Cristiano da Matta

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Cristiano da Matta

Nationality	Brazilian
Active years	1999 - 2002, 2005 - 2006
Team(s)	Arciero-Wells (1999), PPI Motorsports (2000), Newman-Haas (2001-2002), PKV Racing (2005), Dale Coyne Racing (2006), RuSPORT (2006)
Race starts	101
Championships	1
Wins	12
Podium finishes	20
Pole positions	7
First Champ Car race	1999 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami
First win	2000 Target Grand Prix (Chicago)
Last win	2005 G.I. Joe's Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland
Last Champ Car race	2006 Canary Foundation Grand Prix of San Jose

Cristiano da Matta
Nationality  Brazilian
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	2003 - 2004
Teams	Toyota
Races	28
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	0
Career points	13
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	2003 Australian Grand Prix
Last race	2004 German Grand Prix

Cristiano Monteiro da Matta (born September 19, 1973, in Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil) is an auto racing driver, winner of the American CART Championship in 2002, and former Toyota Formula One driver.

Contents 1 Career biography 1.1 Origins and early career 1.2 North American racing 1.3 Formula One 1.4 Return to USA 1.5 Collision with deer during test 1.6 Comeback 1.7 Personal 2 Motorsports Career Results 2.1 Formula One 2.2 American Open-Wheel 2.2.1 Champ Car 3 External links 4 References

[edit] Career biography

[edit] Origins and early career

Da Matta's father was Toninho da Matta, a 14-time Brazilian touring car champion. He began karting at the age of 16, adopting a helmet design nearly identical to his famous father's helmet. He quickly rose to the top by winning numerous karting championships before winning the 1993 Brazilian Formula Ford championship. In 1994, he continued his successful ways, winning the Formula Three Sudamericana championship. In 1995, da Matta participated in the British Formula Three series. He then placed 8th in the following year's Formula 3000 championship, with a best finish of 4th at Pau.

[edit] North American racing

1997 saw Cristiano move to the United States for the Indy Lights racing series, in which he won Rookie of the Year honors. The next year (1998), he won the championship by winning 7 races and securing 4 pole positions. In 1999, da Matta raced in the CART series for Team Arciero Wells, which were running Toyota engines; da Matta drove a Toyota-powered car from then until 2004. His first win came in 2000, and despite some sponsor opposition he joined the front-running Newman/Haas Racing team for 2001. He won the CART drivers' championship in 2002 under Toyota power with the Newman/Haas Racing team, dominating the year with 7 race wins and 7 poles.

[edit] Formula One

Cristiano completed his move up the racing ladder in 2003, reaching the pinnacle of motor sport with the Toyota Formula One team. He scored 10 championship points that year, four more than seasoned veteran and teammate Olivier Panis. His fortunes took a downturn in 2004, however. Having scored only 3 championship points, da Matta lost his race seat to Ricardo Zonta after the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim. Da Matta vowed to never again race in Formula One, as he felt it was not competitive enough, with too much emphasis on car performance.

[edit] Return to USA

In 2005, Cristiano moved back to the Champ Car World Series, to race for the PKV Racing team. That season he won the race at Portland, and finished 11th overall in the standings. For the 2006 Champ Car season, he switched to the Dale Coyne Racing to drive the No.19 Ford Lola, until June 9, 2006, when he switched teams again, to take over A.J. Allmendinger's seat at RuSPORT.^[1] Second place at San Jose left him 6th overall in the series.

[edit] Collision with deer during test

On August 3, 2006, Cristiano's car was involved in a collision with a deer that ran in front of him as he headed towards turn 6 during Champ Car open testing at Road America. He hit the deer with his right front tire, the deer then flew back and hit da Matta in the cockpit.^[2] It is believed when the deer hit da Matta in the cockpit, he was knocked unconscious. He remained unconscious with his foot still on the brake when the safety crew arrived and extricated da Matta from the car.^[3] Da Matta was then airlifted to Theda Clark Medical Center in Neenah, Wisconsin, where he underwent surgery to remove a subdural hematoma.^[4] Following the surgery, da Matta was placed in an induced coma, to allow for the swelling to subside.^[5] As of August 7, da Matta was making "slow but steady progress", while the doctors were working on reducing da Matta's level of sedation.^[6] This slow recovery was confirmed on August 9, as it was reported that Da Matta was able to move "all of his extremities spontaneously as well as in response to physical stimulation".^[7] On August 20, Da Matta was transferred out of intensive care.^[8] On August 30, Da Matta was confirmed to have made steady progress, conversing in English and Portuguese, and walking short distances.^[9] On 21 September 2006, Christiano was allowed to leave the hospital after having recovered better than expected.^[10]

When the Champ Car World Series returned to race in the Grand Prix of Road America on September 24, Cristiano da Matta gave the traditional command - "start your engines". Throughout the next couple of years, he engaged in a training and therapy regimen while deciding his racing future.^[11]

