Robert Kagan

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Robert Kagan (born 26th March 1955 in Chelmsford, Essex) is a British former racing driver known for his long career in Formula One. Over the span of his 12 year career, Kagan drove for several teams - most notablyTyrrell and March - but would have the most success with Ken Tyrrell's eponymous outfit. In his five seasons at Tyrrell, Kagan would amass 56 points and 4 podiums including his only career victory at the 1981 German Grand Prix.

Formula One

1977: British F1 Team

After spending the first half of the year desperately attempting to seek out a drive with little success, Kagan would make his Formula One debut at the 1977 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, for the British F1 Team. Kagan and team-mate Stephen South would fail to make the grid due to the team's privateer nature, and lack of understanding of the privateer March 761 cars. The inaugural running of the non-championship Tony Brise Memorial Trophy, a race organised for those who had failed to pre-qualify for the British Grand Prix, would follow main qualifying on Saturday. Starting his first ever Formula One race from second position, but an outstanding drive would see him overtake polesitter John Watson's Shadow on his way to victory.

1977-: Tyrrell

This result attracted the attention of Tyrrell, who were growing disillusioned with Héctor Rebaque. After Rebaque was fired following the race after another underwhelming performance, Kagan signed a contract that same day to race for the team from the Dutch Grand Prix onward. Another impressive drive would see Kagan finish his debut race for Tyrrell in 7th position, higher than Rebaque had finished all season.

Kagan was retained by Tyrrell for 1978. Kagan would open the season with a strong 7th place in the Argentine Grand Prix but would fail to improve on that in the first half of the season. After matching his seasonal best with another finish just outside the points at the British Grand Prix, Kagan would then score his first career points finish at the French Grand Prix as attrition from the front-runners saw the Briton take fourth place, only 8 seconds behind his teammate Didier Pironi. His season however suffered a setback as in Germany, Kagan crashed hard at the Ostkurve and missed the next three rounds, where he was replaced by regular March driver Tom Pryce.

1987-1990: March, Benetton & Brabham

By 1987, Kagan had joined the March team and was partnered by Ivan Capelli. Both drivers would have a good season, with the reliability of the March-Ford package allowing the pair to take advantage of attrition to score regular points. Kagan would score points on 3 separate occassions, coming home 5th in Monaco and Germany along with a 6th in the season-ending Mexican Grand Prix. Although both Kagan and Capelli would end the season on 5 points, March decided to not enter Formula One in 1988, instead focusing on supplying cars to the lower formulae and working on a 1989 challenger.

Kagan would be retained by the team for his development abilities, meaning he went into 1988 without a Formula One drive. However, he would be offered a seat at Benetton replacing the injured Thierry Boutsen for three races, but would struggle with the car. He failed to finish the two races he started and failed to qualify for the Hungarian Grand Prix, his last race for Benetton.

March would rejoin Formula One for 1989, but as a consequence for skipping 1988 would the team would be placed into pre-qualifying. The Adrian Newey-developed CG891 partnered with a supply of Judd CV engines promised to be a midfield contender, but Kagan and new team-mate Mauricio Gugelmin would struggle to get the car working in the first three races of the season leading to three failures to pre-qualify. A minor upgrade package for the French Grand Prix would fix most of the teething issues with the car, allowing the team to pre-qualify for the first time. Despite the improved car allowing the team to pre-qualify for every race thereafter, the team would not escape pre-qualifying until the last re-shuffle of the season after Gugelmin scored two points in the Portuguese Grand Prix. Kagan, meanwhile, struggled with the car in race trim throughout the season, with a best finish of 8th place in the Soviet and Portuguese Grands Prix.

For 1990, Kagan chose to return to his developmental role within the team, test driving the 1990 March F1 car (the CG901) as well as the company's Formula 3000 challengers. However, Brabham came calling before the Hungarian Grand Prix as the team sacked Kazuki Fushida, which meant that Kagan drove in the last six Grands Prix for that team. Unfortunately, Kagan did not make the grid in any of those races and he ended his Formula One career before returning back to March as the chief test driver at the end of the season.

After Kagan left March, he embarked on a moderately successful touring car career.

