Tarso Marques

Tarso Marques

Marques in 2007, as a Stock Car Brasil driver
Born	(1976-01-19) 19 January 1976 Curitiba, Brazil
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Brazilian
Active years	1996–1997, 2001
Teams	Minardi
Entries	26 (24 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1996 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last entry	2001 Belgian Grand Prix

Tarso Anibal Santanna Marques (born 19 January 1976) is a Brazilian racing driver. He participated in 24 Formula One Grands Prix, all driving for the Minardi team, but scored no championship points in three separate seasons and never completed a full year in the sport.

Career

After five years of karting, Marques raced in Formula Chevrolet in his home country aged only 16, and he won the title at his first attempt. In 1993 he moved up to Formula Three Sudamericana and subsequently European Formula 3000, and became the youngest driver to win races at both levels. In 1996, he started racing for Minardi in Formula One, competing with various drivers for the seat over the following two years, including Giancarlo Fisichella, Jarno Trulli and Pedro Lamy. Minardi's financial situation demanded that drivers with strong sponsorship were generally favoured, and there were several driver changes in the team at that time.

In 1999, he moved stateside to drive in the American Champ Car ranks, and caught the eye of legendary team-owner Roger Penske. When two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. was injured, Penske asked him to fill in. His best finish was 9th. In 2000, 2004, and 2005, he drove sporadically in that series for perennial minnows Dale Coyne Racing, with a best result of 11th.

Marques returned to Formula One in 2001 to race alongside future World Champion Fernando Alonso in the Minardi team, newly purchased by Paul Stoddart. He finished the season ahead of the Spaniard but it was a difficult season for Marques, with the team's financial difficulties not always allowing equal equipment for both drivers. Marques brought no money to the team and was employed under the provision that another driver with more sponsorship money could replace him at any point in the season, and that prospect was realised towards the end of the year, when Minardi replaced Marques with Alex Yoong with three races remaining. Marques welcomed the driver change as the extra finance would enable the team to progress, adding, "Yoong brought the sponsor for the team already two or three races ago so he should be in the car." His two ninth-place finishes remained Minardi's best results of the season, but he was nearly always outpaced by Alonso. Marques would however remain at Minardi for 2002 as the test and reserve driver. Despite this, he did not replace Yoong later in the season when the Malaysian was dropped, with the seat instead going to Anthony Davidson, and Justin Wilson also being offered the drive ahead of Marques.

Since his last Champ Car outing in 2005, Marques has returned to South America to drive in the TC2000 and Stock Car Brasil touring car championships.

Racing record

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	DC	Points
1994	Vortex Motorsport	SIL 13	PAU Ret	CAT DNS	PER 12	HOC 10	SPA 8	EST 12	MAG 4	15th	3
1995	DAMS	SIL 12	CAT 3	PAU Ret	PER Ret	HOC Ret	SPA 5	EST 1	MAG Ret	5th	15

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	WDC	Points
1996	Minardi Team	Minardi M195B	Ford V8	AUS	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	EUR	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN		NC	0
1997	Minardi Team	Minardi M197	Hart V8	AUS	BRA	ARG	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA Ret	GBR 10	GER Ret	HUN 12	BEL Ret	ITA 14	AUT EX	LUX Ret	JPN Ret	EUR 15	NC	0
2001	European Minardi F1	Minardi PS01	European V10	AUS Ret	MAL 14	BRA 9	SMR Ret	ESP 16	AUT Ret	MON Ret	CAN 9	EUR Ret	FRA 15	GBR DNQ	GER Ret						22nd	0
		Minardi PS01B														HUN Ret	BEL 13	ITA	USA	JPN

American open-wheel racing

(key)

CART/Champ Car

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Rank	Points
1999	Team Penske	Penske PC-27	Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8t	MIA	MOT 14	LBH Ret	NAZ	RIO 9	GAT Ret	MIL	POR 18													27th	4
		Lola B99/00										CLE Ret	ROA	TOR	MIC	DET	MDO	CHI	VAN	LAG	HOU	SRF	FON
2000	Dale Coyne Racing	Swift 011.c	Ford XF V8t	MIA	LBH WDN	RIO	MOT 16	NAZ 12	MIL Ret	DET 10	POR 15	CLE Ret	TOR Ret	MIC 12	CHI Ret	MDO Ret	ROA Ret	VAN Ret	LS 18	GAT 15	HOU Ret	SRF 13	FON 7	25th	11
2004	Dale Coyne Racing	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8t	LBH 18	MTY 18	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	VAN	ROA	DEN	MTL	LS	LVS	SRF	MXC 18							22nd	9^
2005	Dale Coyne Racing	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8t	LBH	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE 11	TOR	EDM	SJO	DEN	MTL	LVS	SRF	MXC								24th	10

^{^} New points system implemented in 2004.

References

• 'Professor' de Alonso na F1, Marques vê automobilismo acabado no Brasil (in Portuguese)

External links

• Tarso Marques official website
• Profile on F1 Rejects
• Profile - by FIA GT Championship official website