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Giorgio Pantano
Italian racecar driver

Giorgio Pantano

The basics

Quick Facts

Intro
Italian racecar driver
Places
Work field
Gender
Male
Place of birth
Padua
Age
45 years
Giorgio Pantano
The details (from wikipedia)

Biography

Giorgio Pantano (born 4 February 1979) is an Italian professional racing driver who drove for the Jordan Formula One team for much of the 2004 season before being replaced by Timo Glock. He was also successful in Formula 3000.
He raced in the GP2 Series from its inaugural year in 2005 until his championship campaign in 2008, holding the record for most races competed and most races won in the series. As of 2011, these records have been taken over by Luca Filippi (86 starts) and Pastor Maldonado (10 wins) respectively.

Career

Early years

Born in Padua, Pantano is the holder of one of the best records ever in karting, where he started at age nine. Nico Rosberg grew up with a poster of Pantano on his bedroom wall and later would describe the Italian as being "probably the best of all time in karts." Fernando Alonso once called Pantano "invincible" and that in karting he had looked up to him as being "a really incredible talent."

In his first year in Cadet karting he achieved the Italian and European titles. In 1994 he won the Italian and World titles in Junior karting and in 1995 and 1996 won the European Formula A title. In 1996 he was signed by AMG-Mercedes, from where he went through a difficult patch to enter Formula One racing. He entered the winter series of Palmer Audi in 1999 and tested for the Astromega Formula 3000 team before signing for the KMS team that would take him to race in Formula Three in his first year of single-seater racing. He won his first race and went on to win the title.

Pantano driving for Jordan at the 2004 French Grand Prix.

F3000

His first taste of Formula One came in 2000, when he was tested by Benetton. However, he joined Astromega in Formula 3000 in 2001 and won at Monza. That same year he tested for McLaren. In 2002 he tested for Williams and Minardi, but was unable to break into Formula One, so he signed for the Durango team and won two races in the International Formula 3000 series in 2003, which earned him third place in the championship. He nearly spent 2003 in Champ Car, but the BC Motorsports team with whom he believed he had a contract proved to be fake.

Formula One

Pantano had been all set to make his Formula One debut for Jaguar, however two days before he was due to sign with the squad they concluded a deal with Christian Klien, who was able to bring $10million of funding from Red Bull. The Italian instead signed for the Jordan Formula One team in early 2004, and after minimal testing his season proved troublesome. He finished last in his first race in Melbourne, while his more experienced team-mate Nick Heidfeld, retired with a transmission problem. He continued racing, never managing to qualify or finish any higher than around the back of the field, and retiring on several occasions, failing to grab much attention. He was replaced for a one-off by German debutant Timo Glock (due to financial reasons) at the Canadian Grand Prix, who scored two points finishing seventh, ahead of team-mate Nick Heidfeld who was eighth. Pantano returned to his seat in the team for the next race in Indianapolis, but went out at the first corner after colliding with other drivers. He continued with more disappointing results until the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, after which he was replaced by Timo Glock for the remaining three races of the season. Pantano later divulged that it had been his own choice to stop racing with Jordan due to the financial burden placed on his family and his own feelings that the team was favouring his team-mate Heidfeld over him. Pantano was linked to returning to Formula One in 2010 with Campos Meta but the team confirmed that Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok would be joining the team.

GP2 and IndyCar

After his unsuccessful season in Formula One, he left the series. In 2005 he raced in the inaugural GP2 Series season for the SuperNova team, alongside Adam Carroll of Northern Ireland, who defied expectations by outpacing Pantano. He also drove in the Indy Racing League for Chip Ganassi Racing in the two road-course races in the 2005 season. The team scaled back to two cars for 2006, signing champion Dan Wheldon alongside Scott Dixon. Pantano had several off-season Champ Car tests for PKV Racing and Mi-Jack Conquest Racing but they failed to result in a ride for the season and Pantano sat out most of the early part of the new season before finding a new lease of life in Giancarlo Fisichella's GP2 team FMS. After a crash on his first time back, Pantano impressed in the car, his experience gaining him solid points-scoring finishes in the second half of the season, including three wins. He raced for ex-Formula One driver Adrián Campos's team in 2007. On 30 June he claimed the team's maiden victory in the series, winning a chaotic feature race in France.

