Franck Montagny

Franck Montagny
Franck Montagny
Born	January 5, 1978 (age 48); Feurs, Loire, France
Occupation(s)	Racing driver (retired), pit lane analyst, expert commentator
Years active	1988–2014 (racing)
Known for	Formula One driver for Super Aguri in 2006, World Series by Nissan champion (2001, 2003)

Franck Montagny (born 5 January 1978) is a retired French racing driver who had a brief stint with the Super Aguri Formula One team during the 2006 campaign.

Early career

Hailing from Feurs, Loire, Montagny embarked on his karting journey in 1988. He claimed victory in the cadet division of the French Karting Championship in 1992, followed by winning the National 1 category in 1993.

At just 16 years old, he transitioned to car racing in 1994, capturing the French Renault Campus title. Over the subsequent two years, he competed in Formula Renault, securing fourth place as the top newcomer in his debut year and placing sixth despite missing half the season due to injuries sustained in a Le Mans accident. In 1997, Montagny progressed to French Formula Three with the La Filière team running Martini chassis, finishing fourth overall in his rookie year.

Formula Three breakthrough

Montagny's significant breakthrough arrived in 1998 when he achieved several pole positions, including at Spa-Francorchamps, outpacing established competitors such as Mark Webber and Luciano Burti. He also secured pole position at the esteemed Zandvoort Masters event in the Netherlands, surpassing German F3 champion Nick Heidfeld. Demonstrating consistent pace superior to teammate Sébastien Bourdais, Montagny amassed 10 victories and 12 poles across 22 races, ultimately finishing second behind David Saelens in the championship standings.

Formula 3000 and sports cars

In 1999, Montagny advanced to Formula 3000 with the DAMS squad, which was experiencing a decline from its former dominance. His highlight was a podium finish at the Hungaroring, concluding the season tenth overall with six points. He capped off the year by winning the Elf Masters Karting event at Paris-Bercy.

Following another underwhelming Formula 3000 campaign, Montagny switched to the World Series by Nissan in 2001 with Epsilon by Graff. There, he dominated by winning eight out of sixteen races and clinching the championship ahead of rival Tomas Scheckter. The subsequent year saw him join Racing Engineering, where he finished runner-up to Ricardo Zonta. Additionally, he competed with Oreca at the Le Mans 24 hours, securing sixth place.

Renault and Jordan

Montagny returned to World Series by Nissan competition in 2003 driving for Gabord Competicion. He captured his second title by winning nine races, edging out competitor Heikki Kovalainen. This success earned him a testing role with the Renault Formula One team, where his performance secured him a test driver position in 2003 and later a third driver role during both the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Notably, during Friday practice at the 2005 European Grand Prix, he impressed as Jordan’s third driver by outperforming regular drivers Narain Karthikeyan and Tiago Monteiro.

In 2004, Montagny took on responsibilities as chief test and development driver for the newly established Renault-powered GP2 Series, sharing this role with former F1 competitor Allan McNish. His contributions were instrumental in enhancing both vehicle performance and drivability within the series. Early in the 2006 GP2 season, he conducted testing for the newly created team FMS International, aiding their drivers with car setup at Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

Super Aguri

In 2006, Montagny initially joined Super Aguri as the third driver but was elevated to a race seat in May following the demotion of Yuji Ide due to lack of experience. He made his racing debut at the 2006 European Grand Prix, where he qualified last and retired because of hydraulic problems. At the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix, Montagny again retired after advancing three positions early in the race, while at the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix, he completed the event in 16th place, three laps behind the leader.

Between the British Grand Prix and the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix, Montagny secured second place at the Le Mans 24 Hours driving for Pescarolo Sport, finishing behind only the dominant factory Audi R10s. This achievement made him the first active Formula One driver since Mark Blundell in 1995 to compete at Le Mans within the same year.

On 12 July, Super Aguri replaced Montagny with Sakon Yamamoto starting from the 2006 German Grand Prix. Due to only two SA06 cars being available, Montagny missed two races but returned as a third driver at the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix after a third chassis was prepared during the summer break.

