Verstappen. Magnussen started 24 GPs, one less than he entered, because his car was damaged in an accident during the start of the 1997 Brazilian Grand Prix causing him to retire before the restart.[citation needed]

In 1999, Magnussen participated in seven CART races. In 1999 and 2000, he raced in the American Le Mans Series with Panoz. In 2001, he drove a Peugeot in Danish Touring Car series (DTC) and raced in eight ALMS races. 2002 he also raced for Peugeot in DTC and in ten ALMS races. Magnussen won the 2008 GT1 and 2013 GT drivers' championships, both with Corvette Racing.[citation needed]

Magnussen has participated in various classes in the 24 hours of Le Mans every year since 1999. His best results so far are the victories in the GTS class in 2004 and GT1 class in 2005, 2006, and 2009, each time in a Chevrolet Corvette with Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta as teammates in 2005 and 2006, and Johnny O'Connell and Antonio García in 2009.[citation needed]

Also, Magnussen has participated in the 12 Hours of Sebring every year since 1999, winning the GT1 class in 2006, 2008, and 2009.[citation needed]

In 2005, Magnussen drove a Toyota Corolla in the Danish Touring Car Championship.[citation needed]

Present day

Magnussen was still an active driver, competing in the Danish Touring Car Championship (DTC) until 2010 and in a Chevrolet Corvette C7.R in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with Antonio Garcia as teammate until 2019 – and in the 24 hours of Le Mans. In the Danish Touring Car series, he drove a Chevrolet Lacetti for Perfection Racing. He won the DTC in 2003 and 2008.[citation needed]

On 11 June 2010, it was announced that Magnussen would make his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut driving the No. 09 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing at Infineon Raceway. After starting 32nd on the grid, he finished in twelfth position.

On 14 June 2010, it was announced that Magnussen and Perfection Racing would not be participating in the DTC, leaving Magnussen and the team to focus on the Scandinavian Touring Car Cup's remaining two rounds.

Magnussen drove the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro with Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis in the 2010 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series season opener, the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Following the Rolex 24, he moved to the team's No. 97 car and competed in the majority of the races with Gunter Schaldach. Magnussen finished 24th in GT points and his best finish was second (Miller) with four top-tens.

On 7 November 2019, Magnussen was confirmed to drive in the inaugural TCR Denmark Touring Car Series for LM Racing in a VW Golf GTI TCR.

On 22 July 2023, Magnussen won Aurum 1006 km endurance race in Lithuania, driving a Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3 Evo.

On 16 September 2024, it was announced that Magnussen would take part in the Walter Hayes Trophy at Silverstone in November, driving a GT Motorsport-prepared Van Diemen RF78 in the same Duckhams colours that adorned his car at the 1992 Formula Ford Festival

Family

Magnussen's oldest son Kevin is also a racing driver currently competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with BMW, having previously competed in Formula One with Haas, McLaren and Renault. Kevin mentioned that his father was his first hero when he was a child.

Other racing drivers in Magnussen's family are his nephew Dennis Lind, and Jan's youngest son Luca.

Motorsports career results

British Formula Three

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

Formula One

(key)

† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he had completed over 90% of the race distance.

Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft

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

International Touring Car Championship

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

†– Did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

American open-wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest race lap)

CART

24 Hours of Le Mans

24 Hours of Daytona

(key)

Supercars Championship

† Withdrew due to licence problems

Bathurst 1000 results

European Touring Car Championship

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

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

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

† Magnussen did not complete sufficient laps in order to score full points. * Season still in progress.

Complete TCR Denmark Touring Car Series results

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

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

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

NASCAR

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

Sprint Cup Series

External links

• driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• career summary at DriverDB.com