Antônio Pizzonia

Antônio Pizzonia
Nationality	Brazilian
Born	Antônio Reginaldo Pizzonia Júnior September 11, 1980 Manaus, Brazil
Auto GP career
Debut season	2012
Current team	Zele Racing
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	2003–2005
Teams	Jaguar, Williams
Entries	20
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	8
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	2003 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry	2005 Chinese Grand Prix

Antônio Reginaldo Pizzonia Júnior (born September 11, 1980) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who has raced in Formula One and the Champ Car World Series. As of 2013, he is competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship (driving for Delta-ADR) and the Grand-Am Rolex Series (driving for Michael Shank Racing).

Born in Manaus, Pizzonia started his car racing career in the Formula Vauxhall Junior series in 1997, and then progressed through various junior formulae, winning the Formula Vauxhall Junior Winter Festival in 1997, the Formula Vauxhall Junior and Formula Renault Winter Festival in 1998, the Formula Renault 2.0 UK in 1999, and the British Formula 3 Championship in 2000. For 2001 and 2002, he entered the Formula 3000, with his best championship finish being sixth in 2001. In 2003, he was signed by the Jaguar Formula One team, but following poor results, was released during the season. In 2004, he replaced the injured Ralf Schumacher at Williams in several events, securing his first Formula One points in the process. In 2005, he replaced Nick Heidfeld at Williams, but was released from his contract at the end of the season. Since then, he has competed in multiple series, such as the Champ Car World Series, the Superleague Formula, Stock Car Brasil, and the FIA GT1 World Championship.

Racing career

Pre-Formula One

From 1991 to 1996 he competed in various karting series. In 1997 he moved to Britain and competed in Formula Vauxhall Junior; Pizzonia placed second, and won the Winter Festival. In 1998, in addition to taking the Championship in Formula Vauxhall Junior, he won the Formula Renault Winter Festival. His 1999 season was even more successful, winning the Formula Renault 2.0 UK series and finishing second in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup. In 2000, Pizzonia took 5 wins on his way to winning the British Formula 3 Championship.

For 2001, Pizzonia switched to the Formula 3000 series, winning one race and finishing sixth in the championship.

Formula One

In 2002, Pizzonia was hired as test driver for Williams, but also continued in F3000, placing 8th. After impressive testing performances, he was signed by the Jaguar team to partner Mark Webber for 2003. However, following a string of poor results, he was dropped midway through the season and replaced by Minardi's Justin Wilson.

Whilst driving for Jaguar F1 he was driving Steve Sutcliffe, a journalist for Autocar magazine, around the Circuit de Catalunya in a Jaguar S-Type R when he lost control into the first corner, rolling the car and hitting the tyre barrier. Apparently he accidentally braked at the braking point he had been using in his F1 car and just went off. The video is readily available on YouTube.

In 2004 he returned to Williams as test driver. Before the German Grand Prix, it was announced that Pizzonia would take over from Marc Gené, who had been filling in for the injured Ralf Schumacher. At the German Grand Prix, he finished 7th to take his first 2 career points; he repeated the feat at the Hungarian Grand Prix. In Belgium, he briefly led an F1 race for the first time, but failed to finish the race due to a gearbox problem, whilst running in 3rd place. He claimed a further 2 points in Italy (during which he achieved the fastest ever recorded top speed in a F1 race at the time, 369.9 km/h, until Juan Pablo Montoya eclipsed this record the following year), but with the announcement of Ralf Schumacher's return for the Chinese Grand Prix, Pizzonia's racing was over for the year.

Prior to the 2005 season, Pizzonia was in a virtual shoot-out with German Nick Heidfeld for the second race seat at Williams alongside Webber. Despite Pizzonia's experience with the team and financial support from Petrobras, Heidfeld was given the seat.

Pizzonia was still employed at Williams as a test driver, and when Heidfeld complained of headaches after being concussed in a crash during the Friday Practice Session at Monza, Pizzonia gained the chance to race. Having not entered an F1 race since the 2004 Italian Grand Prix, the Brazilian qualified 16th, coming through the field to emulate his 2004 race result — picking up 7th place and 2 points. He then raced in the Belgian Grand Prix. where he incurred a fine for taking out 2nd placed Juan Pablo Montoya just a few laps from the end. Pizzonia also took the drive in the Brazilian Grand Prix, but his race was over before the first corner after taking out his own teammate Mark Webber resulting from a collision with David Coulthard.

Despite some speculation that GP2 champion Nico Rosberg would be given an opportunity in the last two races of the season, Pizzonia completed the season for Williams. He retired from the Japanese Grand Prix early after spinning off, and retired from (but was classified as a finisher in) the Chinese Grand Prix after a puncture. Having been replaced by Nico Rosberg for 2006, Pizzonia's Formula One career was over.

