# Franck Montagny

Franck Montagny (born 5 January 1978) is a French former racing driver. He briefly raced for the Super Aguri Formula One team in 2006.

## Early career

Born in Feurs, Loire, Montagny started racing karts there in 1988, winning the cadet class in the French Karting Championship in 1992, and the National 1 class the following year.
He made his debut in cars in 1994, aged 16, promptly winning the French Renault Campus championship. The next two years were spent in Formula Renault, with finishes in fourth (the highest-finishing rookie that year) and sixth (despite missing half the season with multiple fractures obtained in an accident at Le Mans) respectively, before transferring up to French Formula Three in 1997 with the La Filière Martini team, debuting with another fourth place championship finish.

## Formula Three breakthrough

Montagny had a breakthrough year in Formula Three in 1998, including a pole position at the Spa-Francorchamps race ahead of much more experienced drivers including Mark Webber, Luciano Burti, Enrique Bernoldi and Peter Dumbreck. He repeated the feat in the Zandvoort Masters in the Netherlands later that year, beating then German Formula Three champion Nick Heidfeld. He consistently outpaced long-time teammate Sébastien Bourdais and ended the season with 10 wins from 22 races, including 12 pole positions, finishing the championship as runner-up behind David Saelens.

## Formula 3000 and sports cars

Montagny moved up to Formula 3000 in 1999, driving for the DAMS team which was falling from its peak by then. One podium finish at the Hungaroring was his main success; he totalled only 6 points and tenth place that season. He however ended the year with success in the Elf Masters Karting at Paris-Bercy.
A repeat of his unsuccessful year in Formula 3000 prompted a move to World Series by Nissan in 2001, signing for the Epsilon by Graff team. He won 8 races out of a possible 16, and beat Tomas Scheckter to the championship. He changed teams for 2002 to Racing Engineering, but was beaten into second place in the championship by Ricardo Zonta. He supplemented this with a sixth-place finish for Oreca at the Le Mans 24 hours.

## Formula One
### Renault and Jordan

Montagny returned to the World Series by Nissan in 2003 with Gabord Competicion, and secured his second championship title with nine victories, ahead of Heikki Kovalainen. This performance earned him a test with the Renault Formula One team, in which he impressed sufficiently to earn a contract as a test driver in 2003, moving up to become third driver during the 2004 & 2005 seasons. He did an impressive one-off for Jordan as third driver on the Friday of the 2005 European Grand Prix, clocking a quicker time than Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro, the official Jordan drivers.
In mid-2004, as part of his Renault F1 testing duties, Montagny became the chief test and development driver for the new GP2 Series, which would be powered by Renault engines. Montagny was the first driver to take the wheel of the car, and along with former F1 driver and ex-Renault F1 tester and Friday driver Allan McNish, divided testing duties between them, before the GP2 Series was officially launched in 2005. Much of the success of the championship and the drivability of the car has been placed on the development skills of Montagny. This was further evidenced at the start of the 2006 GP2 Series season, when Montagny was called in to test for the newly created FMS International team, to aid them and their drivers in understanding the complexities of the car, at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia, Spain, where Montagny had put in hundreds of testing laps in his time with Renault F1.

### Super Aguri

For 2006, Super Aguri took Montagny on as third driver; however, he was promoted to full race driver in May after it was announced that Yuji Ide was to drop back into testing; Ide was demoted at the behest of the governing body who considered him insufficiently experienced for Formula One. Montagny hence competed in his first Grand Prix, the 2006 European Grand Prix on 7 May, qualifying last and retiring with a hydraulics problem. He did not finish his second race 2006 Spanish Grand Prix: after a great start, enabling him to gain 3 positions, he retired on lap 10 with a mechanical failure. It was third time lucky for him at the Monaco Grand Prix, when he finished the 78-lap race in 16th place, three laps behind the leader.
During the break between the British Grand Prix and the Canadian Grand Prix, Montagny was able to participate in the Le Mans 24 Hours, finishing second for Pescarolo Sport behind only the dominating Audi factory R10s. He was the first active Formula One driver to also participate at Le Mans in the same year since Mark Blundell in 1995.
On 12 July, Super Aguri announced that Sakon Yamamoto would replace him from the German Grand Prix onwards. Montagny did not appear in his role as third driver for the next two weekends as only two Super Aguri SA06s were available but a third chassis was prepared during the summer break enabling him to reprise this role at the Turkish Grand Prix.

