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Quick Facts
Biography
Ricardo Luiz Zonta (born March 23, 1976) is a Brazilian professional racing driver.
Early career
Born in Curitiba, Brazil, Zonta began karting in 1987, winning his first race shortly thereafter. The following year, he was runner-up for the Curitiba Karting Championship, and in 1991, he won the title. He continued karting until 1992, finishing fourth in the São Paulo Karting Championship before progressing to single-seaters for 1993. He finished 6th in the Brazilian Formula Chevrolet Championship, and then in 1994, came fifth in the Brazilian Formula Three Championship. A year later, Zonta won both the Brazilian and South American Formula Three Championships.
Moving to Europe in 1996, Zonta competed in the International Formula 3000 Championship for Draco Racing, winning two races and finishing fourth overall. In the same year, he became the first Brazilian to compete in International Touring Cars, with Mercedes. In 1997, he won three races and the Formula 3000 championship. He also took home the "Golden Helmet" award for best international driver for his efforts. The Jordan Formula One team signed him as their official test driver following his championship, and in 1998, he was signed by McLaren boss Ron Dennis. Zonta tested with the McLaren Formula One team in 1998, and concurrently won the FIA GT Championship (GT1 class) and the "Golden Helmet" award in the "world prominence" category.
In October 1998, immediately after winning the FIA GT championship, Zonta signed up with the B.A.R. Formula One racing team as one of its race drivers for the 1999 season, after rejecting offers from Jordan and Sauber.
Formula One career
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Zonta_%28Toyota%29_qualifying_at_USGP_2005.jpg/400px-Zonta_%28Toyota%29_qualifying_at_USGP_2005.jpg)
In 1999, Zonta started as a Formula One racing driver alongside 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve at new team B.A.R. Zonta injured his foot in an accident during practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix, and was forced to miss three races. He also had a large accident at Spa-Francorchamps, and finished the season with no championship points. Zonta remained with B.A.R for the 2000 season, scoring his first world championship point with a sixth place in the opening race. He had another large accident when his front suspension broke during testing at Silverstone, but continued the season, scoring points in both the Italian and United States Grands Prix, to finish 14th in the championship. Replaced by Olivier Panis for the 2001 season, Zonta became the third driver for the Jordan team, replacing the injured Heinz-Harald Frentzen for one race, and then again when Frentzen was sacked, but was overlooked to replace him for the remainder of the season. In 2002, he decided to focus on the Telefónica World Series, which he won. Zonta was then hired as test driver for the Toyota F1 team in 2003, retaining the position in 2004. Towards the end of the season, the team sacked Cristiano da Matta from a race seat, and Zonta drove in four Grands Prix. In Belgium a brilliant fourth place went beckoning when engine failure struck three laps from the finish. In Suzuka the team hired Jarno Trulli and Zonta had to sit the event out, however the team allowed him to compete in his home race, the Brazilian Grand Prix, which he finished in 13th. He continued as a test driver for Toyota in 2005, alongside veteran French pilot Olivier Panis. At the US Grand Prix later that year, he stood in for an injured Ralf Schumacher and took his place on the grid, only for Toyota, like the other six Michelin-shod teams, to withdraw from the race due to safety concerns. 2006 saw Zonta continue with Toyota as the team's third and test driver.
Ricardo Zonta was confirmed as test driver for the Renault Formula One team for the 2007 season on 6 September 2006.
After Formula One
In 2007, Zonta entered the Stock Car Brasil series in parallel with the work for the Renault team.
In 2008, Zonta kicked off his sportscar career by contesting the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Peugeot Sport, driving the #9 car alongside Franck Montagny and Formula One tester Christian Klien. He is also driving in the Grand Am Championship in America with Krohn Racing, while also being the team owner and driver of Panasonic Racing in Stock Car Brasil.
