Christian Fittipaldi
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Christian Fittipaldi (born January 18, 1971, São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian racing driver who has competed in various forms of motorsport including Formula One, Champ Car and NASCAR. Named after less known Brazilian driver Christian "Bino" Heinz (killed at Le Mans in 1963), he was a highly rated young racing driver in the early 1990s, and participated in 43 Formula One Grand Prix for Minardi and Footwork between 1992 and 1994.
He is the son of former Grand Prix driver and team owner Wilson Fittipaldi, and the nephew of two-time Formula One Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi.
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[edit] Europe / Formula One
Fittipaldi graduated to Formula One following a Formula 3000 championship winning season in 1991. Opportunities to test and impress were limited at Minardi though, and despite a number of points scoring positions early in 1993, Christian fell out with the team management and was dropped with two GPs to go. He had a final attempt at F1 in the 1994 season driving for the Footwork team, scoring two 4th places. Disillusioned with GP racing, however, Fittipaldi moved to America to race where he has been ever since. He scored a total of 12 F1 championship points.
[edit] America
[edit] CART
Competing mainly in CART, Fittipaldi was a slow starter, noted for his consistency rather than his outright pace, although by the time he won his first CART event at Road America in 1999, he was a championship contender due to his consistent finishing, among which was a second place in the 1995 Indianapolis 500, which earned him Rookie of the Year honors in the race. However, just as Fittipaldi's American career looked to be taking off, he incurred the first of the two broken legs he suffered whilst racing in CART at the Surfer's Paradise race in 1997. Although he was able to return both times and win further races, he never regained a consistent form, and never won a CART championship.
[edit] NASCAR
With his Champcar career on hold, Fittipaldi shifted his focus to NASCAR. He made 3 appearances in the Busch Series during 2001 and 2002. Although he wasn't impressive in those races, he caught the eye of Richard Petty, and he was signed to Petty Enterprises near the end of '02 and made his Winston Cup debut at Phoenix. In 2003, Christian made his first Daytona 500 start, in a one-race deal with Andy Petree, then made a handful of appearances for Petty in ARCA. In the summer of 2003, Fittipaldi became the driver of the illustrious 43 car after John Andretti was let go. Christian struggled and was reassigned shortly after the start of autumn, but remained with the team, driving the 44 car.
[edit] Sports cars and later career
After leaving Petty Enterprises, Fittipaldi co-drove the winning car during the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2004. In 2005, he migrated into the Brazilian Stock Car Series and reappeared in Grand-Am winning a race at Phoenix and announcing he had signed for Eddie Cheever's new team for 2006. He currently races for A1 Team Brazil. He co-drove a privateer Saleen S7R (with Terry Borcheller and Johnny Mowlem) in the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans and finished 6th in class and 11th overall.
He returned to sports cars full time in 2008, driving Andretti Green Racing's Acura LMP2 Prototype in the American Le Mans Series.[1]
[edit] Complete Formula One results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Team | WDC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Minardi | RSA Ret |
MEX Ret |
BRA Ret |
ESP 11 |
SMR Ret |
MON 8 |
CAN 13 |
FRA DNQ |
GBR Inj |
GER Inj |
HUN Inj |
BEL DNQ |
ITA DNQ |
POR 12 |
JPN 6 |
AUS 9 |
Minardi | 17th | 1 |
| 1993 | Minardi | RSA 4 |
BRA Ret |
EUR 7 |
SMR Ret |
ESP 8 |
MON 5 |
CAN 9 |
FRA 8 |
GBR 12 |
GER 11 |
HUN Ret |
BEL Ret |
ITA 8 |
POR 9 |
JPN |
AUS |
Minardi | 13th | 5 |
| 1994 | Footwork | BRA Ret |
PAC 4 |
SMR 13 |
MON Ret |
ESP Ret |
CAN DSQ |
FRA 8 |
GBR 9 |
GER 4 |
HUN 14 |
BEL Ret |
ITA Ret |
POR 8 |
EUR 17 |
JPN 8 |
AUS 8 |
Footwork | 15th | 6 |
[edit] References
- ^ Christian Fittipaldi to drive for Andretti Green in ALMS, WTHItv.com, November 15, 2007
[edit] External links
- Christian Fittipaldi official website
- Acemco Motor sports - the team with which Fittipaldi entered Le Mans 2006
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by none |
Brazilian Formula Three Champion 1989 |
Succeeded by Oswaldo Negri |
| Preceded by Gabriel Furlán |
Formula Three Sudamericana Champion 1990 |
Succeeded by Affonso Giaffone |
| Preceded by Érik Comas |
International Formula 3000 Champion 1991 |
Succeeded by Luca Badoer |
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