2006 and 2007
After a series of tests,he was signed to drive in the Champ Car World Series for CTE Racing-HVM,in 2006 as a teammate to Nelson Philippe. The team owned jointly by Cedric the Entertainer and Keith Wiggins.
He finished sixth at Portland International Raceway and seventh at Burke Lakefront Airport,where he was battling for second with Mario Domínguez when they collided on the penultimate lap. Clarke also competed at San Jose,moving up from ninth to second before a gearbox failure put him out at mid-distance. In his next race,in Denver,Clarke moved into third-place on the final lap because of a collision of two drivers ahead of him to achieve his first podium finish as a Champ Car driver. The Denver third-place was the first podium finish for a Champ Car Rookie driver in the 2006 racing season.
Following on from Denver,Clarke continued to run at the front and narrowly missed out on another podium finish at the next race in Montreal,coming home in fourth-place. Immediately after,Clarke won the Bridgestone Pole Position award at Road America,Wisconsin. He was the first rookie to do so since 2003 and the first British Rookie since Nigel Mansell in 1993. Clarke experienced misfortune towards the end of the season,which saw him forced to settle for "Rookie runner-up" to Will Power after an intense battle between the two drivers.
He returned to the team for the 2007 season,now named Minardi Team USA,joined by new teammate and former Minardi and Red Bull Racing F1 driver Robert Doornbos. Clarke had a troubled season,finishing 13th in the overall standings and missing one race. He missed the race at Zolder,having been ejected from the event for causing a multi-car crash in practice. He did,however,record a second-place at Road America.
Upon the folding of the Champ Car series into the IndyCar Series,the Minardi team became known as HVM Racing and hired E. J. Viso to drive,leaving Clarke without a team.
2009
He has since driven for Great Britain in the A1GP series,participating in three rounds of the fourth season of the championship.
First announced as the Team GBR driver halfway into the 2008/2009 series at Taupo,New Zealand,Clarke had little time to adapt to the new car,team and track. He went on to build experience through that weekend and then at the Portimão,Portugal,races. The next race for Clarke was Brands Hatch,UK,in front of his home fans. Despite qualifying technical issues,Clarke put on an impressive performance to drive back from fourteenth-place in the feature to seventh,scoring the fastest race laps in the process.
However,for the second time in his career,his series folded in the off-season,leaving him without a team.
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