Racing career
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 | DC | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1996 | Draco Engineering | NÜR Ret | PAU 3 | PER Ret | HOC 6 | SIL 3 | SPA 9 | MAG Ret | EST 1 | MUG 1 | HOC 11 | 4th | 27 |
1997 | Super Nova Racing | SIL DSQ | PAU Ret | HEL Ret | NÜR 1 | PER 2 | HOC 1 | A1R 2 | SPA 5 | MUG 1 | JER Ret | 1st | 39 |
24 Hours of Le Mans results
Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1998 | ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Mercedes-Benz CLK LM | GT1 | 31 | DNF | DNF |
2008 | ![]() | ![]() ![]() | Peugeot 908 HDi FAP | LMP1 | 379 | 3rd | 3rd |
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 | Pts. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1999 | British American Racing | BAR 01 | Supertec V10 | AUS Ret | BRA DNQ | SMR | MON | ESP | CAN Ret | FRA 9 | GBR Ret | AUT 15† | GER Ret | HUN 13 | BEL Ret | ITA Ret | EUR 8 | MAL Ret | JPN 12 | NC | 0 | |||
2000 | Lucky Strike Reynard BAR Honda | BAR 002 | Honda V10 | AUS 6 | BRA 9 | SMR 12 | GBR Ret | ESP 8 | EUR Ret | MON Ret | CAN 8 | FRA Ret | AUT Ret | GER Ret | HUN 14 | BEL 12 | ITA 6 | USA 6 | JPN 9 | MAL Ret | 14th | 3 | ||
2001 | B&H Jordan Honda | Jordan EJ11 | Honda V10 | AUS | MAL | BRA | SMR | ESP | AUT | MON | CAN 7 | EUR | FRA | GBR | GER Ret | HUN | BEL | ITA | USA | JPN | 19th | 0 | ||
2004 | Panasonic Toyota Racing | Toyota TF104B | Toyota V10 | AUS TD | MAL TD | BHR TD | SMR TD | ESP TD | MON TD | EUR TD | CAN TD | USA TD | FRA TD | GBR TD | GER TD | HUN Ret | BEL 10† | ITA 11 | CHN Ret | JPN | BRA 13 | 22nd | 0 | |
2005 | Panasonic Toyota Racing | Toyota TF105 | Toyota V10 | AUS TD | MAL TD | BHR TD | SMR TD | ESP TD | MON TD | EUR TD | CAN TD | USA DNS | FRA | GBR TD | GER TD | HUN TD | TUR TD | ITA TD | BEL TD | BRA TD | JPN TD | CHN TD | NC | 0 |
† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they had completed over 90% of the race distance.
Complete Stock Car Brasil results
Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | Pos | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2007 | L&M Racing | Peugeot 307 | INT DNQ | CTB 22 | CGD 26 | INT Ret | LON Ret | SCZ 11 | CTB Ret | BSB 25 | ARG 9 | TAR Ret | RIO 15 | INT 22 | 29th | 13 | |||||||||
2008 | Panasonic Racing | Peugeot 307 | INT 14 | BSB Ret | CTB | SCZ | CGD | INT | RIO | LON 22 | CTB | BSB 7 | TAR Ret | INT 5 | 24th | 23 | |||||||||
2009 | Panasonic Racing | Peugeot 307 | INT DSQ | CTB 6 | BSB | SCZ | INT 25 | SAL | RIO 10 | CGD 14 | CTB 14 | BSB 2 | TAR Ret | INT 13 | 16th | 48 | |||||||||
2010 | RZ Motorsport | Chevrolet Vectra | INT Ret | CTB 13 | VEL 15 | RIO Ret | RBP 8 | SAL Ret | INT Ret | CGD 5 | LON 21 | SCZ | BSB Ret | CTB 5 | 20th | 36 | |||||||||