Toyota

In September 2006, Montagny participated in testing for Toyota F1 at Silverstone. The following month, Toyota announced him as their test driver for the 2007 season, succeeding both Olivier Panis and Ricardo Zonta. After completing a year in this role, Montagny parted ways with Toyota following a test session at the Circuit de Catalunya in November. He remained keen on securing a Formula One race seat and was rumored to be linked with Renault F1 for 2010; however, Renault ultimately signed Vitaly Petrov instead.

After Formula One

Montagny took part in the final event of the Champ Car World Series at Long Beach in April 2008, finishing second behind Australian driver Will Power. In June of that year, he achieved a third-place finish at the 2008 24 Hours of Le Mans, co-driving the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP alongside teammates Ricardo Zonta and Christian Klien.

He made his debut in the American Le Mans Series with Andretti Green Racing during the 2008 Northeast Grand Prix, piloting an Acura ARX-01B. The following year, Montagny entered the IndyCar Series for his first race at the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma, again representing Andretti Green Racing.

Superleague Formula

Montagny signed on to drive for the Girondins de Bordeaux team during the 2010 season.

Formula E

In May 2014, it was announced by Andretti Autosport that Montagny would compete for them in the inaugural season of the FIA Formula E Championship, spanning 2014–15. He secured a podium finish in Beijing and accumulated 18 points over two events but was replaced by Jean-Éric Vergne for the Punta del Este race. Subsequently, Montagny revealed that he tested positive for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, following the Putrajaya round. In March 2015, he received a two-year suspension from racing and was disqualified from his initial fifteenth-place finish at Putrajaya.

Current life

Currently, Montagny works as a pit lane analyst and expert commentator for French television broadcasts.

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
	British Formula 3 Championship		1	0	0	12	18th
	Macau Grand Prix		1	0	0	N/A	DNF
	Masters of Formula 3		1	0	0	N/A	14th

Season	Series	Team Name	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Position
1999	align=left \|1999 International Formula 3000 season	rowspan=3 align=left \|DAMS	10	0	0	6	12th
	align=left \|American Le Mans Series - LMP	1	0	0	0	NC
	align=left \|1999 24 Hours of Le Mans	1	0	0	N/A	DNF
2000	align=left \|2000 International Formula 3000 season	rowspan=2 align=left \|DAMS	10	0	0	5	15th
2000	align=left \|2000 24 Hours of Le Mans	1	0	0	N/A	19th
2001	align=left \|2001 Open Telefonica by Nissan season	align=left \|Barazi-Epsilon by Graff Racing	18	8	7	221	1st
2001	align=left \|2001 24 Hours of Le Mans	align=left \|Oreca Viper Team Oreca	1	0	0	N/A	DNF
2002	align=left \|2002 World Series by Nissan season	align=left \|Racing Engineering	18	3	4	222	2nd
	align=left rowspan=2 \|FIA Sportscar Championship - SR1 / 2002 24 Hours of Le Mans	rowspan=2 align=left \|Oreca Team Oreca	1	0	0	15 / N/A	15th /6th
	2003	align=left \|2003 World Series by Nissan season	Gabord Competición	17	4	9	241	1st
2004	align=left \|2004 Formula One season	align=left \|Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	colspan=5 \| Test driver
2005	rowspan=2 align=left \|2005 Formula One season	align=left \|Mild Seven Renault F1 Team	colspan=5 rowspan=2 \| Test driver
	align=left \|Jordan Grand Prix
	align=left \|2005 24 Hours of Le Mans	align=left \|Audi PlayStation Team Oreca	1	0	0	N/A	4th
2006	align=left \|2006 Formula One season	align=left \|Super Aguri F1	7	0	0	0	27th
2006	align=left \|2006 24 Hours of Le Mans	align=left \|Pescarolo Sport	1	0	0	N/A	2nd
2007	align=left \|2007 Formula One season	align=left \|Panasonic Toyota Racing	colspan=5 \| Test driver
2007–08	align=left \|2007-08 A1 Grand Prix season	align=left \|A1 Team France	4	0	0	118**	4th**
2008	align=left \|2008 Champ Car World Series season	align=left \|Forsythe/Pettit Racing	1	0	0	N/A†	N/A†
	align=left \|2008 American Le Mans Series season#LMP2 class	align=left \|Andretti Green Racing	7	1	2	90	11th
	align=left \|2008 24 Hours of Le Mans	align=left \|Peugeot Sport Total	1	0	0	N/A	3rd
2009	align=left \|2009 IndyCar Series season	align=left \|Andretti Green Racing	1	0	0	12	38th
	- row span = "4" !2010	! American Le Mans Series - LMP1	Peugeot Sport Total	---					NC
	! Le Mans 24 Hours	---
! Intercontinental Le Mans Cup	---
! Superleague Formula	! Girondins de Bordeaux	!12		0	1	372**	11th**
- row span = "2" !2011	! American Le Mans Series - LMP1	Peugeot Sport Total		---					NC
! Le Mans 24 Hours	---					3rd			NC
- row span = "2" !2012	! International V8 Supercars Championship	Peugeot Sport Total	! Kelly Racing	!2	0	0	0	NC‡
! 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

