Cristiano
Da Matta

Cristiano da Matta was born in Belo Horizonte on 19 September 1973. His father, Toninho da Matta, won the Brazilian touring car championship fourteen times. Cristiano took up karting at sixteen and won several titles. He became Brazilian Formula Ford champion in 1993 and Brazilian Formula 3 champion in 1994. In 1995 he raced in British Formula 3, winning one race and finishing eighth in the standings. The following year he again placed eighth, this time in Formula 3000, with a best result of fourth at Pau.

In 1997 he moved to the United States and was named Rookie of the Year in Indy Lights. He took the title there in 1998, with seven wins and four pole positions. In 1999 he joined Team Arciero Wells in CART, a team running Toyota engines. His first win came in 2000, and in 2001 he moved to Newman/Haas Racing. In 2002 he won the CART championship, with seven victories and seven pole positions.

Da Matta entered Formula One with Toyota in 2003. He scored ten points in his first season, four more than his team-mate Olivier Panis, and finished 13th in the world championship. At the Brazilian Grand Prix he spent a long time behind the reigning world champion Michael Schumacher in the wet and finished tenth. At the British Grand Prix he led for 17 laps after a protester on the track brought out the Safety Car, and he finished seventh. In 2004 he managed only three points and ended the year 17th. After the German Grand Prix, Ricardo Zonta took over his seat. In total da Matta started 28 Formula One races.

He returned to Champ Car in 2005, won at Portland for PKV Racing and finished 11th overall. In 2006 he began the season with Dale Coyne Racing, switched to RuSPORT in June and finished sixth in the standings with a second place at San Jose. On 3 August 2006 his car collided with a deer during testing at Road America. He recovered and climbed back into a racing car in March 2008. That year he shared a car with Jimmy Vasser in a Rolex Sports Car Series round at Laguna Seca. In December 2009 he tested an Iveco-owned Fórmula Truck and in January 2010 confirmed that he would race the Brazilian Fórmula Truck season for the team. In 2011 he raced with Rocketsports Racing in the American Le Mans Series.

Source: Wikipedia, “Cristiano da Matta”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.