2011 | Crystal Racing Team | Chevrolet Vectra | CTB 3 | INT 8 | RBP Ret | VEL 11 | CGD 16 | RIO 22 | INT 15 | SAL 7 | SCZ 21 | LON 5 | BSB 20 | VEL 25 | 15th | 51 | |||||||||
2012 | RZ Motorsport | Chevrolet Sonic | INT 26 | CTB Ret | VEL 6 | RBP 19 | LON 12 | RIO 24 | SAL 14 | CGD 22 | TAR 10 | CUR Ret | BRA 8 | INT 5 | 13th | 89 | |||||||||
2013 | BMC Racing | Chevrolet Sonic | INT 23 | CUR 6 | TAR 4 | SAL 28 | BRA 9 | CAS 14 | RBP 18 | CAS 29 | VEL 5 | CUR 8 | BRA 8 | INT 1 | 7th | 144 | |||||||||
2014 | RZ Motorsport | Chevrolet Sonic | INT 1 24 | SCZ 1 17 | SCZ 2 5 | BRA 1 5 | BRA 2 24 | GOI 1 Ret | GOI 2 Ret | GOI 1 17 | CAS 1 14 | CAS 2 22 | CUR 1 31 | CUR 2 DNS | VEL 1 5 | VEL 2 5 | SCZ 1 23 | SCZ 2 16 | TAR 1 6 | TAR 2 3 | SAL 1 7 | SAL 2 Ret | CUR 1 Ret | 14th | 108 |
2015 | Shell Racing | Chevrolet Sonic | GOI 1 21 | RBP 1 Ret | RBP 2 Ret | VEL 1 13 | VEL 2 8 | CUR 1 24 | CUR 2 Ret | SCZ 1 12 | SCZ 2 14 | CUR 1 6 | CUR 2 18 | GOI 1 3 | CAS 1 2 | CAS 2 14 | MOU 1 11 | MOU 2 12 | CUR 1 Ret | CUR 2 9 | TAR 1 5 | TAR 2 9 | INT 1 8 | 13th | 147 |
2016 | Shell Racing | Chevrolet Sonic | CUR 1 5 | 16th | 130 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Chevrolet Cruze | VEL 1 14 | VEL 2 DNS | GOI 1 16 | GOI 2 4 | SCZ 1 10 | SCZ 2 9 | TAR 1 Ret | TAR 2 8 | CAS 1 2 | CAS 2 10 | INT 1 22† | LON 1 Ret | LON 2 5 | CUR 1 14 | CUR 2 Ret | GOI 1 Ret | GOI 2 DSQ | CRI 1 DSQ | CRI 2 DNS | INT 1 13 |
† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
FIA GT Championship results
Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Rank | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1998 | AMG Mercedes | GT1 | Mercedes-Benz CLK LM | Mercedes-Benz M119 6.0L V8 | OSC 1 | SIL 4 | HOC 2 | DIJ 1 | HUN 2 | SUZ 2 | DON 2 | A1R 1 | HMS 1 | LAG 1 | 1st | 77 |
GT1 World Championship results
Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Pos | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | Reiter | Lamborghini | ABU QR 10 | ABU CR 5 | SIL QR | SIL CR | BRN QR | BRN CR | PRI QR 13 | PRI CR 10 | SPA QR 2 | SPA CR 1 | NÜR QR 4 | NÜR CR 14 | ALG QR | ALG CR | NAV QR 1 | NAV CR 1 | INT QR Ret | INT CR Ret | SAN QR | SAN CR | 8th | 75 |
2011 | Sumo Power GT | Nissan | ABU QR 4 | ABU CR Ret | ZOL QR 12 | ZOL CR Ret | ALG QR 8 | ALG CR 7 | SAC QR | SAC CR | SIL QR | SIL CR | NAV QR | NAV CR | PRI QR | PRI CR | ORD QR | ORD CR | BEI QR | BEI CR | SAN QR | SAN CR | 28th | 9 |
FIA GT Series results
Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pos. | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | BMW Sport Trophy Team Brasil | BMW Z4 GT3 | Pro | NOG QR 6 | NOG CR 9 | ZOL QR 11 | ZOL CR 8 | ZAN QR 9 | ZAN CR 5 | SVK QR 7 | SVK CR 4 | NAV QR | NAV CR | BAK QR 14 | BAK CR Ret | 15th | 29 |