Douglas Mann

Douglas Mann (born 12 August 1985 in London, England) is a Manx racing driver known as one of the founders and drivers of the only Manx teams in the Formula 1 Rejects World Race Series. Mann is currently in charge of Foxdale Auto Racing Team with his older sister Pippa Mann with the two presently sharing driving duties. He has also competed in NASCAR, winning the 2006 Whelen Modified Series, and the F1Rejects LFS Cup, finishing 16th overall in its inaugural season.

Early Life and Career
Mann was born in London in 1985 to British parents, but by the age of five his family, including older sister Pippa, moved to the village of Foxdale on the Isle of Man. Because his earliest memories are of living on the island, when Douglas came to select the flag under which he'd drive, Manx was his first choice. In contrast, his older sister competes under a British licence.

In his early motorsport career Mann found he enjoyed stock car and other closed-roof motorsports the most, and having competed in local events on the Isle of Man, he moved to the mainland to concentrate on a career in the ASCAR series of stock car racing in 2003, aged 17. Douglas enjoyed some success in the series, which suffered from low car numbers, and finished strongly in both 2004 and 2005 with a string of podiums and a handful of victories. This led to the Manxman being signed up to the Whelan Modified Series of NASCAR for 2006, and he subsequently moved to Orlando, Florida. Signed to drive for Rising Dragon Motorsports in their #105 car, Douglas won half of all the races he entered, a total of eight, to dominate the championship and take the title at its end. Also during the season he drove a number of races in the Craftsman Trucks Series and the NBS Series, winning seven races in the former and two in the latter. It was without doubt a superb season that saw Mann elevated to prominence in the United States.

For 2007, Douglas dovetailed a defence of his Whelan Modified title, remaining in the #105 car, alongside a season in the NBS Series where he signed to Team Strickland and the #163 Chevrolet. The season was again successful, and at the mid-point of the year Mann comfortably led the Whelan Modified Series and was second overall in the NBS Series behind Tony Stewart.

West Cliff: 2010
When, in late 2009, Frank Zimmer and his brother John decided to secede from Formula 1 and form the Formula 1 Rejects World Race Series, the nine manufacturers entered for 2010 decided to be open to any driver willing to compete in the series. Among the F1 drivers and champions entered, Douglas decided to try his chance against some of the world's best drivers. He would compete for West Cliff Racing alongside multiple race winner Sammy Jones.

However, it became clear after pre-season testing that the car was not very quick, both Douglas and Jones deep in the second half of the field. In the opening races, Jones seemed to have figured out the problem with two third places in three races, but that was more down to experience and talent rather than car performance, as shown by Douglas, who only managed to score a single point in the same races. However, the car was not as slow as originally thought. Indeed, the two drivers qualified high up the field, Douglas even starting on the front row at the Nürburgring. It was during the races that the team lost valuable points, as Mann led the first two races, but was prevented from scoring good points because the team kept him on the track on worn tyres. Only Jones' experience allowed him to make the right decisions regarding pitstops.

Douglas would be unable to score well for almost the entire season, losing spots in the middle of the race while on worn tyres, then more positions when he pitted. Almost everytime, he was in a good position to score well. His team's strategy 'mistakes' could also be explained by the team's open number 1 driver policy, in which Douglas was number 2. Had the team continued to pit him too late at every race, he would have scored just one point, if it wasn't for Bahrain.

The Bahrain Grand Prix turned out to be Douglas' high point of the season. Again qualifying high up, in fourth place, he stayed at the front all race, and benefited from a decent strategy for once. Douglas was third in the dying laps, but quickly experienced suspension problems, eventually finishing in a refreshing fourth place. Anyway, Douglas was growing tired of the situation at West Cliff and quickly wanted to jump ship.

AMR: 2011
After proposing a mid-season switch with his sister Pippa, he decided to look somewhere else. After being linked to a drive at Prospec, then at Club Bangelia, he became frustrated with the lack of available drives. With the opening of the series to new teams, he and Pippa founded Anglo-Manx Racing, with the siblings driving the two cars.

The car proved to be slow in the pre-season tests, and with the arrival of pre-qualifying, brought about by new F1RWRS Commission president Pieter Kickert, who wanted grid sizes to stay the same, it became clear that the team ran the risk of not making it to the grid for a few races. Eventually, Douglas failed to pre-qualify five times out of 15, while Pippa did better, only doing so at Laguna Seca.

