Antônio Pizzonia

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Antônio Pizzonia
File:Fale F1 Monza 2004 13.jpg
Nationality Brazil Brazilian
Born Antônio Reginaldo Pizzonia Júnior
(1980-09-11) September 11, 1980 (age 43)
Manaus, Brazil
Auto GP career
Debut season 2012
Current team Zele Racing
Formula One World Championship career
Active years 2003–2005
Teams Jaguar, Williams
Entries 20
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podiums 0
Career points 8
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0
First entry 2003 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry 2005 Chinese Grand Prix

Antônio Reginaldo Pizzonia Júnior (born September 11, 1980) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who has raced in Formula One and the Champ Car World Series. As of 2013, he is competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship (driving for Delta-ADR) and the Grand-Am Rolex Series (driving for Michael Shank Racing).

Born in Manaus, Pizzonia started his car racing career in the Formula Vauxhall Junior series in 1997, and then progressed through various junior formulae, winning the Formula Vauxhall Junior Winter Festival in 1997, the Formula Vauxhall Junior and Formula Renault Winter Festival in 1998, the Formula Renault 2.0 UK in 1999, and the British Formula 3 Championship in 2000. For 2001 and 2002, he entered the Formula 3000, with his best championship finish being sixth in 2001. In 2003, he was signed by the Jaguar Formula One team, but following poor results, was released during the season. In 2004, he replaced the injured Ralf Schumacher at Williams in several events, securing his first Formula One points in the process. In 2005, he replaced Nick Heidfeld at Williams, but was released from his contract at the end of the season. Since then, he has competed in multiple series, such as the Champ Car World Series, the Superleague Formula, Stock Car Brasil, and the FIA GT1 World Championship.

Racing career

Pre-Formula One

From 1991 to 1996 he competed in various karting series. In 1997 he moved to Britain and competed in Formula Vauxhall Junior; Pizzonia placed second, and won the Winter Festival. In 1998, in addition to taking the Championship in Formula Vauxhall Junior, he won the Formula Renault Winter Festival. His 1999 season was even more successful, winning the Formula Renault 2.0 UK series and finishing second in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup. In 2000, Pizzonia took 5 wins on his way to winning the British Formula 3 Championship.

For 2001, Pizzonia switched to the Formula 3000 series, winning one race and finishing sixth in the championship.

Formula One

In 2002, Pizzonia was hired as test driver for Williams, but also continued in F3000, placing 8th. After impressive testing performances, he was signed by the Jaguar team to partner Mark Webber for 2003. However, following a string of poor results, he was dropped midway through the season and replaced by Minardi's Justin Wilson.

Whilst driving for Jaguar F1 he was driving Steve Sutcliffe, a journalist for Autocar magazine, around the Circuit de Catalunya in a Jaguar S-Type R when he lost control into the first corner, rolling the car and hitting the tyre barrier. Apparently he accidentally braked at the braking point he had been using in his F1 car and just went off. The video is readily available on YouTube.

In 2004 he returned to Williams as test driver. Before the German Grand Prix, it was announced that Pizzonia would take over from Marc Gené, who had been filling in for the injured Ralf Schumacher. At the German Grand Prix, he finished 7th to take his first 2 career points; he repeated the feat at the Hungarian Grand Prix. In Belgium, he briefly led an F1 race for the first time, but failed to finish the race due to a gearbox problem, whilst running in 3rd place. He claimed a further 2 points in Italy (during which he achieved the fastest ever recorded top speed in a F1 race at the time, 369.9 km/h, until Juan Pablo Montoya eclipsed this record the following year), but with the announcement of Ralf Schumacher's return for the Chinese Grand Prix, Pizzonia's racing was over for the year.

Prior to the 2005 season, Pizzonia was in a virtual shoot-out with German Nick Heidfeld for the second race seat at Williams alongside Webber. Despite Pizzonia's experience with the team and financial support from Petrobras, Heidfeld was given the seat.

Pizzonia was still employed at Williams as a test driver, and when Heidfeld complained of headaches after being concussed in a crash during the Friday Practice Session at Monza, Pizzonia gained the chance to race. Having not entered an F1 race since the 2004 Italian Grand Prix, the Brazilian qualified 16th, coming through the field to emulate his 2004 race result — picking up 7th place and 2 points. He then raced in the Belgian Grand Prix. where he incurred a fine for taking out 2nd placed Juan Pablo Montoya just a few laps from the end. Pizzonia also took the drive in the Brazilian Grand Prix, but his race was over before the first corner after taking out his own teammate Mark Webber resulting from a collision with David Coulthard.

