Ricardo Teixeira (racing driver)

Ricardo Teixeira
Ricardo Teixeira
Nationality	Angolan; Portuguese
Born	2 August 1984 (age 40); Lisbon, Portugal
GP2 Series career
Debut season	2009
Current team	Rapax
Car number	20
Former teams	Trident Racing
Starts	42
Wins	0
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	26th in 2009
Previous series
2010; 2008–09; 2002, 2005–08; 2007; 2001	FIA Formula Two; GP2 Asia Series; British Formula 3; ATS Formel 3 Cup; FBMW Junior Cup Iberia

Ricardo Teixeira (born 2 August 1984 in Lisbon, Portugal) is a Portuguese-Angolan racing driver. He holds dual nationality and has raced under both nationalities at various points in his career. He was the first Angolan driver to drive a Formula 1 car when he was announced as a test driver for Team Lotus for 2011. He has been sponsored throughout his career by the Angolan oil company Sonangol.

Career

Formula BMW

Teixeira began his formula racing career in 2001 by driving in the Formula BMW Junior Cup in Portugal. He finished in 20th position in the drivers' championship.

Formula Three

Teixeira moved to the National Class of the British Formula 3 Championship in 2002, but did not start a race that year. In 2003 he raced occasionally in the BRSCC's ARP Formula Three Championship, taking one win and three podiums finish at club racing level.

He returned to the British Championship in 2005 after taking a couple of years out for study with the Carlin Motorsport team, finishing ninth in the National Class. The following season, he improved to seventh, despite switching teams to Performance Racing Europe part-way through the year finishing twice in the podium. In 2007, he moved up to the Championship Class of the series with Performance Racing, scoring no points. For 2008, he moved to the Ultimate Motorsport team's Mygale chassis. Teixeira also competed in two races of the German ATS Formel 3 Cup in 2007, and has driven in two Masters of Formula Three races, with a best finish of 24th.

GP2 Series

Teixeira was signed by the Trident Racing team to drive in the fifth and sixth rounds of the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season. He replaced Frankie Provenzano, and was the seventh competitor to drive one of the team's two entries. He was the first Angolan driver to compete at this level of motorsport. Trident kept a hold of Teixeira for the 2009 GP2 Series. He became the first driver to not qualify for an event since Christian Bakkerud in 2007, as he did not lap within 107% of Romain Grosjean's pole position time, in Monaco.^[1] He did not score any points and finished the championship in 26th position.

After two years away from the series, first in Formula Two and then as a test driver for the Lotus Formula One team, Teixeira returned to GP2 by signing with the Rapax team for the 2012 season, in which he partnered Tom Dillmann. After ten races, and with a best finish of 13th, he was replaced by Daniël de Jong after suffering from illness.^[2] He returned to action for the next round at Silverstone, with De Jong taking Dillmann's seat instead.^[3] Teixeira eventually finished 29th in the championship, having scored no points.

Formula Two

Teixeira moved to the FIA Formula Two Championship for 2010. He finished fifth in his third race in the series, at Marrakech, but suffered a spectacular aerial accident in the following race when he collided with Ivan Samarin under braking for a chicane. Teixeira was uninjured in the accident.^[4] Over the course of the season he amassed 23 points to finish 16th in the drivers' championship: his best showing in any series since 2006.

Formula One

After driving for Team Lotus in pre-season testing for the 2011 season, Teixeira was confirmed as a test driver for the team in March 2011.^[5]

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2001	Formula BMW Junior Cup Iberia		3	0	0	0	0	28	20th
2002	British Formula 3 Scholarship Class	Essential Motorsport	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2003	ARP Formula 3 Championship	Rowan Racing	5	2	1	2	4	47	8th
2005	British Formula 3 National Class	Carlin Motorsport	16	0	0	0	0	61	9th
2006	British Formula 3 National Class	Carlin Motorsport	14	0	0	1	2	74	7th
2006	British Formula 3 National Class	Performance Racing Europe	14	0	0	1	2	74	7th
2007	British Formula 3	Performance Racing Europe	18	0	0	0	0	0	20th
	ATS Formel 3 Cup	Rennsport Rössler	1	0	0	0	0	2	23rd
	Masters of Formula 3	Performance Racing Europe	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	24th
2008	British Formula 3	Ultimate Motorsport	20	0	0	0	0	0	21st
2008	Masters of Formula 3	Ultimate Motorsport	1	0	0	0	0	N/A	NC
2008–09	GP2 Asia Series	Trident Racing	4	0	0	0	0	0	38th
2009	GP2 Series	Trident Racing	18	0	0	0	0	0	26th
2010	Formula Two	MotorSport Vision	18	0	0	0	0	23	16th
2011	Formula One	Team Lotus	Test and official reserve driver
2012	GP2 Series	Rapax	22	0	0	0	0	0	29th
2013	GP2 Series	Trident Racing	4	0	0	0	0	0	34th
2014	Auto GP World Series	Super Nova International	0	0	0	0	0	0	NC