### Toyota

Montagny tested for Toyota F1 in September 2006 at Silverstone. A month later, Toyota confirmed that he would join the team as test driver for the 2007 season, as Olivier Panis and Ricardo Zonta were leaving the team. After spending 2007 as a test driver, Montagny left the team after a test at the Circuit de Catalunya in November. He was still interested in gaining a drive in F1, and had been linked with the Renault F1 team for the 2010 season, but Renault signed Vitaly Petrov.

## After Formula One

Montagny competed in the final Champ Car World Series race, held at the Long Beach circuit on April 20, 2008. He finished second in his first appearance in a race in the United States, five seconds behind Australian Will Power. In June, he drove the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP at the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans and finished in the third place with Ricardo Zonta and Christian Klien.
Montagny made his debut in the American Le Mans Series with Andretti Green Racing at the 2008 Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park in July 2008, driving an Acura ARX-01B.
He made his IndyCar Series debut in 2009 at the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma at Infineon Raceway with Andretti Green Racing.

### Superleague Formula

Montagny has signed up to drive the Girondins de Bordeaux entry in the Superleague Formula for the 2010 season.

### Formula E

In May 2014, Andretti Autosport announced that Montagny would race for them in the inaugural season of the FIA Formula E Championship in 2014–15. He raced for the team in Beijing and Putrajaya, scoring a podium in Beijing and scoring 18 points overall in the two races. However, he was replaced in Punta del Este by Jean-Éric Vergne. It was not immediately known why, but Montagny later admitted that he tested positive for benzoylecgonine, a cocaine derivative after the Putrajaya ePrix. In March 2015, Montagny was given a two-year ban from racing, and was also disqualified from the Putrajaya race, in which he initially placed fifteenth.

### Current life

Montagny now works as a pit lane summariser and expert for French television.