For the 2008 season he signed to partner Spaniard Javier Villa at the Racing Engineering team. Pantano started the season well, taking fourth and third positions in the Spanish feature and sprint races respectively. Things were even better in the Turkish feature race, for which he took pole and won the race. After a measured drive to fourth in the sprint race Pantano led the championship, but lost the lead to Bruno Senna following two retirements in Monaco. However he retook the lead following a win at the French feature race, in which Senna retired. Despite retirement in the sprint race Pantano left France with the championship lead. Following further feature race wins in both Britain and Germany Pantano increased his championship lead over Senna.

A bad weekend in Hungary dented his advantage but he bounced back with pole for the feature race at the new Valencia street circuit. Having led the whole race in dominant style Pantano faced the heartbreak of running out of fuel on the last lap, handing victory to Vitaly Petrov. However, Senna also ran out of fuel, and thus Pantano's lead was undamaged. With Senna retiring again in the sprint race, where Pantano finished third, the Italian held a 13-point lead in the series with two rounds remaining. At Spa-Francorchamps he qualified fourth, before a mechanical problem under the safety car dropped him down the order. Attempting to fight back, he spun at La Source with two laps to go, before running into Lucas di Grassi at the same corner on the final lap, causing him to be disqualified. At Monza, he took the GP2 crown, in spite of finishing 10th. His nearest rival Bruno Senna only finished fifth, thus handing Pantano the crown.

At the Silverstone race, Pantano became the most successful driver of all time in the F1 feeder championships (F2 / F3000 / GP2). His win in the Saturday race gave him a cumulative F3000/GP2 win tally of 14, taking him above the 13 F2/F3000 championship wins of Mike Thackwell and 12 European championship Formula Two wins of Jochen Rindt. (If non-championship wins are included, Rindt and other drivers exceed this total). Pantano's Silverstone win was his eighth in the GP2 Series, making him also the most successful driver in GP2 history.

Superleague Formula

Unable to find a drive in Formula One and unable to return to GP2 as former champions are not permitted, Pantano joined up with Superleague Formula to drive the A.C. Milan entry. Pantano won one race for A.C. Milan at the Magny-Cours round.

After 2010

Pantano's McLaren MP4-12C from the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series

Pantano was linked to a return to the IndyCar Series in 2010, driving a Panther Racing entry. He instead signed on to drive in Auto GP for Super Nova Racing, finishing 13th in the championship.

Pantano returned to the IndyCar Series in 2011 as an injury replacement for Justin Wilson in races at Sonoma and Baltimore, and did not consider to racing again in Europe in the near future.

Pantano made a brief return to IndyCar in 2012, racing at the 2012 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio for Chip Ganassi Racing. He finished 14th after qualifying in 24th place. In 2013 Pantano competed in the International GT Open GTS class and won the championship with three wins and five podium finishes in 13 races. He subsequently switched to the Blancpain Sprint Series for 2014, sharing a Bhaitech-run McLaren MP4-12C with Fabio Onidi, with a view to pursuing a career as a sportscar racer. He also secured a drive at the 2014 Spa 24 Hours for Thierry Boutsen's Boutsen Ginion team, sharing a McLaren with Frédéric Vervisch, Olivier Grotz and Karim Ojjeh.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

YearEntrant123456789101112DCPoints
2001Team AstromegaINT
Ret
IMO
11
CAT
9
A1R
15
MON
Ret
NÜR
21
MAG
8
SIL
Ret
HOC
7
HUN
5
SPA
11
MNZ
1
9th12
2002Coloni F3000INT
8
IMO
3
CAT
1
A1R
4
MON
Ret
NÜR
Ret
SIL
4
MAG
3
HOC
1
HUN
2
SPA
1
MNZ
3
2nd54
2003DurangoIMO
Ret
CAT
1
A1R
3
MON
Ret
NÜR
16
MAG
1
SIL
2
HOC
7
HUN
4
MNZ
Ret
3rd41

Complete Formula One results

(key)

YearEntrantChassisEngine123456789101112131415161718WDCPoints
2004Jordan FordJordan EJ14Ford V10AUS
14
MAL
13
BHR
16
SMR
Ret
ESP
Ret
MON
Ret
EUR
13
CAN
DNP
USA
Ret
FRA
17
GBR
Ret
GER
15
HUN
Ret
BEL
Ret
ITA
Ret
CHNJPNBRA24th0

American open–wheel racing results

(key)

