Photo: Ian Simpson
Mike Gardner’s GT Motorsport team has attracted the signature of former Formula 1 driver Jan Magnussen, with the Dane joining its line-up for the Walter Hayes Trophy.
This will mark the second time in recent years the 51-year-old has been attracted back to Formula Ford 1600, having contested the 2021 FFord Festival with Low Dempsey Racing and finished 11th from 24th on the grid in a modern car.
For the WHT, which takes place at Silverstone in November, Magnussen will drive a Van Diemen RF78 that been newly prepared by GT Motorsport and he will use the same Duckhams livery that adorned his winning car from the 1992 FFord Festival. That year he was also runner-up in the British FFord championship.
After his original graduation from FF1600, Magnussen moved up to the Formula Opel Lotus Euroseries and British Formula 3, dominating the latter in 1994, then juggled duties in 1995 as he was picked up by Mercedes-AMG to race in the DTM and for its F1 customer team McLaren for the Pacific Grand Prix.
His 24-race F1 career only featured one points finish, and there were two top-10 results from his 11-race run in IndyCar which was also predominantly done with Mercedes power. His final IndyCar outing in 1999 marked his last single-seater race prior to his FF1600 comeback at Brands Hatch three years ago.
Magnussen established himself in sportscars in the 2000s, becoming a four-time Le Mans 24 Hours class winner as well as winning the Daytona 24 Hours and two IMSA titles in the GTLM class.
After his FFord Festival return, Magnussen raced in Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia and TCR Denmark, coming fourth in the latter last year.
His WHT team-mate will be former Isle of Man TT sidecar racer and FF1600 regular Craig Currie, who will race a Crossle 30F.