Ben Barnicoat
Ben Barnicoat (born 20 December 1996) is a British racing driver who currently serves as a McLaren factory racing driver, while also competing in the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship for Project 1 Motorsport. He has previously raced in the 2020 FIA Formula 3 Championship, and was a part of the McLaren young driver programme from 2010 to 2015. Career. Karting. Born in Chesterfield, Barnicoat began his racing career in karting at the age of nine. In 2007 he clinched the WTP Cadet Open and Motors TV Cadet Karting Championship titles as well as becoming WTP "Little Green  Man" Vice Champion. In 2008 he graduated to KF3 category in which he participated in the MSA Formula Kart Starts championship and Kartmasters GP. He did remarkably well in both, securing 4th in Formula Kart Stars and 7th at Kartmasters. Ben returned the year after and won Kartmasters GP, Formula Kart Stars and finished Vice-Champion in the Super One Junior Championship. By 2012, Barnicoat had claimed the CIK-FIA KF2 European Championship too. In 2015 Barnicoat claimed the Kart Masters GP Trophy in both the Senior Rotax and Iame X30 class, becoming the first driver to take two Kart  Masters Championships in one day. Barnicoat has since continued to compete in the Kart Masters event and is now the most successful driver with 9 titles to his name. Claiming Snr X30 in 2017/18/19 and snr rotax too in 2019. Formula Renault. In 2013 Barnicoat made his début in single-seaters, taking part in the Protyre Formula Renault Autumn Cup for Fortec Motorsports, and won the cup with two wins. Barnicoat continued his collaboration with Fortec into 2014, competing in the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC and Formula Renault 2.0 Alps series. European Formula 3. On 15 November 2015, it was  announced that Barnicoat would race with Prema Powerteam for the 2016 season. However it was later announced that Barnicoat would race with HitechGP after being removed from the Prema Powerteam by Lawrence Stroll. Sportscar career. Since joining McLaren as a factory driver in 2017, Barnicoat has proven himself to be a GT ace with podiums and race wins across the Intercontinental GT Challenge, GT World Challenge Europe, Pirelli World Challenge & the British GT Championship in both GT3 and GT4 McLaren Machinery. In 2019 Barnicoat also made his LMP2 debut with the Thunderhead Carlin Motorsport where he had pole positions and  race wins across the 2019 European Le Mans Series & 2019 Asian Le Mans Series. FIA Formula 3 Championship. On 30 July 2020, Carlin Buzz Racing announced that Enaam Ahmed and his sponsors had separated from the team, and that Barnicoat would be replacing him at the team. In four races, he scored one point, a 10th place finish in the first race of Silverstone. Other racing activities. On 20 November 2021, Barnicoat raced a BriSCA F1 Stock Car at Skegness Stadium. He won the Consolation event, which allowed qualification for the meeting Final event, in which he finished in second  place. Racing record. Career summary. As Barnicoat was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points. Complete GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup results. Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance. Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results. Season still in progress. Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results. Season still in progress.