** Team standings
† Championship merged into the IndyCar Series after one race.
‡ Not eligible for points

24 Hours of Le Mans Performance

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Vehicle	Category	Completed Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
Template:24hLM	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Courage Compétition	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Henri Pescarolo Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Olivier Grouillard	Courage C36-Porsche	LMP1	304	15th	4th
Template:24hLM	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Team DAMS	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Christophe Tinseau Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall David Terrien	Lola B98/10-Judd	LMP	77	DNF	DNF
Template:24hLM	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Team DAMS	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Éric Bernard Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Emmanuel Collard	Cadillac Northstar LMP	LMP900	300	19th	9th
Template:24hLM	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Viper Team Oreca	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Yannick Dalmas Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Stéphane Sarrazin	Chrysler LMP	LMP900	126	DNF	DNF
Template:24hLM	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall PlayStation Team Oreca	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Stéphane Sarrazin Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Nicolas Minassian	Dallara SP1-Judd	LMP900	359	6th	5th
Template:24hLM	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Audi PlayStation Team Oreca	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Jean-Marc Gounon Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Stéphane Ortelli	Audi R8	LMP1	362	4th	4th
Template:24hLM	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Pescarolo Sport	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Sébastien Loeb Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Éric Hélary	Pescarolo C60 Hybrid-Judd	LMP1	376	2nd	2nd
Template:24hLM	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Peugeot Sport Total	Template:Country data BRA Template:Namespace detect showall Ricardo Zonta Template:Country data AUT Template:Namespace detect showall Christian Klien	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	LMP1	379	3rd	3rd
Template:24hLM	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Peugeot Sport Total	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Sébastien Bourdais Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Stéphane Sarrazin	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	LMP1	381	2nd	2nd
Template:24hLM	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Peugeot Sport Total	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Nicolas Minassian Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Stéphane Sarrazin	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP	LMP1	264	DNF	DNF
Template:24hLM	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Peugeot Sport Total	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Stéphane Sarrazin Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall Nicolas Minassian	Peugeot 908	LMP1	353	3rd	3rd
Template:24hLM	Template:Country data FRA Template:Namespace detect showall OAK Racing	Template:Country data AUT Template:Namespace detect showall Dominik Kraihamer Template:Country data BEL Template:Namespace detect showall Bertrand Baguette	=OAK Racing#Sportscar racing and Le Mans results OAK Pescarolo 01 Evo-Judd	LMP1	219	DNF	DNF

Full American Le Mans Series Performance

Season	Team	Category	Vehicle	Powertrain	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final Position	Total 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 Template:Small 3 \| LNB \| LIM \| MOS \| MID \| AME \| BAL \| style="background:#FFFFBF;" \| (2011 Petit Le Mans) PET Template:Small \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n	colspan=3\|	NC	–
2012 American Le Mans Series	nowrap\| Level 5 Motorsports	P2	nowrap\| HPD ARX-03b	nowrap\| Honda HR28TT 2.8 L Turbo V6	2012 12 Hours of Sebring	2012 American Le Mans Series at Long Beach	style="background:#FFFFBF;" \| 2012 American Le Mans Monterey 2	2012 Northeast Grand Prix	2012 Grand Prix of Mosport	2012 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge	style="background:#DFFFDF;" \| 2012 Road Race Showcase	style="background:#DFDFDF;" \| 2012 Baltimore Sports Car Challenge	style="background:#EFCFFF;" \| 2012 American Le Mans Series at VIR	2012 Petit Le Mans	colspan=2\|	NC	–

