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Eduardo Freitas

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Eduardo Freitas
Born
Portugal
NationalityPortuguese
OccupationMotorsports official

Eduardo Freitas is a Portuguese motorsports official and race director.

Freitas served as the race director for FIA Gran Turismo, the European Touring Car Championship, the European Le Mans Series, the Asian Le Mans Series and the World Endurance Championship from 2002 to 2022.

In this role, Freitas oversaw the logistics of sports car, touring cars and endurance racing weekends, ensuring cars, tracks, and drivers conform to FIA regulations before, during, and after a race.

In 2022, he replaced former race director Michael Masi, as Formula One race director alongside Niels Wittich.

Early life

Freitas was born in Portugal. Freitas described his teenage years, passion for motorcycles, around 1977, as "having fun on weekends repairing two-stroke engines on small motorcycles". From that a friend invited him "to do the same on a two-stroke carting engine."[1]

Career

Early career

Similar to former Formula One race director Charlie Whiting, Freitas then began his motorsport career, when a friend invited him to work as a karting mechanic during the World Karting Championship in Estoril, 1979.[1][2]

The Portuguese then rose through the ranks from track marshal to race director in karting.

During his work as track secretary at the Estoril circuit in 2002, he was asked to lead the FIA GT and ETCC Championship for a season, a role he retained until the end of 2009.[3]

After that, the FIA promoted Freitas to the FIA GT1 global championship, and in 2012, he was named race director for the WEC - World Endurance Championship.[2]

In total, he has worked in motorsports as mechanic, track marshal, track secretary, clerk of the course, and race director for single car, touring car and endurance racing events for over 40 years,[4] including serving as race director for the FIA WEC, and the Le Mans 24 Hours Series, the ELMS - European Le Mans Series and the Asian Le Mans Series for 20 years.[5]

Formula One

In Formula One Freitas worked alongside both former Formula One race directors Michael Masi and his predecessor Charlie Whiting in FIA conferences and race director meetings at the governing body.[2] During the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix, he shadowed Michael Masi as part of the race direction team for his home race in Portimao, at the Algarve International Circuit in Portimao.[6]

Following the controversial ending of the 2021 Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, a petition was started by Formula One fans, to appoint Freitas as new race director.[6]

On 17 February 2022, the FIA announced Masi was removed from his role as race director following an FIA analysis into the events of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.[7][8] Freitas and Niels Wittich replaced him, splitting the role as race directors, with Herbie Blash acting as their "Permanent Senior Advisor".[9]

References

  1. ^ a b "WEC - Interview with FIA Race Director Eduardo Freitas". Federation Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  2. ^ a b c "Who are Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich, and why are they replacing Michael Masi in F1?". www.autosport.com. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  3. ^ "Who are F1 race directors Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich?". Fpal News. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  4. ^ Miller, Fiona (18 August 2014). "In Full Race Control - Part One". Retrieved 23 Feb 2022.
  5. ^ "Eduardo Freitas: On 20 Years As An FIA Race Director | dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  6. ^ a b "Here's Who Is Replacing Michael Masi As F1's Race Director". WTF1. 2022-02-17. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  7. ^ "FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem opens the way for a new step forward in Formula 1 refereeing". Federation Internationale de l'Automobile. 2022-02-17. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  8. ^ "Michael Masi replaced as F1 race director after FIA review of 2021 Abu Dhabi GP finale". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  9. ^ "Michael Masi replaced as race director amid FIA structural changes | Formula 1®". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 2022-02-17.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eduardo_Freitas&oldid=1076117742"