Christian Fittipaldi

Christian Fittipaldi In 2006, as a Stock Car Brasil driver Born (1971-01-18) 18 January 1971 São Paulo, Brazil Formula One World Championship career Nationality Brazilian Active years 1992–1994 Teams Minardi, Footwork Races 43 (40 starts) Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Career points 12 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First race 1992 South African Grand Prix Last race 1994 Australian Grand Prix Christian Fittipaldi CART World Series Years active 1995–2002 Teams Walker Racing Newman/Haas Racing Starts 135 Wins 2 Poles 1 Best finish 5th in 1996 & 2002

Christian Fittipaldi Born (1971-01-18) January 18, 1971 São Paulo, Brazil Awards 1991 Formula 3000 champion 1995 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of The Year NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career 16 race(s) run over 2 year(s) Best finish 44th - 2003 (Winston Cup) First race 2002 Checker Auto Parts 500 Presented by Pennzoil (Phoenix) Last race 2003 UAW-GM Quality 500 (Charlotte)

Christian Fittipaldi (born January 18, 1971 in 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 the 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.

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.

America

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 while 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.

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, cousin of Christian's former CART teammate Michael Andretti, was let go. Christian struggled and was reassigned shortly after the start of autumn, but remained with the team, driving the 44 car.

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., but was removed from the car after race 4 of the 2008 Season. He then moved to drive the #16 Pontiac Coyote for Cheever Racing in the Rolex Sports Car Series.

Racing career

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Points
1991	Pacific Racing	Reynard 91D	Mugen Honda	VAL 2	PAU 2	JER 1	MUG 3	PER Ret	HOC 4	BRH 3	SPA Ret	BUG 2	NOG 1	1st	47

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1992	Minardi Team	Minardi M191	Lamborghini 3.5 L V12	RSA Ret	MEX Ret	BRA Ret	ESP 11													17th	1
		Minardi M192	Lamborghini 3.5 L V12					SMR Ret	MON 8	CAN 13	FRA DNQ	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL DNQ	ITA DNQ	POR 12	JPN 6	AUS 9
1993	Minardi Team	Minardi M193	Ford HB 3.5 L V8	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	13th	5
1994	Footwork Ford	Footwork FA15	Ford HB 3.5 L V8	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	15th	6

American Open-Wheel

(key)

CART

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
1995	Walker	MIA 5	SRF Ret	PHX 10	LBH Ret	NZR Ret	INDY 2	MIL 7	DET 17	POR 12	ROA 8	TOR 9	CLE Ret	MIS 9	MDO Ret	NHM 8	VAN Ret	LS Ret					15th	54
1996	Newman/Haas	MIA 6	RIO 5	SRF 5	LBH Ret	NZR 9	500 Ret	MIL 6	DET 2*	POR 3	CLE 7	TOR 7	MIS 10	MDO 7	ROA Ret	VAN 3	LS 10						5th	110
1997	Newman/Haas	MIA Ret	SRF Ret	LBH Inj	NZR Inj	RIO Inj	STL Inj	MIL Inj	DET Inj	POR 4	CLE 6	TOR 11	MIS Ret	MDO Ret	ROA 4	VAN Ret	LS Ret	FON 9					15th	42
1998	Newman/Haas	MIA 4	MOT Ret	LBH Ret	NZR 11	RIO Ret	STL 11	MIL DNS	DET 17	POR Ret	CLE 11	TOR 16	MIS Ret	MDO 13	ROA 3	VAN 14	LS 9	HOU Ret	SRF 3	FON 7			14th	56
1999	Newman/Haas	MIA 9	MOT 3	LBH 5	NZR 7	RIO 3	STL 9	MIL 6	POR 14	CLE 12	ROA 1	TOR 3	MIS 8	DET Inj	MDO Inj	CHI Inj	VAN Inj	LS Inj	HOU 7	SRF Ret	FON 3		7th	121
2000	Newman/Haas	MIA 7	LBH Ret	RIO 5	MOT 11	NZR 11	MIL 9	DET Ret	POR 3	CLE Ret	TOR Ret	MIS Ret	CHI DNS	MDO 3	ROA Ret	VAN 4	LS 10	STL 12	HOU 6	SRF Ret	FON 1		12th	96
2001	Newman/Haas	MTY Ret	LBH Ret	TXS NH	NZR 5	MOT 4	MIL Ret	DET 5	POR 3	CLE 11	TOR Ret	MIS Ret	CHI Ret	MDO 8	ROA Ret	VAN 11	LAU Ret	ROC Ret	HOU 8	LS 9	SRF 8	FON 13	15th	70
2002	Newman/Haas	MTY 3	LBH 13	MOT 12	MIL 4	LS 2	POR 13	CHI 14	TOR 3	CLE 12	VAN 13	MDO 2	ROA 6	MTL 7	DEN 5	ROC 17	MIA 2	SRF 11	FON 7	MXC 15			5th	122

Complete A1 Grand Prix 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	22	DC	Points
2005–06	Brazil	GBR SPR	GBR FEA	GER SPR	GER FEA	POR SPR	POR FEA	AUS SPR	AUS FEA	MYS SPR	MYS FEA	UAE SPR	UAE FEA	RSA SPR	RSA FEA	IDN SPR 20	IDN FEA 4	MEX SPR 14	MEX FEA 12	USA SPR 13	USA FEA Ret	CHN SPR 10	CHN FEA Ret	6th	71

Complete Stock Car Brasil results

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

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos	Points
2005	Terra Racing	Mitsubishi Lancer	INT 18	CTB 10	RIO Ret	INT 9	CTB 24	LON 16	BSB 7	SCZ Ret	TAR 6	ARG Ret	RIO Ret	INT 7	23rd	32
2006	Terra Racing	Mitsubishi Lancer	INT	CTB	CGD 26	INT Ret	LON 15	CTB	SCZ						27th	9
	RC3 Bassani Racing	Chevrolet Astra								BSB 21	TAR 23	ARG 18	RIO 8	INT 24
2010	Gramacho Costa	Chevrolet Vectra	INT 19	CTB 21	VEL 17	RIO 18	RBP 16	SAL 23	INT Ret	CGD 15	LON Ret	SCZ Ret	BSB Ret	CTB Ret	34th	1

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2006	ACEMCO Motorsports	Johnny Mowlem Terry Borcheller	Saleen S7-R	GT1	337	12th	7th
2007	Team Modena	Antonio García Jos Menten	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	318	17th	10th
2008	Team Modena	Terry Borcheller Jos Menten	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	302	30th	8th

Complete American Le Mans Series results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points
2008	Andretti Green Racing	LMP2	Acura ARX-01b	Acura 3.4L V8	M	SEB ovr:18 cls:6	STP ovr:6 cls:5	LNB ovr:6 cls:4	UTA ovr:8 cls:7	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	DET	PET	MON	24th	38

Helmet

Christian Fittipaldi's helmet was yellow with a circle of green raindrops on the top, similar to Wilson Fittipaldi's helmet, but with inverted colors. In F-Indy he changed the yellow and green with red and grey respectively.

External links

• Official website
• Christian Fittipaldi driver statistics at Racing Reference

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
Achievements
Preceded by Jacques Villeneuve	Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year 1995	Succeeded by Tony Stewart