JONNY KANE

Date of Birth: 14 May 1973
Place of Birth: Comber, Northern Ireland
Lives: Thame, Oxfordshire
Hobbies: Running, music

Jonny has a wealth of experience in single seater and sports car racing, having won the coveted British Formula Three Championship in 1997, and competed at Le Mans on no fewer than eight occasions.

As a 14-year-old, Jonny started in go-karting, winning the Irish 100cc championship in 1990 before he moved up to cars in 1991.  After winning four times in the Ireland Formula Ford 1600 series in 1991 he was champion in 1992 and made the switch to the British series where he finished seventh in 1993.

The European Formula Ford series beckoned in 1994, and he started to win some serious titles. That year he won the European title and the Formula Vauxhall winter series with Paul Stewart Racing.  In 1995 he won the Formula Vauxhall title, and his achievements were recognised as he was crowned the McLaren Autosport Young Driver of the Year.

He won the 1997 British Formula Three title after a fantastic season-long battle with Nicolas Minassian and moved up to Formula 3000.  He raced in America in 1999 and 2000, was the Arrows Formula One test driver in 2001, and that year debuted at Le Mans with MG.
Since then, he has established himself as a fast, reliable and fiercely competitive driver.

He raced the Audi Sport UK entered Audi R8 at the 12 hours of Sebring in 2003, as well as being reserve driver for Bentley at Le Mans.  He drove for TVR, Spyker, Aston Martin and was the A1 GP test driver in 2007 and 2008. He moved back into LMP2 with Embassy Racing in 2008, and was vice-champion in 2009 with the Speedy Racing team.

Jonny joined Strakka Racing in 2010 as the team sort to strengthen its driver line-up as it entered a new partnership with Honda Performance Development. He was the team’s regular starter, using his vast experience to hold position in the team’s HPD ARX-01c and avoid trouble at the most hazardous part of a race. His speed and precision helped the team to great success, which included pole, LMP2 victory and 5th overall at the Le Mans 24 Hours, plus an historic outright Le Mans Series win at the Hungaroring – a first for an LMP2 car.

Jonny signed a new three-year contract with Strakka Racing at the beginning of 2011 and continued with the team in the LMS. It was to be a character-building year for the entire Strakka Racing team, as the HPD ARX-01d now had to run with an air-restricted performance disadvantage. Despite this, Jonny helped the team finish runner-up in LMP2 for a second consecutive season.

In 2012, Jonny will race a new 3.4-litre normally aspirated V8 engined Strakka Racing HPD ARX-03a in the FIA World Endurance Championship.