Andrew Kirkaldy (racing driver)

Andrew Kirkaldy
Andrew Kirkaldy
Born	March 1, 1976 (age 50); St Andrews, Scotland
Occupation(s)	Racing driver, Managing director of McLaren GT
Known for	Professional racing driver, Managing director of McLaren GT

Andrew Kirkaldy (born 1 March 1976 in St Andrews) is a British professional racing driver and currently serves as the managing director of McLaren GT.

Single-seaters

Kirkaldy's motorsport journey began in karting, where he secured the Scottish Junior Championship title in 1989 and later claimed the Senior Championship in 1993. He participated in the Formula Vauxhall series during 1996 and 1997, achieving second place overall in 1997. That same year, he was awarded the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, which granted him a testing opportunity with the McLaren Formula One team. In 1998, Kirkaldy finished as runner-up in the Euroseries Formula Opel championship. He subsequently competed in the British Formula Three Championship for two seasons, spanning 1999 and 2000.

Sports cars

In 2002, Kirkaldy secured second place in the Renault Clio Cup and made his initial appearance in the FIA GT Championship. He transitioned to the British GT Championship in 2004 and, alongside teammate Nathan Kinch, clinched the championship title in 2005 representing Scuderia Ecosse. That year also marked his debut at the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. Returning to FIA GT competition with Scuderia Ecosse in 2006, he raced in the GT2 category and later drove under his own banner, CRS Racing, during the 2008 season.

Team AKA & CRS Racing

In addition to his driving career, Kirkaldy established Team AKA in 2004, which competed for four seasons within the British Formula Renault Championship. The team achieved a runner-up position in the teams’ standings in 2006 and produced notable driver results including James Jakes finishing third in 2005 and Patrick Hogan securing second place in 2006. The team underwent rebranding to AKA Cobra in 2007 following sponsorship from Chris Niarchos.

Post-2007, Kirkaldy and Niarchos broadened their objectives by entering both the FIA GT and British GT Championship, parting ways with Scuderia Ecosse. The outfit was renamed CR Scuderia to reflect their adoption of Italian Ferrari grand tourers. By 2009, the team evolved into CRS Racing. Subsequently, CRS formed a partnership with McLaren focused on developing the GT3 variant of the McLaren MP4-12C, bolstering their presence within GT racing disciplines.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2005	Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall Scuderia Ecosse	Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall Nathan Kinch Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall Anthony Reid	Ferrari 360 Modena GTC	GT2	70	DNF	DNF
2006	Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall Scuderia Ecosse	Canada Chris Niarchos Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall Tim Mullen	Ferrari F430 GT2	GT2	311	17th	3rd
2007	Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall Scuderia Ecosse	Canada Chris Niarchos Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall Tim Mullen	Ferrari F430 GT2	GT2	241	DNF	DNF
2009	Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall JMW Motorsport	Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall Robert Bell Template:Country data GBR Template:Namespace detect showall Tim Sugden	Ferrari F430 GT2	GT2	320	23rd	4th