Full International Formula 3000 Results

(key)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final Position	Points Scored
1999	DAMS	IMO 10th	MON 9th	CAT Retired	MAG 7th	SIL 6th	A1R 12th	HOC 6th	HUN 3rd	SPA Retired	NÜR 9th	12th overall	6 points
2000	DAMS	IMO Retired	SIL 7th	CAT 6th	NÜR Retired	MON 6th	MAG 4th	A1R 17th	HOC Retired	HUN 12th	SPA Retired	15th overall	5 points

Full Open Telefónica/World Series by Nissan Results

(key)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Final Standing	Total Points
2001	Epsilon by Graff	JAR 1 1st	JAR 2 1st															Champion	211
2002	Racing Engineering	VAL1 1 2nd	VAL1 2 1st	JAR 1 2nd	JAR 2 12th	ALB 1 5th	ALB 2 4th	MZA 1 2nd	MZA 2 1st	MAG 1 3rd	MAG 2 1st	CAT 1 5th	CAT 2 4th	VAL2 1 7th	VAL2 2 5th	CUR 1 6th	CUR 2 2nd	INT 1 1st	INT 2 3rd	Runner-up	204 total points, with 18 points dropped from a total of 222.

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
Template:F1	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				–	–
Template:F1	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	–	–

Template:F1	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
Template:F1	Super Aguri F1 Team	Super Aguri SA06	Honda V8												GER	HUN	TUR Template:Small TD	"[[2006 Italian Grand Prix ITA]" Template:Small TD \|"[[ Chinese Grand Prix CHN]" Template:Small TD	"[[JapaneseGrandPrixJPN]" Template:Small TD	"[[BrazilianGrandPrixBRA]" Template:Small TD \|			27th	0

Full A1 Grand Prix Performance

(key)

Season	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Final Position	Total Points
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 place	118 points

Results in American Open-Wheel Racing

(key)

IndyCar Series

Year	Team Name	Chassis Model	Car Number	Engine Manufacturer	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Race 7	Race 8	Race 9	Race 10	Race 11	Race 12	Race 13	Race 14	Race 15	Race 16	Race 17	Race 18	Race 19	Championship Standing	Points Scored
2008	Forsythe/Pettit Racing	Panoz	7	Cosworth	HMS	STP	MOT¹	LBH¹ 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	[[2014 Indianapolis 500 ]]	[[2014 Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix ]]	[[2014 Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix ]]	[[2014 Firestone 600 ]]	[[2014 Grand Prix of Houston ]]	[[2014 Grand Prix of Houston ]]	[[2014 Pocono IndyCar 500 ]]	[[2014 Iowa Corn Indy 300 ]]	[[2014 Honda Indy Toronto ]]	[[2014 Honda Indy Toronto ]]	[[2014 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio ]]	[[2014 ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 ]]	[[2014 GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma ]]	[[2014 MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships ]]	36th ! style="background:#CFCFFF;" \| 8 \|

¹ Events conducted on the same day.

² Exhibition race without championship points awarded.

Superleague Formula

(legend) (Races shown in italics denote fastest lap)

Year	Team	Operator	1			2			3			4			5			6			7			8			9			10			11			12			Final Standing	Total Points
2010	Girondins de Bordeaux	Barazi-Epsilon	SIL			ASS			MAG			JAR			NÜR			ZOL			BRH			ADR			POR			ORD			BEI †			NAV			11th	372
2010	Girondins de Bordeaux	Barazi-Epsilon	D	8	X	14	3	X	10	14	X	17	1	X	15	2																							11th	372

^† Event not counting towards championship standings.

Complete Formula E results

(legend) (Pole positions are shown in bold; fastest laps are in italics)

Year	Team	Chassis Model	Power Unit	1st Race	2nd Race	3rd Race	4th Race	5th Race	6th Race	7th Race	8th Race	9th Race	10th Race	11th Race	Overall Position	Championship Points
2014–15	Andretti Autosport	"Spark" SRT01-e	SRT01-e	2014 Beijing ePrix 2	2014 Putrajaya ePrix DSQ										16th	18