Giorgio
Pantano

Giorgio Pantano was born on 4 February 1979 in Conselve, near Padua. He began karting at the age of nine and won Italian and European titles in the Cadet class, the Italian and world Junior titles in 1994, and the European Formula A title in 1995 and 1996. In single-seaters he won his first race and the championship in his first year of Formula Three with the KMS team. In Formula 3000 he won at Monza for Astromega in 2001, and in 2003 he took two wins for Durango and finished third in the standings.

In 2004 he drove for Jordan in Formula One, alongside Nick Heidfeld. He finished last on his debut in Australia. Timo Glock took his place at the Canadian Grand Prix, and Pantano returned to the car in the United States, where he was out at the first corner after a collision. After the Italian Grand Prix, Glock replaced him for the final three races. Pantano made 14 starts and finished 24th in the drivers' standings.

He took part in the inaugural GP2 season in 2005 with SuperNova, and also drove two road-course races for Chip Ganassi Racing in the Indy Racing League. In 2006 he joined the FMS team during the season and won three races. In 2007 he gave Adrián Campos's team its maiden win in the series at Magny-Cours. In 2008 he became GP2 champion with Racing Engineering, clinching the title at Monza by finishing tenth while his rival Bruno Senna came fifth. He then raced for AC Milan in Superleague Formula, winning one race at Magny-Cours. In 2010 he competed in Auto GP and finished thirteenth in the championship. He returned to IndyCar for individual races in 2011 and 2012. In 2013 he won the GTS class of the International GT Open with three victories. In 2014 he raced in the Blancpain Sprint Series and in the Spa 24 Hours. He retired from racing at the end of 2014.

Source: Wikipedia, “Giorgio Pantano”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.