Andrew Kirkaldy | |
---|---|
Nationality | British |
Born |
St Andrews (Scotland) |
1 March 1976
FIA GT Championship GT2 career | |
Debut season | 2006 |
Current team | CRS Racing |
Car no. | 56 |
Former teams | Scuderia Ecosse |
Starts | 36 |
Wins | 4 |
Poles | 10 |
Best finish | 5th in 2009 |
Previous series | |
2007 2004–05 2004 2002 2002 2001 2001 1999–2000 1998 1996–97 |
Porsche Carrera Cup GB British GT Championship Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 FIA GT Championship N-GT Renault Clio Cup GB Atlantic Championship German Formula Three British Formula 3 Formula Opel Europe Formula Vauxhall |
Championship titles | |
2005 | British GT Championship GT2 |
Awards | |
1997 | McLaren Autosport Award |
Andrew Kirkaldy (born 1 March 1976 in St Andrews) is a British racing driver and Managing Director of McLaren GT.
Kirkaldy began his career competing in karting, winning the Scottish Junior Championship in 1989 and the Scottish Senior Championship in 1993. He raced in the Formula Vauxhall championship in 1996 and 1997, finishing runner-up in 1997. He also won the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award in that year, which earnt him a prize test with the McLaren Formula One team. He was runner-up in Euroseries Formula Opel in 1998. He raced in the British Formula Three Championship in 1999 and 2000.
In addition to finishing runner-up in the Renault Clio Cup in 2002, Kirkaldy made his FIA GT Championship debut. In 2004 he moved to the British GT Championship, winning the series in 2005 with teammate Nathan Kinch for Scuderia Ecosse. He also made his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut in 2005 for the team. He returned to the FIA GT Championship in 2006 with Scuderia Ecosse, racing in the GT2 class. In 2008, he drove for his CRS Racing team in the championship.
As well as his racing career, Kirkaldy is a successful team principal, founding his own Team AKA team in 2004. The team ran for four seasons in the British Formula Renault Championship, ending up with a second in the 2006 teams championship. The team also achieved two top-three drivers championship positions with James Jakes, who was third in 2005, and Patrick Hogan, who was second in 2006 only after losing a tie-breaker to Sebastian Hohenthal. In 2007 Chris Niarchos approached Kirkaldy with sponsoring of Team AKA in their fourth season of the British Formula Renault Championship, with the two having previously been team-mates on the Scuderia Ecosse team which competed in the FIA GT Championship. Team AKA then became known as AKA Cobra.