## Racing record
### Career summary

| Season | Series | Team Name | Races | Poles | Wins | Points | Position |
| 1994 | Formula Renault Campus France | ? | ? | ? | 3 | 284 | 1st |
| 1995 | Formula Renault France | La Filière | 14 | 0 | 1 | 70 | 4th |
| 1996 | Formula Renault France | La Filière | 8 | 0 | 2 | 74 | 6th |
| 1997 | French Formula 3 Championship | La Filière | 17 | 1 | 4 | 129 | 4th |
| 1997 | British Formula 3 Championship | La Filière | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 18th |
| 1997 | Macau Grand Prix | La Filière | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | DNF |
| 1997 | Masters of Formula 3 | La Filière | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 14th |
| 1998 | French Formula Three | La Filière | 22 | 12 | 10 | 226 | 2nd |
| 1998 | Le Mans 24 Hours - LMP1 | La Filière | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 5th |
| 1998 | Macau Grand Prix | La Filière | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | DNF |
| 1998 | Masters of Formula 3 | La Filière | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 6th |
| 1999 | International Formula 3000 | DAMS | 10 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 12th |
| 1999 | American Le Mans Series - LMP | DAMS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 1999 | Le Mans 24 Hours | DAMS | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | DNF |
| 2000 | International Formula 3000 | DAMS | 10 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 15th |
| 2000 | Le Mans 24 Hours | DAMS | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 19th |
| 2001 | Open Telefónica by Nissan | Epsilon by Graff | 18 | 8 | 7 | 221 | 1st |
| 2001 | Le Mans 24 Hours | Viper Team Oreca | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | DNF |
| 2002 | World Series by Nissan | Racing Engineering | 18 | 3 | 4 | 222 | 2nd |
| 2002 | FIA Sportscar Championship - SR1 | Team Oreca | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15th |
| 2002 | Le Mans 24 Hours | Team Oreca | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 6th |
| 2003 | World Series by Nissan | Gabord Competición | 17 | 4 | 9 | 241 | 1st |
| 2004 | Formula One | Mild Seven Renault F1 Team | Test driver | Test driver | Test driver | Test driver | Test driver |
| 2005 | Formula One | Mild Seven Renault F1 Team | Test driver | Test driver | Test driver | Test driver | Test driver |
| 2005 | Formula One | Jordan Grand Prix | Test driver | Test driver | Test driver | Test driver | Test driver |
| 2005 | Le Mans 24 Hours | Audi PlayStation Team Oreca | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 4th |
| 2006 | Formula One | Super Aguri F1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27th |
| 2006 | Le Mans 24 Hours | Pescarolo Sport | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 2nd |
| 2007 | Formula One | Panasonic Toyota Racing | Test driver | Test driver | Test driver | Test driver | Test driver |
| 2007–08 | A1 Grand Prix | France | 4 | 0 | 0 | 118** | 4th** |
| 2008 | Champ Car World Series | Forsythe/Pettit Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A† | N/A† |
| 2008 | American Le Mans Series - LMP2 | Andretti Green Racing | 7 | 1 | 2 | 90 | 11th |
| 2008 | Le Mans 24 Hours | Team Peugeot Total | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 3rd |
| 2009 | IndyCar Series | Andretti Green Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 38th |
| 2009 | American Le Mans Series | Team Peugeot Total | 2 | 0 | 1 | 56 | 9th |
| 2009 | Le Mans 24 Hours | Team Peugeot Total | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 2nd |
| 2010 | American Le Mans Series - LMP1 | Team Peugeot Total | 1 | 0 | 1 | N/A | NC |
| 2010 | Le Mans 24 Hours | Team Peugeot Total | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | NC |
| 2010 | Intercontinental Le Mans Cup | Team Peugeot Total | 2 | 0 | 2 | N/A | NC |
| 2010 | Superleague Formula | Girondins de Bordeaux | 12 | 0 | 1 | 372** | 11th** |
| 2011 | American Le Mans Series - LMP1 | Peugeot Sport Total | 2 | 0 | 1 | N/A | NC |
| 2011 | Le Mans 24 Hours | Peugeot Sport Total | 1 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 3rd |
| 2012 | International V8 Supercars Championship | Kelly Racing | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC‡ |
| 2012 | Le Mans 24 Hours | OAK Racing | 1 | 0 | 1 | N/A | DNF |
| 2014 | IndyCar Series | Andretti Autosport | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 36th |
| 2014–15 | Formula E | Andretti Autosport Formula E Team | 2 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 16th |
| Source: ||||||||
** Team standings † Championship merged into the IndyCar Series after one race. ‡ Not Eligible for points

### Sportscar racing
#### 24 Hours of Le Mans results

| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
| 1998 | Courage Compétition | Henri Pescarolo Olivier Grouillard | Courage C36-Porsche | LMP1 | 304 | 15th | 4th |
| 1999 | Team DAMS | Christophe Tinseau David Terrien | Lola B98/10-Judd | LMP | 77 | DNF | DNF |
| 2000 | Team DAMS | Éric Bernard Emmanuel Collard | Cadillac Northstar LMP | LMP900 | 300 | 19th | 9th |
| 2001 | Viper Team Oreca | Yannick Dalmas Stéphane Sarrazin | Chrysler LMP | LMP900 | 126 | DNF | DNF |
| 2002 | PlayStation Team Oreca | Stéphane Sarrazin Nicolas Minassian | Dallara SP1-Judd | LMP900 | 359 | 6th | 5th |
| 2005 | Audi PlayStation Team Oreca | Jean-Marc Gounon Stéphane Ortelli | Audi R8 | LMP1 | 362 | 4th | 4th |
| 2006 | Pescarolo Sport | Sébastien Loeb Éric Hélary | Pescarolo C60 Hybrid-Judd | LMP1 | 376 | 2nd | 2nd |
| 2008 | Peugeot Sport Total | Ricardo Zonta Christian Klien | Peugeot 908 HDi FAP | LMP1 | 379 | 3rd | 3rd |
| 2009 | Team Peugeot Total | Sébastien Bourdais Stéphane Sarrazin | Peugeot 908 HDi FAP | LMP1 | 381 | 2nd | 2nd |
| 2010 | Team Peugeot Total | Nicolas Minassian Stéphane Sarrazin | Peugeot 908 HDi FAP | LMP1 | 264 | DNF | DNF |
| 2011 | Peugeot Sport Total | Stéphane Sarrazin Nicolas Minassian | Peugeot 908 | LMP1 | 353 | 3rd | 3rd |
| 2012 | OAK Racing | Dominik Kraihamer Bertrand Baguette | OAK Pescarolo 01 Evo-Judd | LMP1 | 219 | DNF | DNF |
| Sources: ||||||||