[edit] Comeback

On March 20, 2008, da Matta climbed back into a race car for the first time since his accident, completing a two-day test in a Riley Daytona Prototype prepared by reigning Rolex Sports Car Series champions GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing. He found speed right away, and team owner Bob Stallings said "the comeback has begun."^{[citation needed]} da Matta said, "After the test, I realized 'I still know how to do this, I remember this very well. The biggest thing I felt after the test was just a sense of relief. For me, it was a big, big relief, bigger than big."^{[citation needed]} Plans are being laid to pair da Matta with another former Champ Car champion, Jimmy Vasser, and enter Rolex Series racing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in May.^[12]

[edit] Personal

da Matta participated in gymnastics as a youth, at one point training with the Club Flamengo's Olympic team.^{[citation needed]} Cristiano and his girlfriend Vanessa, live in Miami, Florida.^{[citation needed]} They have been together for five years.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Motorsports Career Results

[edit] Formula One

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	WDC	Pts.
2003	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota TF103	Toyota V10	AUS Ret	MAL 11	BRA 10	SMR 12	ESP 6	AUT 10	MON 9	CAN 11	EUR Ret	FRA 11	GBR 7	GER 6	HUN 11	ITA Ret	USA 9	JPN 7			13th	10
2004	Panasonic Toyota Racing	Toyota TF104	Toyota V10	AUS 12	MAL 9	BHR 10	SMR Ret	ESP 13	MON 6	EUR Ret	CAN DSQ	USA Ret	FRA 14	GBR 13	GER Ret	HUN	BEL	ITA	CHN	JPN	BRA	17th	3

[edit] American Open-Wheel

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

[edit] Champ Car

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points
1999	Arciero-Wells	MIA 14	MOT Ret	LBH Ret	NAZ 4	RIO Ret	GAT Ret	MIL 11	POR 11	CLE Ret	ROA Ret	TOR Ret	MIC Ret	DET Ret	MDO 9	CHI 14	VAN 5	LAG Ret	HOU 11	SUR Ret	FON Ret		18th	32
2000	PPI Motorsports	MIA 12	LBH Ret	RIO 4	MOT 4	NAZ 13	MIL 14	DET Ret	POR 5	CLE 3	TOR 4	MIC Ret	CHI 1	MDO Ret	ROA Ret	VAN 7	LAG 15	GAT 4	HOU 14	SUR 4	FON Ret		10th	112
2001	Newman/Haas	MTY 1	LBH 2	FTW Canc	NAZ 10	MOT Ret	MIL Ret	DET 7	POR 10	CLE 7	TOR Ret	MIC 4	CHI 19	MDO 10	ROA 6	VAN Ret	LAU Ret	ROC 3	HOU 6	LAG Ret	SUR 1	FON 1	5th	140
2002	Newman/Haas	MTY 1	LBH 8	MOT Ret	MIL 11	LAG 1	POR 1	CHI 1	TOR 1	CLE Ret	VAN Ret	MDO 13	ROA 1	MTL 2	DEN 3	ROC 2	MIA 1	SUR 8	FON Ret	MEX 2			1st	237
2005	PKV	LBH 10	MTY 6	MIL 11	POR 1	CLE Ret	TOR Ret	EDM Ret	SAN Ret	DEN Ret	MTL 6	LAS 12	SUR Ret	MEX 14									11th	139
2006	Coyne/ RuSPORT	LBH 5	HOU 9	MTY 9	MIL Ret	POR 5	CLE 14	TOR 5	EDM Ret	SAN 2	DEN INJ	MTL INJ	ROA INJ	SUR INJ	MEX INJ								13th	134

[edit] External links

• Official website of Cristiano da Matta
• da Matta's profile provided by CBS SportsLine

[edit] References

Sporting positions
Preceded by Fernando Croceri	Brazilian Formula Three Champion 1994	Succeeded by none
Preceded by Tony Kanaan	Indy Lights Champion 1998	Succeeded by Oriol Servià
Preceded by Gil de Ferran	CART Series Champion 2002	Succeeded by Paul Tracy

v • d • e CART/CCWS Drivers' Champions (1979) Rick Mears · (1980) Johnny Rutherford · (1981–82) Rick Mears · (1983) Al Unser · (1984) Mario Andretti · (1985) Al Unser · (1986–87) Bobby Rahal · (1988) Danny Sullivan · (1989) Emerson Fittipaldi · (1990) Al Unser Jr · (1991) Michael Andretti · (1992) Bobby Rahal · (1993) Nigel Mansell · (1994) Al Unser Jr · (1995) Jacques Villeneuve · (1996) Jimmy Vasser · (1997–98) Alex Zanardi · (1999) Juan Pablo Montoya · (2000–01) Gil de Ferran · (2002) Cristiano da Matta · (2003) Paul Tracy · (2004–07) Sébastien Bourdais