Mark Blundell

Mark Blundell

Portrait of Blundell
Born	(1966-04-08) 8 April 1966 Barnet, London, England, UK
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	British
Active years	1991, 1993–1995
Teams	Brabham, Ligier, Tyrrell and McLaren
Entries	63 (61 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	3
Career points	32
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1991 United States Grand Prix
Last entry	1995 Australian Grand Prix

Mark Blundell (born 8 April 1966) is a British racing driver who competed in Formula One for 4 seasons, sports cars, and CART. Most notably, he won the 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans. He was a Formula One presenter for the British broadcaster ITV until the end of the 2008 season when the TV broadcasting rights switched to the BBC.

Background

Blundell was born in Barnet, London. He first dabbled in motor racing at the age of 14, racing motocross bikes across England. He was an immediate success, eventually becoming one of the top-ranked riders in Britain, winning a few championships. At the age of 17 he made the switch to four wheels in Britain's Formula Ford. Again, he was rewarded with instant success, and in his first season he placed second in both British Junior Formula Ford Championships (despite 25 wins and 24 poles). The following year, Mark won both the Esso British and Snetterton FF1600 crowns. The next year, he upgraded his ride to the more powerful FF2000 category, and promptly won the BBC Grandstand series. He even returned to FF1600 for the European Championship racing, taking pole, and finishing fourth overall. With 1986 came another championship in FF2000, this time the European title.

At this point in his career, Blundell decided it was time to take his continuing success, and move on to international racing. He bypassed the traditional stepping stone of Formula Three and started racing in Formula 3000.^[1] Despite having to cope with an underfunded and underpowered car, he showed incredible talent and strung together a series of promising results. He even started a few races at Formula Three for TOM'S-Toyota,^[1] showing ability there as well. 1988 meant a switch to the works Lola team in F3000, at that time one of the biggest teams in the series. In a closely contested season, Blundell managed a very respectable sixth place in the final standings.^[1]

Formula One

The following year, he made a deal with the sports car team at Nissan, landing a factory seat. He also managed a test drive with one of the top teams in Formula One – Williams. By 1990, Blundell had abandoned F3000 to concentrate on sports cars. That same year, he earned pole position at the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours race driving a Nissan R90CK. Blundell became the youngest driver to achieve pole position at the Le Mans 24 Hours, with a 6.040-second margin ahead of second place.^[2]

Blundell driving for McLaren at the 1995 British Grand Prix.

The year 1991 marked Blundell's transition into Formula One. His debut season saw a sixth place in Belgium with the Brabham Yamaha team. He also maintained his testing deal with Williams. The following season however, he was not retained by the cash-strapped Brabham team, and was left without a race seat in Formula One. He did, however, sign a testing deal with McLaren. Whilst being a full-time tester for McLaren, he also continued to race sports cars. That year, with the factory Peugeot outfit, he won the Le Mans 24 Hours, adding to his earlier pole.

1993 saw the return of Mark Blundell to the pinnacle of motorsport. A drive with Ligier netted him his first two podium finishes in South Africa and Germany. He finished tenth in the final World Championship standings. It was a one-year deal with Ligier, however, and in 1994 he signed with Tyrrell. It was not as successful a year as '93, and Blundell managed only one podium finish in the 1994 Spanish Grand Prix, which was the last Formula One podium finish for Tyrrell. At the end of the season, owing to lack of sponsorship, Tyrrell released him. This would prove to be a blessing in disguise, as the retirement of Nigel Mansell meant a return to McLaren for Blundell, this time, in a race seat. Teamed with future two-time world champion Mika Häkkinen, Blundell recorded five points finishes and once again took tenth in the final standings. 1995 also saw continued success in sports cars with a fourth place showing in Le Mans, but was Mark Blundell's final year in Formula One, as the signing of David Coulthard by McLaren meant that Mark would have to find a job somewhere else.

Blundell achieved 3 podiums, and scored a total of 32 championship points.

CART

Out of Formula One, Blundell moved to the U.S. and joined the CART racing team PacWest Racing, with fellow former Formula One driver Maurício Gugelmin of Brazil alongside. A crash in the early stages of the season in Rio resulting in a broken foot and ankle forced Blundell to miss several races. Despite this, Mark was third in the rookie standings with three top six finishes in the U.S. 500, Detroit Grand Prix, and Michigan International Speedway races.

1997 was a breakout year. Blundell came within one corner of winning the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix before running out of fuel, an event he described at the time as the worst disappointment of his career. In the very next race, he powered past Gil de Ferran on the final straight to win the Grand Prix of Portland by 0.027 seconds. Blundell recorded further race victories in Toronto and Fontana en route to sixth in the championship. That year he was also named British Driver of the Year by Autosport magazine.

1998 was not a year for the books, and a massive crash early in 1999 left him to languish at the bottom of the table. He returned to PacWest for a final season in 2000. However, another disappointing season – 18 pts, 21st overall – lead to a mutual split with PacWest racing.

From driving to commentating

Blundell again crossed the Atlantic to focus on his sports car racing. He failed to finish Le Mans with the MG Lola team, though he and his team-mates impressed. Off-track, Blundell joined ITV television in Britain as an analyst for the 2002 Formula One season. This position lasted until the end of the 2008 Formula One season when ITV lost coverage to the BBC.

Since 2001, Blundell's racing involvement has steadily declined, with only the occasional event. He did test a Dale Coyne Champ Car to help prepare Darren Manning for a one-off in the first CART race in Britain at Rockingham, and raced in the British round of the World Rally Championship.

2003 saw great success in sports cars. Along with Johnny Herbert and David Brabham, he finished second at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, completing a 1–2 sweep by Bentley. He also finished third at the 12 Hours of Sebring, finishing top among the Bentleys.

Blundell also spends time running a management company, MB Partners, who handle the contracts of such people as McLaren test driver Gary Paffett and British Formula 3 champion and Indycar driver Mike Conway. The name refers to the fact that it was founded by Blundell and former team-mate Martin Brundle, who stepped down from the company in January 2009.^[3]

In a newspaper article in 2011, Blundell was openly critical of oval racing in general, and of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar World Championship, which had claimed the life of Dan Wheldon.^[4]

Helmet

Blundell's Helmet is yellow with three red stripes and two yellow gaps in the middle, a blue stripe in the entire chin area and a blue circle on the top with his golden initials on it. The rear of his helmet bears the motto "The Will To Win" - a quote from his grandfather.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

Complete Japanese Formula 3000 Championship results

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

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1989	Nissan Motorsports	Julian Bailey Martin Donnelly	Nissan R89C	C1	5	DNF	DNF
1990	Nissan Motorsports International	Julian Bailey Gianfranco Brancatelli	Nissan R90CK	C1	142	DNF	DNF
1992	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Derek Warwick Yannick Dalmas	Peugeot 905 Evo 1B	C1	352	1st	1st
1995	GTC Gulf Racing	Ray Bellm Maurizio Sandro Sala	McLaren F1 GTR	GT1	291	4th	3rd
2001	MG Sport & Racing Ltd.	Julian Bailey Kevin McGarrity	MG-Lola EX257	LMP675	92	DNF	DNF
2002	MG Sport & Racing Ltd.	Julian Bailey Kevin McGarrity	MG-Lola EX257	LMP675	219	DNF	DNF
2003	Team Bentley	David Brabham Johnny Herbert	Bentley Speed 8	LMGTP	375	2nd	2nd

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Complete CART results

(key)

Complete American Le Mans Series results

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mark Blundell.

• Official Website
• Mark Blundell at itv.com
• Mark 'git orf me barra' Blundell at www.planet-f1.com