Introduction
Ben Barnicoat (born 20 December 1996) is a British racing driver who is a McLaren Automotive Customer Racing Factory Driver. He was also 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.
Racing record
Career summary
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | FLaps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Protyre Formula Renault Autumn Cup | Fortec Motorsports | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 96 | 1st |
| 2014 | Formula Renault 2.0 NEC | Fortec Motorsports | 15 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 258 | 1st |
| Formula Renault 2.0 Alps | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 14th | ||
| Protyre Formula Renault Championship | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 60 | 13th | ||
| Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC† | ||
| 2015 | Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 | Fortec Motorsports | 17 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 174 | 4th |
| Formula Renault 2.0 Alps | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | NC† | ||
| BRDC Formula 4 Autumn Trophy | 8 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 211 | 1st | ||
| 2016 | FIA Formula 3 European Championship | Hitech GP | 30 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 134 | 9th |
| Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup | Belgian Audi Club Team WRT | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |
| 2017 | Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup | Strakka Racing | 10 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 29th |
| Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 43rd | ||
| Intercontinental GT Challenge | McLaren | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 9th | |
| Pirelli World Challenge | K-PAX Racing | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 140 | 19th | |
| SprintX GT Championship Series | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 140 | 7th | ||
| 2018 | British GT Championship - GT4 | Track-Club | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 43 | 13th |
| Balfe Motorsport/PMW Expo Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup | Garage 59 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 24th | |
| Intercontinental GT Challenge | McLaren | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 22nd | |
| 2019 | European Le Mans Series | Thunderhead Carlin Racing | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 25th |
| International GT Open | Teo Martín Motorsport | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 43rd | |
| International GT Open - Pro-Am | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 21st | ||
| 2019-20 | Asian Le Mans Series | Thunderhead Carlin Racing | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 82 | 2nd |
As Barnicoat was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
Complete FIA Formula 3 European Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | DC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | HitechGP | Mercedes | LEC1 4 |
LEC2 Ret |
LEC3 11 |
HUN1 9 |
HUN2 10 |
HUN3 1 |
PAU1 1 |
PAU2 5 |
PAU3 11 |
RBR1 10 |
RBR2 15 |
RBR3 5 |
NOR1 5 |
NOR2 Ret |
NOR3 DSQ |
ZAN1 18 |
ZAN2 8 |
ZAN3 9 |
SPA1 3 |
SPA2 11 |
SPA3 20 |
NÜR1 9 |
NÜR2 Ret |
NÜR3 10 |
IMO1 8 |
IMO2 Ret |
IMO3 13 |
HOC1 18 |
HOC2 9 |
HOC3 7 |
9th | 134 |
Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pos. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Strakka Racing | McLaren 650S GT3 | Pro | MISQR 22 |
MISCR 18 |
BRHQR 6 |
BRHCR 10 |
ZOLQR 10 |
ZOLCR 28 |
HUNQR 20 |
HUNCR 24 |
NÜRQR Ret |
NÜRCR 25 |
29th | 2 |
Complete British GT Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Track-Club | McLaren 570S GT4 | GT4 | OUL1 14 |
OUL2 18 |
ROC1 28 |
SNE1 16 |
SNE2 Ret |
SIL1 | SPA1 DNS |
BRH1 | 13th | 43 | |
| Balfe Motorsport/PMW Expo Racing | DON1 Ret |
Complete European Le Mans Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Thunderhead Carlin Racing | LMP2 | Dallara P217 | Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 | LEC 11 |
MNZ 11 |
CAT 9 |
SIL Ret |
SPA |
ALG Ret |
25th | 3 |