#### Complete American Le Mans Series results

| Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Rank | Points |
| 1999 | DAMS | LMP | Lola B98/10 | Judd GV4 4.0 L V10 | SEB | ATL | MOS | SON | POR | PET Ret | MON | LSV | | | | | NC | 0 |
| 2000 | Motorola DAMS | LMP | Cadillac Northstar LMP | Cadillac Northstar 4.0 L Turbo V8 | SEB | CHA | SIL | NÜR 5 | SON | MOS | TEX | ROS | PET | MON | LSV | ADE | 40th | 20 |
| 2008 | Andretti Green Racing | LMP2 | Acura ARX-01b | Acura 3.4L V8 | SEB | STP | LNB | UTA | LIM 5 | MID 7 | AME 7 | MOS 4 | DET 1 | PET 7 | MON 1 | | 11th | 90 |
| 2009 | Team Peugeot Total | LMP1 | Peugeot 908 HDi FAP | Peugeot HDi 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel) | SEB 2 | STP | LNB | UTA | LIM | MID | AME | MOS | PET 1 | MON | | | 9th | 56 |
| 2010 | Team Peugeot Total | LMP1 | Peugeot 908 HDi FAP | Peugeot HDi 5.5 L Turbo V12 (Diesel) | SEB | LNB | MON | UTA | LIM | MID | AME | MOS | PET 1 | | | | NC | – |
| 2011 | Peugeot Sport Total | LMP1 | Peugeot 908 | Peugeot HDi 3.7 L Turbo V8 (Diesel) | SEB 3 | LNB | LIM | MOS | MID | AME | BAL | MON | PET 1 | | | | NC | – |
| 2012 | Level 5 Motorsports | P2 | HPD ARX-03b | Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6 | SEB | LNB | MON 2 | LIM | MOS | MID | AME | BAL | VIR | PET | | | NC | – |

### Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | DC | Points |
| 1999 | DAMS | IMO 10 | MON 9 | CAT Ret | MAG 7 | SIL 6 | A1R 12 | HOC 6 | HUN 3 | SPA Ret | NÜR 9 | 12th | 6 |
| 2000 | DAMS | IMO Ret | SIL 7 | CAT 6 | NÜR Ret | MON 6 | MAG 4 | A1R 17 | HOC Ret | HUN 12 | SPA Ret | 15th | 5 |
| Sources: ||||||||||||||

### Complete Open Telefónica/World Series by Nissan results

(key)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | DC | Points |
| 2001 | Epsilon by Graff | JAR 1 1 | JAR 2 1 | EST 1 5 | EST 2 4 | ALB 1 9 | ALB 2 1 | VAL1 1 Ret | VAL1 2 1 | MZA 1 Ret | MZA 2 1 | MAG 1 1 | MAG 2 1 | CAT 1 5 | CAT 2 1 | VAL2 1 2 | VAL2 2 Ret | | | 1st | 211 |
| 2002 | Racing Engineering | VAL1 1 2 | VAL1 2 1 | JAR 1 2 | JAR 2 12 | ALB 1 5 | ALB 2 4 | MZA 1 2 | MZA 2 1 | MAG 1 3 | MAG 2 1 | CAT 1 5 | CAT 2 4 | VAL2 1 7 | VAL2 2 5 | CUR 1 6 | CUR 2 2 | INT 1 1 | INT 2 3 | 2nd | 204 |
| 2003 | Gabord Competición | JAR1 1 1 | JAR1 2 1 | ZOL 1 Ret | ZOL 2 1 | MAG 1 1 | MAG 2 1 | MZA 1 1 | MZA 2 13 | LAU 1 1 | LAU 2 2 | A1R 1 7 | A1R 2 1 | CAT 1 1 | CAT 2 5 | VAL 1 3 | VAL 1 DNS | JAR2 1 Ret | JAR2 2 Ret | 1st | 241 |