IndyCar Series

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

YearTeamChassisEngine123456789101112131415161718RankPoints
2005Target Chip Ganassi RacingPanozToyotaHMSPHXSTPMOTINDYTXSRIRKANNSHMILMCHKTYPPIRSNM
14
CHIWGL
4
FON26th48
2011Dreyer & Reinbold RacingDallaraHondaSTPALALBHSAOINDYTXSTXSMILIOWTOREDMMDONHMSNM
17
BAL
26
MOT
16
KTYLVS34th37
2012Chip Ganassi RacingDallara DW12HondaSTPALALBHSAOINDYDETTXSMILIOWTOREDMMDO
14
SNMBALFON31st16

Complete GP2 Series results

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

YearEntrant1234567891011121314151617181920212223DCPoints
2005Super Nova RacingIMO
FEA
13
IMO
SPR
Ret
CAT
FEA
13
CAT
SPR
14
MON
FEA
Ret
NÜR
FEA

2
NÜR
SPR
7
MAG
FEA
10
MAG
SPR
7
SIL
FEA
12
SIL
SPR
7
HOC
FEA
6
HOC
SPR
2
HUN
FEA
3
HUN
SPR
3
IST
FEA
2
IST
SPR
8
MNZ
FEA
6
MNZ
SPR
3
SPA
FEA
NC
SPA
SPR
11
BHR
FEA
5
BHR
SPR
5
6th49
2006Petrol Ofisi FMS InternationalVAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
IMO
FEA
IMO
SPR
NÜR
FEA
NÜR
SPR
CAT
FEA
9
CAT
SPR
7
MON
FEA
Ret
SIL
FEA
5
SIL
SPR
4
MAG
FEA
6
MAG
SPR
1
HOC
FEA
4
HOC
SPR
5
HUN
FEA
3
HUN
SPR
13
IST
FEA
Ret
IST
SPR
Ret
MNZ
FEA
1
MNZ
SPR
1
5th44
2007Campos Grand PrixBHR
FEA
DNS
BHR
SPR
Ret
CAT
FEA
Ret
CAT
SPR
6
MON
FEA
2
MAG
FEA
1
MAG
SPR
3
SIL
FEA
Ret
SIL
SPR
8
NÜR
FEA
4
NÜR
SPR
7
HUN
FEA
Ret
HUN
SPR
7
IST
FEA
2
IST
SPR
12
MNZ
FEA

1
MNZ
SPR

DSQ
SPA
FEA
Ret
SPA
SPR
14
VAL
FEA
2
VAL
SPR
5
3rd59
2008Racing EngineeringCAT
FEA
4
CAT
SPR
3
IST
FEA

1
IST
SPR
4
MON
FEA
Ret
MON
SPR
Ret
MAG
FEA

1
MAG
SPR
Ret
SIL
FEA

1
SIL
SPR
3
HOC
FEA

1
HOC
SPR
Ret
HUN
FEA
14
HUN
SPR
5
VAL
FEA

14
VAL
SPR
3
SPA
FEA

DSQ
SPA
SPR
EX
MNZ
FEA

10
MNZ
SPR

5
1st76

Superleague Formula

YearTeam123456789101112RankPts
2009A.C. Milan
Azerti Motorsport
MAG
12
MAG
1
ZOL
5
ZOL
11
DON
4
DON
17
EST
6
EST
6
MOZ
15
MOZ
11
JAR
3
JAR
14
7th286

Super Final Results

YearTeam123456
2009A.C. Milan
Azerti Motorsport
MAG
2
ZOL
N/A
DON
DNQ
EST
6
MOZ
N/A
JAR
DNQ

Complete Auto GP Results

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

YearEntrant123456789101112PosPoints
2010Super Nova RacingBRN
1
Ret
BRN
2
9
IMO
1

11
IMO
2
9
SPA
1
3
SPA
2
6
13th8
Euronova RacingMAG
1
13
MAG
2
11
NAV
1
NAV
2
Ombra RacingMNZ
1
12
MNZ
2
Ret

Complete Blancpain Sprint Series results

YearTeamCarClass1234567891011121314Pos.Points
2014BhaitechMcLaren MP4-12C GT3ProNOG
QR
11
NOG
CR
8
BRH
QR
8
BRH
CR
16
ZAN
QR
13
ZAN
CR
Ret
SVK
QR
Ret
SVK
CR
Ret
ALG
QR
Ret
ALG
CR
10
ZOL
QR
7
ZOL
CR
6
BAK
QR
12
BAK
CR
7
14th19

The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
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