Complete GP2 Series 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	23	24	DC
2009	Trident Racing	ESP FEA Ret	ESP SPR 20	MON FEA DNQ	MON SPR DNQ	TUR FEA 14	TUR SPR 18	GBR FEA Ret	GBR SPR 18	GER FEA Ret	GER SPR 15	HUN FEA Ret	HUN SPR 19	VAL FEA Ret	VAL SPR 14	BEL FEA Ret	BEL SPR 14	ITA FEA 16	ITA SPR 14	POR FEA 15	POR SPR 21					26th
2012	Rapax	MYS FEA 21	MYS SPR 24	BHR1 FEA 17	BHR1 SPR 13	BHR2 FEA 23	BHR2 SPR 20	ESP FEA Ret	ESP SPR 23	MON FEA 20	MON SPR Ret	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	GBR FEA 18	GBR SPR 15	GER FEA DSQ	GER SPR 16	HUN FEA 19	HUN SPR 20	BEL FEA 18	BEL SPR 15	ITA FEA 20	ITA SPR 18	SGP FEA 17	SGP SPR 21	29th
2013	Trident Racing	MYS FEA	MYS SPR	BHR FEA	BHR SPR	ESP FEA	ESP SPR	MON FEA	MON SPR	GBR FEA	GBR SPR	GER FEA	GER SPR	HUN FEA 19	HUN SPR 19	BEL FEA 21	BEL SPR 24	ITA FEA	ITA SPR	SGP FEA	SGP SPR	ABU FEA	ABU SPR			34th

Complete GP2 Asia Series 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	DC	Points
2008–09	Trident Racing	CHN FEA	CHN SPR	DUB FEA	DUB SPR	BHR1 FEA	BHR1 SPR	QAT FEA	QAT SPR	MYS FEA 17	MYS SPR 19	BHR2 FEA 17	BHR2 SPR Ret	38th	0

Complete Formula Two results

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

Year	No.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	DC	Points
2010	19	SIL 1 17	SIL 2 14	MAR 1 5	MAR 2 Ret	MON 1 16	MON 2 13	ZOL 1 9	ZOL 2 Ret	ALG 1 6	ALG 2 Ret	BRH 1 16	BRH 2 16	BRN 1 9	BRN 2 Ret	OSC 1 10	OSC 2 16	VAL 1 14	VAL 2 Ret	16th	23

Complete Auto GP 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	Pos	Points
2014	Super Nova International	MAR 1	MAR 2	LEC 1 WD	LEC 2 WD	HUN 1	HUN 2	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	IMO 1	IMO 2	RBR 1	RBR 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	EST 1	EST 2	NC	0

References

^ Glendenning, Mark (21 May 2009). "Grosjean on pole again in Monaco". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
^ "De Jong to stand in for Teixeira in Valencia's GP2 races". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
^ "Dillmann to miss Silverstone". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
^ English, Steven (2 May 2010). "Teixeira walks away from aerial crash". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
^ "2011 Test Driver Line-up". teamlotus.co.uk. Team Lotus. 11 March 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2011.

External links

[1] Glendenning, Mark (21 May 2009). "Grosjean on pole again in Monaco". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 22 May 2009.

[2] "De Jong to stand in for Teixeira in Valencia's GP2 races". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2012.

[3] "Dillmann to miss Silverstone". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.

[4] English, Steven (2 May 2010). "Teixeira walks away from aerial crash". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2 May 2010.

[5] "2011 Test Driver Line-up". teamlotus.co.uk. Team Lotus. 11 March 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2011.

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