Despite some speculation that GP2 champion Nico Rosberg would be given an opportunity in the last two races of the season, Pizzonia completed the season for Williams. He retired from the Japanese Grand Prix early after spinning off, and retired from (but was classified as a finisher in) the Chinese Grand Prix after a puncture. Having been replaced by Nico Rosberg for 2006, Pizzonia's Formula One career was over.

Post-Formula One

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. In 2006, he drove for Paul Gentilozzi's Rocketsports team in the Champ Car World Series' Long Beach Grand Prix and returned to the team towards the end of the season for races where Tõnis Kasemets did not have sponsorship to race.

In 2007, Pizzonia was racing for Fisichella Motor Sport in the GP2 series.[1] In May, he was dropped in favour of Adam Carroll after only scoring 1 point in 5 races. After that, he returned to Brazil and entered into competition in Stock Car Brasil, a Brazilian national championship, from July.[2] He has competed in the series every year since then, and has also raced in Superleague Formula (SC Corinthians) and the FIA GT1 World Championship.

In 2012, Pizzonia made a one-off guest appearance in the Auto GP World Series when the championship visited the Brazilian Curitiba circuit. Driving for the Ombra Racing team, he won both races, immediately slotting himself into ninth position in the championship.

In 2014 and 2015, Pizzonia competed in the Auto GP series, with Zele Racing.[3]

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DC Points
2001 Petrobras Junior Team INT
9		 IMO
4		 CAT
6		 A1R
4		 MON
Ret		 NÜR
6		 MAG
10		 SIL
3		 HOC
1		 HUN
Ret		 SPA
8		 MNZ
Ret		 6th 22
2002 Petrobras Junior Team INT
4		 IMO
4		 CAT
10		 A1R
7		 MON
4		 NÜR
3		 SIL
5		 MAG
4		 HOC
Ret		 HUN
Ret		 SPA
Ret		 MNZ
DSQ		 8th 18

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 WDC Points
2003 Jaguar Racing F1 Team Jaguar R4 Cosworth V10 AUS
13†		 MAL
Ret		 BRA
Ret		 SMR
14		 ESP
Ret		 AUT
9		 MON
Ret		 CAN
10†		 EUR
10		 FRA
10		 GBR
Ret		 GER HUN ITA USA JPN 21st 0
2004 BMW WilliamsF1 Team Williams FW26 BMW P84 3.0 V10 AUS MAL BHR SMR ESP MON EUR CAN USA FRA GBR GER
7		 HUN
7		 BEL
Ret		 ITA
7		 CHN JPN BRA 15th 6
2005 BMW WilliamsF1 Team Williams FW27 BMW P84/5 3.0 V10 AUS MAL BHR SMR ESP MON EUR CAN USA FRA GBR GER HUN TUR ITA
7		 BEL
15†		 BRA
Ret		 JPN
Ret		 CHN
13†		 22nd 2

† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

American Open Wheel Racing

(key)

Complete Champ Car results

Yr Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Rank Points
2006 Rocketsports LBH
10		 HOU MTY MIL POR CLE TOR EDM SJO DEN MTL
11		 ROA SRF
10		 MXC
12		 18th 43

IndyCar

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Rank Points
2008 Rocketsports HMS STP MOT1 LBH1
16		 KAN IND MIL TXS IOW RIR WGL NSH MDO EDM KTY SNM DET CHI SRF2 45th 0

¹ Run on the same day
² Non-points race

Complete GP2 Series results

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

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 DC Points
2007 FMS International BHR
FEA
16		 BHR
SPR
Ret		 ESP
FEA
Ret		 ESP
SPR
8		 MON
FEA
8		 FRA
FEA		 FRA
SPR		 GBR
FEA		 GBR
SPR		 EUR
FEA		 EUR
SPR		 HUN
FEA		 HUN
SPR		 TUR
FEA		 TUR
SPR		 ITA
FEA		 ITA
SPR		 BEL
FEA		 BEL
SPR		 VAL
FEA		 VAL
SPR		 27th 1

Superleague Formula

2008–2009

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

Year Team Operator 1 2 3 4 5 6 Position Points
2008 SC Corinthians EuroInternational DON NÜR ZOL EST VAL JER 9th 264
7 10 10 18 4 4 6 16 12 2
2009 Alan Docking Racing MAG ZOL DON EST MOZ JAR 8th 264
4 9 17 12 3 8 3 5 10 9 14 18

