| Wade Cunningham | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  New Zealander |
| Born | (1984-08-19) 19 August 1984 (age 40) Auckland, New Zealand |
| Related to | Mitch Cunningham (brother) |
| Firestone Indy Lights Series | |
| Years active | 2005–2010 |
| Teams | Brian Stewart Racing AFS Racing Alliance Motorsports Sam Schmidt Motorsports |
| Starts | 64 |
| Wins | 8 |
| Podiums | 30 |
| Poles | 9 |
| Best finish | 1st in 2005 |
| Previous series | |
| 2004 | Formula Ford Zetec USA |
| Championship titles | |
| 2001 2003 2005 | Asia-Pacific Championship World Karting Championship Indy Lights Series |
Wade Grant Cunningham (born 19 August 1984) is a racing driver from Auckland, New Zealand who competed in the IndyCar Series from 2011 to 2012.
Racing career
Indy Lights
Cunningham's professional career began when he won the Karting World Championship in 2003.
The following year he moved to the United States and competed in the Cooper Tires Formula Ford Zetec Championship in which he finished 5th after winning four consecutive poles and seven podium finishes. He won the 2005 Indy Lights Series championship in his rookie season for Brian Stewart Racing despite only winning a single race.
He continued with the team in 2006 and won 3 more races, including the Freedom 100 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (becoming the first driver from New Zealand to do so) and placed third in championship points despite missing two races due to an emergency appendectomy. While missing out on the drivers title the team was still able to claim their second consecutive entrants championship because they were able to replace Wade with a reserve driver for those events. He narrowly missed the title by 11 points and would have easily clinched his second drivers championship had he started either of those events.
He drove in the A1 Grand Prix series as practice driver for A1 Team New Zealand in the round in Taupō, New Zealand, and China. He returned to the Indy Lights Series in 2007 for AGR-AFS Racing where he finished 3rd.
IndyCar Series
In December 2007 Cunningham tested an IndyCar Series machine for the first time at Sebring as a reward for his results with their satellite team in the Indy Lights Series, driving the Andretti Green Racing IndyCar normally driven by Marco Andretti.
Wade's brother Mitch made his Firestone Indy Lights Series debut (formerly the Indy Pro Series) in 2008 for Brian Stewart Racing, the same team with whom Wade had his initial success. Wade made a handful of starts in the series in 2008, both for Brian Stewart and in the Mid-Ohio double-header for the new Alliance Motorsports team.
He signed on to return to the series full-time in 2009 driving for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Upon joining the team, he became the first driver to win a second Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Cunningham won again that race in 2010 in a one-race deal for the Schmidt team, becoming the only three-time winner of the Freedom 100.
Sam Schmidt announced 11 February that Cunningham would make his Izod IndyCar Series debut in 2011 with Sam Schmidt Motorsports in a three race deal. He qualified 8th on debut at Texas Motor Speedway for the Firestone Texas Twin 275s and posted a season and career best IndyCar finish at the Indy Kentucky 300 when he finished 7th a mere 0.702 seconds from the lead.
Racing record
Complete A1 Grand Prix results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006–07 | A1 Team New Zealand | NED SPR |
NED FEA |
CZE SPR |
CZE FEA |
BEI SPR |
BEI FEA |
MYS SPR |
MYS FEA |
IDN SPR |
IDN FEA |
NZL SPR PO |
NZL FEA PO |
AUS SPR |
AUS FEA |
RSA SPR |
RSA FEA |
MEX SPR |
MEX FEA |
SHA SPR PO |
SHA FEA PO |
GBR SPR |
GBR SPR |
2nd | 93 |
American open–wheel racing results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
Indy Lights
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Brian Stewart Racing | HMS 4 |
PHX 3 |
STP 2 |
INDY 2 |
TXS 2 |
IMS 2 |
NSH 4 |
MIL 2 |
KTY 2 |
PPIR 5 |
SNM 2 |
CHI 10 |
WGL 3 |
FON 1 |
1st | 504 | ||
| 2006 | Brian Stewart Racing | HMS 10 |
STP1 | STP2 | INDY 1 |
WGL 2 |
IMS 16 |
NSH 5 |
MIL 2 |
KTY 3 |
SNM1 1 |
SNM2 4 |
CHI 1 |
3rd | 379 | ||||
| 2007 | AGR-AFS Racing | HMS 24 |
STP1 9 |
STP2 2 |
INDY 23 |
MIL 12 |
IMS1 4 |
IMS2 21 |
IOW 2 |
WGL1 1 |
WGL2 2 |
NSH 4 |
MDO 2 |
KTY 3 |
SNM1 16 |
SNM2 11 |
CHI 17 |
3rd | 423 |
| 2008 | Brian Stewart Racing | HMS 9 |
STP1 | STP2 | KAN 5 |
INDY 3 |
MIL 12 |
IOW | WGL1 | WGL2 | NSH | 19th | 169 | ||||||
| Alliance Motorsports | MDO1 12 |
MDO2 2 |
KTY | SNM1 | SNM2 | ||||||||||||||
| Integra Motorsports w/ CGRT | CHI 24 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2009 | Sam Schmidt Motorsports | STP1 16 |
STP2 11 |
LBH 20 |
KAN 2 |
INDY 1 |
MIL 6 |
IOW 2 |
WGL 19 |
TOR 7 |
EDM 6 |
KTY 1 |
MDO 14 |
SNM 12 |
CHI 4 |
HMS 6 |
4th | 416 | |
| 2010 | Sam Schmidt Motorsports | STP | ALA | LBH | INDY 1 |
IOW | WGL | TOR | EDM | MDO | SNM | CHI | KTY | HMS 3 |
15th | 87 |
IndyCar Series
| Year | Team | Chassis | No. | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Rank | Points | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Sam Schmidt Motorsports | Dallara | 99 | Honda | STP | ALA | LBH | SAO | INDY | TXS1 29 |
TXS2 20 |
MIL | IOW | TOR | EDM | MDO | NHM | SNM | BAL | MOT | 37th | 36 | |||
| 17 | KTY 7 |
LVS C | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2012 | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Dallara DW12 | 41 | STP | ALA | LBH | SAO | INDY 31 |
DET | TXS | MIL | IOW | TOR | EDM | MDO | SNM | BAL | 28th | 29 | ||||||
| 14 | FON 14 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indianapolis 500
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Start | Finish | Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Dallara | Honda | 26 | 31 | A. J. Foyt Enterprises |
References
- SuperPoints A1GP Taupo, New Zealand: Driver sign-on, A1GP.com, 18 January 2007
- "Cunningham tests with Andretti Green". autosport.com. 21 December 2007. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
- "Wade Cunningham – 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
- "Wade Cunningham – 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
External links
- Wade Cunningham career summary at DriverDB.com
- Official website
- Wade Cunningham Indy Pro Series/Firestone Indy Lights Statistics Archived 23 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- IndyCar Driver Page
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byThiago Medeiros | Infiniti Pro Series Champion 2005 |
Succeeded byJay Howard |
- 1984 births
- A1 Grand Prix Rookie drivers
- Karting World Championship drivers
- Indy Lights champions
- Indy Lights drivers
- IndyCar Series drivers
- Living people
- New Zealand racing drivers
- Racing drivers from Auckland
- Toyota Racing Series drivers
- Indianapolis 500 drivers
- V8SuperTourer drivers
- U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers
- Arrow McLaren SP drivers
- AFS Racing drivers
- A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers
- Andretti Autosport drivers
- Chip Ganassi Racing drivers