Jan Magnussen facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jan Magnussen
Magnussen at the 2017 Petit Le Mans
Born	Jan Ellegaard Magnussen (1973-07-04) 4 July 1973 (age 51) Roskilde, Denmark
Racing licence	FIA Gold
Formula One World Championship career Nationality Danish Active years 1995, 1997–1998 Teams McLaren, Stewart Entries 25 (24 starts) Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Career points 1 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First entry 1995 Pacific Grand Prix Last entry 1998 Canadian Grand Prix
NASCAR Cup Series career 1 race run over 1 year Best finish 63rd (2010) First race 2010 Toyota/Save Mart 350 (Infineon Raceway) Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
24 Hours of Le Mans career Years 1999 – Starts as of 2018: 20 races Teams Panoz, Audi Sport Japan Team Goh, Corvette Racing Best finish 4th (2003), (2006) Class wins 4 (2004, 2005, 2006, 2009)
Champ Car career 11 races run over 2 years Team(s) Marlboro Team Penske (1996) Hogan Penske Racing (1996) Patrick Racing (1999) Best finish 24th – 1996, 1999 First race 1996 Miller 200 (Mid-Ohio) Last race 1999 Honda Indy 300 (Surfers Paradise) Wins Podiums Poles 0 0 0 Statistics current as of 5 June 2012.

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.

Career history

Lower series racing

Jan Magnussen, Silverstone British F3 1994

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 14 of the 18 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

He 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.

For 1997–1998 he 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.

Magnussen driving the No. 11 Panoz LMP-1 at the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans

In 1999 he participated in seven CART races. In 1999 and 2000 he raced in the American Le Mans Series with Panoz. 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. Jan Magnussen won the 2008 GT1 and 2013 GT drivers' championships, both with Corvette Racing.

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.

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

In 2005, Magnussen drove a Toyota Corolla in the Danish Touring Car Championship.

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.

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 12th 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.

2011 Rolex Sports Car

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-10s.

The No. 63 Corvette C7.R belonging to Magnussen, Garcia, and Rockenfeller at the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans

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 he won Aurum 1006 km endurance race in Lithuania, driving a Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3 Evo.

On 16 September 2024 it was announced that Magnussen will 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 Formula One for Haas, having also competed in the sport for McLaren and Renault. Kevin mentioned that his father was his first hero when he was a child.

His nephew Dennis Lind, is also a racing driver.

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 Le Mans results
Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class pos.
1999	Panoz Motorsports	Johnny O'Connell Max Angelelli	Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S-Ford	LMP	323	11th	9th
2000	Panoz Motorsports	David Brabham Mario Andretti	Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S-Élan	LMP900	315	15th	8th
2001	Panoz Motorsports	David Brabham Franck Lagorce	Panoz LMP07-Élan	LMP900	85	DNF	DNF
2002	Panoz Motor Sports	David Brabham Bryan Herta	Panoz LMP01 Evo-Élan	LMP900	90	DNF	DNF
2003	Audi Sport Japan Team Goh	Seiji Ara Marco Werner	Audi R8	LMP900	370	4th	2nd
2004	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta	Chevrolet Corvette C5-R	GTS	345	6th	1st
2005	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	GT1	349	5th	1st
2006	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin Olivier Beretta	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	GT1	355	4th	1st
2007	Corvette Racing	Johnny O'Connell Ron Fellows	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	GT1	342	6th	2nd
2008	Corvette Racing	Johnny O'Connell Ron Fellows	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	GT1	344	14th	2nd
2009	Corvette Racing	Johnny O'Connell Antonio García	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	GT1	342	15th	1st
2010	Corvette Racing	Johnny O'Connell Antonio García	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	GT2	225	DNF	DNF
2011	Corvette Racing	Oliver Gavin Richard Westbrook	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	GTE Pro	211	DNF	DNF
2012	Corvette Racing	Antonio García Jordan Taylor	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	GTE Pro	326	23rd	5th
2013	Corvette Racing	Antonio García Jordan Taylor	Chevrolet Corvette C6.R	GTE Pro	312	19th	4th
2014	Corvette Racing	Antonio García Jordan Taylor	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	GTE Pro	338	14th	2nd
2015	Corvette Racing	Antonio García Ryan Briscoe	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	GTE Pro	0	DNS	DNS
2016	Corvette Racing - GM	Antonio García Ricky Taylor	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	GTE Pro	336	25th	7th
2017	Corvette Racing - GM	Antonio García Jordan Taylor	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	GTE Pro	340	19th	3rd
2018	Corvette Racing - GM	Antonio García Mike Rockenfeller	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	GTE Pro	342	18th	4th
2019	Corvette Racing	Antonio García Mike Rockenfeller	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	GTE Pro	337	28th	8th
2020	JMW Motorsport	Richard Heistand Max Root	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	GTE Am	335	30th	6th
2021	High Class Racing	Anders Fjordbach Kevin Magnussen	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	336	29th	17th
2023	Inter Europol Competition	Anders Fjordbach Mark Kvamme	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	117	DNF	DNF
				LMP2 Pro-am

24 Hours of Daytona

(key)

24 Hours of Daytona results
Year	Class	Team	Car	Co-drivers	Laps	Position	Class pos.
2005	DP	Doran Racing	Pontiac-Doran	Bobby Labonte Bryan Herta Terry Labonte	675	9 DNF	9 DNF
2006	GT	The Racer's Group	Pontiac GTO.R	Paul Edwards Kelly Collins Andy Pilgrim	633	26	13
2007	DP	SunTrust Racing	Pontiac Riley DP	Wayne Taylor Max Angelelli Jeff Gordon	666	3	3
2008	GT	Banner Racing	Pontiac GXP.R	Paul Edwards Kelly Collins	647	17	7
2009	GT	Banner Racing	Pontiac GXP.R	Paul Edwards Kelly Collins	689	12	4
2010	GT	Stevenson Motorsports	Chevrolet Camaro GT.R	Robin Liddell Andrew Davis	683	11	4
2011	GT	Stevenson Motorsports	Chevrolet Camaro GT.R	Robin Liddell Ronnie Bremer	629	26	12
2012	DP	Spirit of Daytona Racing	Corvette DP	Antonio García Oliver Gavin Richard Westbrook	629	8	8
2013	GT	Stevenson Motorsports	Chevrolet Camaro GT.R	John Edwards Robin Liddell Tommy Milner	595	36 DNF	23 DNF
2014	GTLM	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	Antonio García Ryan Briscoe	329	60 DNF	10 DNF
2015	GTLM	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	Antonio García Ryan Briscoe	725	4	1
2016	GTLM	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	Antonio García Mike Rockenfeller	722	8	2
2017	GTLM	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	Antonio García Mike Rockenfeller	652	8	4
2018	GTLM	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	Antonio García Mike Rockenfeller	781	13	3
2019	GTLM	Corvette Racing	Chevrolet Corvette C7.R	Antonio García Mike Rockenfeller	563	16	6

Supercars Championship

† Withdrew due to licence problems

Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Team	Car	Co-driver	Position	Laps
2003	Team Dynamik	Holden Commodore VY	Nicolas Minassian	11th	158

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