Aside from pre-qualifying, the charge was led by Pippa, who scored more than 75% of the team's points. Douglas, meanwhile, failed to impress, as aside from a fortuitous second place at the Nürburgring, where only four cars finished, he only scored three more points thanks to a seventh place at the season-ending United States Grand Prix, also scoring the fastest lap in the process. His best race, however, may have been the New South Wales Grand Prix, where he managed to qualify in the top five for the restart, and even led the race for a lap before a botched pitstop put him down in ninth, just outside the points. He ended the season in 22nd place, with just 13 points

In solidarity to fellow West Cliff driver Hagane Shizuka, Douglas set up Manx-Anglo-Nippon Racing Team for Shizuka, who moved to the team for the Belgian Grand Prix. In the middle of the season, Douglas announced that he would drive for MAN in 2012 alongside Shizuka, while he would be replaced at AMR by James Davies.

MAN: 2012
From testing onwards, it became clear that this would be the year of the two Manx teams, as both were firmly in the leading pack. Despite struggling in pre-qualifying, Douglas started the first race in third, but was involved in the colossal pile-up in the middle of the race, forcing him to retire. The first part of the season wouldn't go well, with bad performances and even a DNPQ at Hockenheim.

His season truly started at the Nürburgring (again) where, thanks to the heavy attrition, he finished fourth, while Pippa took the race win. He scored five points, his first of the year. He promptly retired from the Belgian Grand Prix by colliding with Pippa on lap 5. Showing his reputed nice-guy attitude at Zandvoort, he did not attempt to overtake his teammate Hagane Shizuka in the final laps of the race, in order to secure the last point for the team.

As in Luxembourg, Douglas took the opportunity of a turn 1 collision involving the leaders to move high up the field. He then ran a fairly uneventful race and finished a good second, his first podium of the year. After an unimpressive race at Brands Hatch, Douglas scored his first victory at Snetterton after a late battle against Pippa, Kay Lon and Nathanael Spencer. When Pippa attempted a pass in the final chicane, Douglas, in the lead, left no room, and Pippa was forced to cut. With the speed advantage, she crossed the line first by 0.17 seconds, but was penalised 10 seconds for corner cutting, handing Douglas the win. Scoring 15 points in one race, he was now in sixth place in the championship.

Sadly though, he failed to score for six of the last seven races, despite regularly qualifying inside the top ten, also setting the quickest time in pre-qualifying at Shanghai. The exception was the United States Grand Prix, where Douglas was on the pace all weekend. Second in pre-qualifying behind Pippa, fourth in qualifying, and driving a clean race to third place, also picking up the fastest lap in the process. In the season-ending Indianapolis 500, he qualified fourth and led 12 laps, but eventually finished ninth, just outside the points. In the end, he finished 8th in the season with 39 points, and it remains his most successful season.

After the Chinese Grand Prix, Pippa, who had slowly moved towards a more important role in team management, announced that MAN and AMR would merge to form Foxdale Auto Racing Team, with Douglas and Pippa forming an all-sibling team once more. Technically, this would be his fourth team in four seasons.

Foxdale: 2013-14
2013 should have been Douglas' best season yet. The new rules meant added unreliability, but more consistent pace. The Foxdale was undoubtedly the quickest car in the field, and Douglas took five poles, including the first three of the season, and two fastest laps. The only thing that prevented him from winning at least five races was unreliability. The Foxdale was by far the least reliable car, and while they were always at the front, the team only finished a single race all year. That race was the Macau Grand Prix, and Douglas duly took his second F1RWRS victory.

The ten points earned were enough for thirteenth place in the championship, albeit shared with Jesus Plaza and Dave Simpson. After the United States Grand Prix, Pippa decided to step down as driver to concentrate on team management and was replaced by family friend Ben Fleet, who scored seven pole positions, but was not kept, as Pippa decided to return to driving once more. In the non-championship Budweiser 500, Douglas finished third.

With Fleet not kept and Pippa again willing to return to management, a deal was struck with Jack Christopherson, who had just won the Budweiser 500 for Jones Racing.

The car turned out to be much more reliable than in 2013, albeit quite a bit slower. It became obvious that the team would spend most of its time fighting for the minor points. However, in the Chinese Grand Prix, Douglas failed to qualify for the race and sent the team to pre-qualifying. Luckily, they got out at the next round and never had to face it again.

In Mexico, he was able to drive a consistent race without reliability issues and finished fourth, truly starting his season. In the French Grand Prix, he started the race well and immediately fought for the lead. He turned out to be the only one from the initial leading pack to finish the race, and he scored his third race win in his career. This win was followed by a cool drive in Great Britain where he scored two more points for fifth place. Immedately afterwards, Christopherson was sacked from the team after failing to score a single point and replaced by Pippa, again returning to driving.

Douglas hasn't scored since, but his 15 points are currently enough to stay in the top 10.

Complete F1RWRS Results

 * * Indicates a season currently in progress.