Results

Complete Formula 1 Results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Points WDC
1977 Penthouse British Formula One Racing Team March 761 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG RSA USW ESP BEL MON FRA TUS SOV GBR
DNPQ
0
Team Tyrrell Tyrrell 009 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 NED
7
GER
9
AUT
Ret
ITA
Ret
CAN
Ret
USA
10
JPN
Ret
1978 Penthouse Team Tyrrell Tyrrell 010 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG
7
RSA
Ret
USW
12
ESP
Ret
BEL
10
MON
Ret
SUI
Ret
TUS
11
GBR
7
FRA
4
NED
Ret
GER
Ret
AUT
INJ
ITA
INJ
CAN
INJ
USA
6
4 13th
1979 Penthouse Team Tyrrell Tyrrell 011 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG
4
BRA
5
RSA
7
USW
Ret
ESP
Ret
BEL
8
MON
12
EUR
5
SMR
Ret
FRA
3
GBR
10
GER
Ret
AUT
8
NED
C
ITA
9
CAN
5
USA
Ret
13 10th
1980 Penthouse Team Tyrrell Tyrrell 012 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ARG
Ret
BRA
5
USW
Ret
ESP
8
BEL
6
MON
4
MEX
5
SMR
8
FRA
14
GBR
Ret
GER
3
AUT
5
ITA
2
CAN
7
CPL
5
DUB
Ret
22 5th
1981 Penthouse BMW Team Tyrrell Tyrrell 012T BMW M12/13 1.5 L4t ARG
Ret
RSA
Ret
BRA
6
USW
8
ESP
WD
BEL
Ret
MON
Ret
SMR
Ret
MEX
Ret
FRA
Ret
GBR
Ret
GER
1
AUT
4
SUI
17†
ITA
Ret
CAN
6
USA
4
17 9th
1987 Leyton House March Racing Team March 871 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 AUS
Ret
SMR
Ret
BEL
Ret
MON
5
CAN
Ret
DET
13
FRA
Ret
GBR
DNQ
GER
5
HUN
Ret
YUG
7
ITA
DNQ
POR
14
EUR
DNQ
JPN
15
MEX
6
5 19th
1988 Benetton Formula Ltd Benetton B188 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 BRA SMR MON MEX CAN DET FRA GBR
Ret
GER
Ret
HUN
DNQ
YUG SOV ITA BEL JPN AUS 0 31st
1989 Leyton House March Racing Team March CG891 Judd CV 3.5 V8 BRA
DNPQ
SMR
DNPQ
MON
DNPQ
FRA
18†
USA
Ret
CAN
Ret
GBR
14
GER
Ret
HUN
Ret
SOV
8
POR
8
ITA
Ret
BEL
11
JPN
14
AUS
10
MEX
Ret
0
1990 Motor Racing Developments Ltd Brabham BT56 Ford DFR 3.5 V8 USA BRA PAC SMR MON CAN MEX FRA GBR GER HUN
DNPQ
BEL
DNPQ
ITA
DNPQ
POR
DNQ
JPN
DNPQ
AUS
DNPQ
0

Complete World Touring Car Masters Results

Year Team Car Class WDC Pts Class Pts
1988 Roger Downson Engineering Rover Vitesse SD1 B Flag of Australia svg.png Flag of Japan svg.png Flag of the United States svg.png Flag of Germany svg.png Flag of South Africa 1928-1994 svg.png Flag of Germany svg.png Flag of France svg.png Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Flag of Italy svg.png Flag of Belgium svg.png Flag of Germany svg.png N/A 0 22nd 18
E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E
BAT
DNQ
BAT
DNQ
FUJ
DNQ
FUJ
DNQ
GLN
DNQ
GLN
DNQ
NOR
DNQ
NOR
DNQ
KYA
DNQ
KYA
DNQ
HOC
DNQ
HOC
DNQ
CHA
DNQ
CHA
DNQ
BIR
DNQ
BIR
DNQ
MNZ
DNQ
MNZ
DNQ
SPA
DNQ
SPA
DNQ
NUR
26
1989 Roger Downson Engineering Rover Vitesse SD1 B Flag of Japan svg.png Flag of the United States svg.png Flag of South Africa 1928-1994 svg.png Flag of France svg.png Flag of the Czech Republic svg.png Flag of Italy svg.png Flag of France svg.png Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Flag of Belgium svg.png Flag of Germany svg.png Flag of Australia svg.png N/A 0 N/A 0
E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E
FUJ
DNQ
FUJ
DNQ
GLN
DNQ
GLN
DNQ
KYA
DNQ
KYA
DNQ
PAU
DNQ
PAU
DNQ
BRN
DNQ
BRN
DNQ
SPA
DNQ
SPA
DNQ