### Complete Formula One results

(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | WDC | Points |
| 2003 | Mild Seven Renault F1 Team | Renault R23 | Renault V10 | AUS | MAL | BRA | SMR | ESP | AUT | MON | CAN | EUR | FRA TD | GBR | GER | HUN | ITA | USA | JPN | | | | – | – |
| 2005 | Jordan Grand Prix | Jordan EJ15 | Toyota V10 | AUS | MAL | BHR | SMR | ESP | MON | EUR TD | CAN | USA | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | TUR | ITA | BEL | BRA | JPN | CHN | – | – |
| 2006 | Super Aguri F1 Team | Super Aguri SA05 | Honda V8 | BHR | MAL | AUS | SMR | EUR Ret | ESP Ret | MON 16 | GBR 18 | CAN Ret | USA Ret | FRA 16 | | | | | | | | | 27th | 0 |
| 2006 | Super Aguri F1 Team | Super Aguri SA06 | Honda V8 | | | | | | | | | | | | GER | HUN | TUR TD | ITA TD | CHN TD | JPN TD | BRA TD | | 27th | 0 |
| Sources: |||||||||||||||||||||||||

### Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(key)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | DC | Points | Ref |
| 2007–08 | France | NED SPR | NED FEA | CZE SPR | CZE FEA | MYS SPR | MYS FEA | CHN SPR | CHN FEA | NZL SPR | NZL FEA | AUS SPR | AUS FEA | RSA SPR | RSA FEA | MEX SPR | MEX FEA | CHN SPR 12 | CHN FEA 8 | GBR SPR 10 | GBR FEA 5 | 4th | 118 | |
| Source: |||||||||||||||||||||||||

### American open–wheel racing results

(key)

#### IndyCar Series

| Year | Team | Chassis | No. | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Rank | Points |
| 2008 | Forsythe/Pettit Racing | Panoz | 7 | Cosworth | HMS | STP | MOT$^1$ | LBH$^1$ 2 | KAN | INDY | MIL | TXS | IOW | RIR | WGL | NSH | MDO | EDM | KTY | SNM | DET | CHI | SRF$^2$ | 40th | 0 |
| 2009 | Andretti Green Racing | Dallara | 25 | Honda | STP | LBH | KAN | INDY | MIL | TXS | IOW | RIR | WGL | TOR | EDM | KTY | MDO | SNM 20 | CHI | MOT | HMS | | | 38th | 12 |
| 2014 | Andretti Autosport | Dallara DW12 | 26 | Honda | STP | LBH | ALA | IMS 22 | INDY | DET | DET | TXS | HOU | HOU | POC | IOW | TOR | TOR | MDO | MIL | SNM | FON | | 36th | 8 |
    $^1$ Run on same day.
    $^2$ Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

### Superleague Formula

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Operator | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | Position | Points | Ref |
| 2010 | Girondins de Bordeaux | Barazi-Epsilon | SIL | SIL | SIL | ASS | ASS | ASS | MAG | MAG | MAG | JAR | JAR | JAR | NÜR | NÜR | NÜR | ZOL | ZOL | ZOL | BRH | BRH | BRH | ADR | ADR | ADR | POR | POR | POR | ORD | ORD | ORD | BEI † | BEI † | BEI † | NAV | NAV | NAV | 11th | 372 | |
| 2010 | Girondins de Bordeaux | Barazi-Epsilon | D | 8 | X | 14 | 3 | X | 10 | 14 | X | 17 | 1 | X | 15 | 2 | X | | | | 5 | 14 | X | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 11th | 372 | |
    $^†$ Non-championship event.

### Complete Formula E results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Chassis | Powertrain | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos | Points |
| 2014–15 | Andretti Autosport | Spark SRT01-e | SRT01-e | BEI 2 | PUT DSQ | PDE | BUE | MIA | LBH | MCO | BER | MSC | LDN | LDN | 16th | 18 |
| Sources: |||||||||||||||||