Adrián
Campos

Adrián Campos Suñer was born on 17 June 1960 in Alzira. He began in radio-controlled car racing and won the Spanish championship in 1980. A year later he moved to racing real cars. He competed in Formula Three from 1983 to 1985, finishing third in the 1985 German championship, and entered Formula 3000 in 1986.

That same year he did some testing for Tyrrell. In 1987 and 1988 he drove for Minardi, first alongside Alessandro Nannini and then alongside his compatriot Luis Pérez-Sala. He was entered in 21 Grands Prix and started 17 of them, without scoring a championship point. In 1987 he started 15 of 16 races entered, and in 1988 only two of five. After he failed to qualify in three consecutive races, Pierluigi Martini took over his seat.

Four years after leaving Formula One, Campos raced in the Spanish Touring Car Championship from 1992 to 1995 and won the title in 1994. He also took part in some sports prototype races, including in a Ferrari 333 SP. 1997 was his last year as a professional driver.

He then turned to running his own team. In 1998 he founded Adrian Campos Motorsport, later renamed Campos Racing, and Marc Gené won the Euro Open by Nissan in the championship's first season. In Fernando Alonso's early years, Campos also managed him. Campos Racing joined the GP2 Series in 2005 and won the teams' championship in 2008. His Campos Meta project was granted a place on the Formula One grid for 2010. The team, later known as HRT, competed in the world championship from 2010 to 2012. Adrián Campos died on 27 January 2021, aged 60. The final corner of his home track, the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, carries his name.

Source: Wikipedia, “Adrián Campos”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.