Career
Biography
Race News
Other News
Photos
Team

Career summary

When he made his debut in Indy Lights in 1999 with Team KOOL Green, Jonny Kane had no less than seven motorsports championships to his name. Before moving to America, Jonny made a name for himself on the race tracks of Europe. His career path so far is very similar to the same successful route followed by Dario Franchitti and David Coulthard to the highest levels of open-wheel racing.

Jonny started racing in karts in Ireland in 1988 and in 1990 won the Irish 100 National Karting championship with 12 wins. He stepped up to race cars the following season and won the Irish Junior Formula Ford championship as well as one race in the British Formula Vauxhall Junior Championship.

Jonny went on to win the Irish Senior Formula Ford championship in 1992 and moved up to the highly competitive British Formula Ford championship for the next two seasons. He won the British Formula Ford title in 1994 with an incredible record of 13 wins, 11 poles and 12 fastest race laps. That same year Jonny also won the European Formula Ford Championship and the Formula Vauxhall Winter Series.

Paul Stewart Racing signed Jonny for the British Formula Vauxhall Championship in 1995 and he became the first rookie champion in the series history. That title, combined with a win in the European Formula Opel Championship, earned Jonny the prestigious BRDC McLaren/Autosport Young Driver of the Year award in 1995.

Jonny moved to the British Formula 3 championship with Stewart in 1996 and finished third in the series with three wins. The following season, he went on to win the British Formula 3 championship with three wins, five poles and four fastest race laps. He made four starts in a budget-limited Formula 3000 season in 1998 and decided to focus on the PPG-Dayton Indy Lights Championship.

Jonny visited teams at the 1998 Toronto and Michigan races and established a relationship with Green that culminated with a contract for the 1999 season which continued into 2000. His only previous Indy Lights experience came in a one-off test with Brian Stewart Racing at Big Spring, Texas, at the end of the 1997 season.

Career Highlights

Indy Lights

1999: PPG-Dayton Indy Lights Championship Rookie of the Year
1999: 1 win, 2 3rd places, 2 pole positions

Details...

Formula 3

1997 British Formula 3 Champion
1997: 3 wins, 4 pole positions, 4 fastest laps
1996: 3rd overall British Formula 3 Championship
1996: 3 wins, 5 pole positions, 5 fastest laps
1996: 2nd overall Marlboro Masters of F3

Formula Vauxhall

1995: British Formula Vauxhall Champion
1995: 5 wins, 6 pole positions, 5 fastest laps
1995: European Formula Opel - 1 win, 1 pole, 1 fastest lap
1994: Formula Vauxhall Winter Series Champion
1994: 3 wins, 3 pole positions, 3 fastest laps
1991: British Formula Vauxhall Junior - 1 win

Formula Ford

1994: European Formula Ford Champion
1994: European FFord - 3 wins, 4 poles, 5 fastest laps
1994: British FFord - 13 wins, 11 poles, 12 fastest laps
1993: British FFord - 7th overall
1992: Irish Senior Formula Ford Champion
1992: Irish FFord - 7 wins, 7 poles, 8 fastest laps
1992: British FFord - 1 win
1991: Irish Junior Formula Ford Champion
1991: Irish FFord - 4 wins, 5 poles, 5 fastest laps

Karting

1990: Irish 100 National Karting Champion
1990: 12 wins, 8 fastest laps