2009 Super Final Results

  • Super Final results in 2009 did not count for points towards the main championship.
Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6
2009 SC Corinthians
Alan Docking Racing		 MAG
3		 ZOL
N/A		 DON
4		 EST
5		 MOZ
N/A		 JAR
DNQ

2011

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

Year Team Operator 1 2 Position Points
2011 Brazil Alan Docking Racing HOL BEL 8th 102
8 3 2 9 12 X

Brazilian competitions

Stock Car Brasil

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Rank Pts.
2007 RS Competições Volkswagen Bora INT CTB CGD INT LON
33		 SCZ
15		 CTB
DNQ		 BSB
Ret		 ARG
DSQ		 TAR
Ret		 RIO
Ret		 INT
18		 40th 1
2008 K-Med Racing Peugeot 307 SAO
15		 BSB
Ret		 CTB
DSQ		 SCZ
Ret		 CGD
14		 SAO
24		 RIO
16		 LON
Ret		 CTB BSB
18		 TAR SAO
11		 31st 8
2009 Amir Nasr Racing Peugeot 307 SAO
3		 CTB
4		 BSB
Ret		 SCZ
4		 SAO
9		 SAL
20		 RIO CGD CTB BSB TAR SAO 15th 51
2010 Hot Car Competições Chevrolet Vectra SAO
16		 CTB
Ret		 VEL
Ret		 RIO
Ret		 RBP
3		 SAL
Ret		 SAO
Ret		 CGD
8		 LON
14		 SCS
18		 BSB
12		 CTB
Ret		 23rd 31
2011 Amir Nasr Racing Peugeot 408 CTB SAO RBP
Ret		 VEL CGD RIO 26th 6
Scuderia 111 SAO
10		 SAL SCS LON BSB VEL
2012 Comprafacil Nascar JF Peugeot 408 INT
30		 CTB
11		 VEL
17		 RBP
Ret		 LON
10		 RIO
4		 SAL
Ret		 CGD
26		 TAR
18		 CUR
7		 BRA
25		 INT
10		 15th 81
2014 Prati-Donaduzzi Peugeot 408 INT
1
21		 SCZ
1
11		 SCZ
2
1		 BRA
1
Ret		 BRA
2
DNS		 GOI
1
12		 GOI
2
7		 GOI
1
6		 CAS
1
11		 CAS
2
8		 CUR
1
12		 CUR
2
21		 VEL
1
13		 VEL
2
10		 SCZ
1
7		 SCZ
2
4		 TAR
1
10		 TAR
2
1		 SAL
1
6		 SAL
2
22		 CUR
1
22		 9th 158.5
2015 Prati-Donaduzzi Peugeot 408 GOI
1
25		 RBP
1
10		 RBP
2
9		 VEL
1
24		 VEL
2
12		 CUR
1
4		 CUR
2
11		 SCZ
1
NC		 SCZ
2
Ret		 CUR
1
14		 CUR
2
9		 GOI
1
17		 CAS
1
26		 CAS
2
11		 MOU
1
16		 MOU
2
Ret		 CUR
1
18		 CUR
2
7		 TAR
1
14		 TAR
2
13		 INT
1
15		 18th 97

Complete Auto GP results

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

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Pos Points
2012 Ombra Racing MNZ
1		 MNZ
2		 VAL
1		 VAL
2		 MAR
1		 MAR
2		 HUN
1		 HUN
2		 ALG
1		 ALG
2		 CUR
1
1		 CUR
2
1		 9th 45
Zele Racing SON
1
Ret		 SON
2
12†
2014 Zele Racing MAR
1		 MAR
2		 LEC
1		 LEC
2		 HUN
1		 HUN
2		 MNZ
1		 MNZ
2		 IMO
1		 IMO
2		 RBR
1		 RBR
2		 NÜR
1		 NÜR
2		 EST
1
4		 EST
2
3		 14th 25
2015 Zele Racing HUN
1
2		 HUN
2
1		 SIL
1
1		 SIL
2
3		 1st 79

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year Entrant Class Car Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rank Points
2013 Delta-ADR LMP2 Oreca 03 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 SIL
1		 SPA
Ret		 LMS SÃO COA FUJ SHA BHR 15th 26

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Autosport
National Racing Driver of the Year
2000		 Succeeded by
Takuma Sato
Sporting positions
Preceded by British Formula Renault
UK series champion
1999		 Succeeded by
Kimi Räikkönen
Preceded by British Formula 3
Champion
2000		 Succeeded by
Takuma Sato
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