Post-Formula One

In 2006, he drove for Paul Gentilozzi's Rocketsports team in the Champ Car World Series' Long Beach Grand Prix and returned to the team towards the end of the season for races where Tõnis Kasemets did not have sponsorship to race.

In 2007, Pizzonia was racing for Fisichella Motor Sport in the GP2 series.^[1] In May, he was dropped in favour of Adam Carroll after only scoring 1 point in 5 races. After that, he returned to Brazil and entered into competition in Stock Car Brasil, a Brazilian national championship, from July.^[2] He has competed in the series every year since then, and has also raced in Superleague Formula (SC Corinthians) and the FIA GT1 World Championship.

In 2012, Pizzonia made a one-off guest appearance in the Auto GP World Series when the championship visited the Brazilian Curitiba circuit. Driving for the Ombra Racing team, he won both races, immediately slotting himself into ninth position in the championship.

In 2014 and 2015, Pizzonia competed in the Auto GP series, with Zele Racing.^[3]

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 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
2001	Petrobras Junior Team	INT 9	IMO 4	CAT 6	A1R 4	MON Ret	NÜR 6	MAG 10	SIL 3	HOC 1	HUN Ret	SPA 8	MNZ Ret	6th	22
2002	Petrobras Junior Team	INT 4	IMO 4	CAT 10	A1R 7	MON 4	NÜR 3	SIL 5	MAG 4	HOC Ret	HUN Ret	SPA Ret	MNZ DSQ	8th	18

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	WDC	Points
2003	Jaguar Racing F1 Team	Jaguar R4	Cosworth V10	AUS 13†	MAL Ret	BRA Ret	SMR 14	ESP Ret	AUT 9	MON Ret	CAN 10†	EUR 10	FRA 10	GBR Ret	GER	HUN	ITA	USA	JPN				21st	0
2004	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW26	BMW P84 3.0 V10	AUS	MAL	BHR	SMR	ESP	MON	EUR	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER 7	HUN 7	BEL Ret	ITA 7	CHN	JPN	BRA		15th	6
2005	BMW WilliamsF1 Team	Williams FW27	BMW P84/5 3.0 V10	AUS	MAL	BHR	SMR	ESP	MON	EUR	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	TUR	ITA 7	BEL 15†	BRA Ret	JPN Ret	CHN 13†	22nd	2

^† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

American Open Wheel Racing

(key)

Complete Champ Car results

Yr	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points
2006	Rocketsports	LBH 10	HOU	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	EDM	SJO	DEN	MTL 11	ROA	SRF 10	MXC 12	18th	43

IndyCar

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2008	Rocketsports	HMS	STP	MOT^1	LBH^1 16	KAN	IND	MIL	TXS	IOW	RIR	WGL	NSH	MDO	EDM	KTY	SNM	DET	CHI	SRF^2	45th	0

¹ Run on the same day
² Non-points race

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	DC	Points
2007	FMS International	BHR FEA 16	BHR SPR Ret	CAT FEA Ret	CAT SPR 8	MON FEA 8	MAG FEA	MAG SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	IST FEA	IST SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	27th	1

Superleague Formula

2008–2009

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

Year	Team	Operator	1		2		3		4		5		6		Position	Points
2008	SC Corinthians	EuroInternational	DON		NÜR		ZOL		EST		VAL		JER		9th	264
					7	10	10	18	4	4	6	16	12	2
2009		Alan Docking Racing	MAG		ZOL		DON		EST		MOZ		JAR		8th	264
			4	9	17	12	3	8	3	5	10	9	14	18

2009 Super Final Results

• Super Final results in 2009 did not count for points towards the main championship.

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6
2009	SC Corinthians Alan Docking Racing	MAG 3	ZOL N/A	DON 4	EST 5	MOZ N/A	JAR DNQ

2011

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

Year	Team	Operator	1			2			Position	Points
2011	Brazil	Alan Docking Racing	HOL			BEL			8th	102
			8	3	2	9	12	X

Brazilian competitions

Stock Car Brasil

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Pts.
2007	RS Competições	Volkswagen Bora	INT	CTB	CGD	INT	LON 33	SCZ 15	CTB DNQ	BSB Ret	ARG DSQ	TAR Ret	RIO Ret	INT 18										40th	1
2008	K-Med Racing	Peugeot 307	SAO 15	BSB Ret	CTB DSQ	SCZ Ret	CGD 14	SAO 24	RIO 16	LON Ret	CTB	BSB 18	TAR	SAO 11										31st	8
2009	Amir Nasr Racing	Peugeot 307	SAO 3	CTB 4	BSB Ret	SCZ 4	SAO 9	SAL 20	RIO	CGD	CTB	BSB	TAR	SAO										15th	51
2010	Hot Car Competições	Chevrolet Vectra	SAO 16	CTB Ret	VEL Ret	RIO Ret	RBP 3	SAL Ret	SAO Ret	CGD 8	LON 14	SCS 18	BSB 12	CTB Ret										23rd	31
2011	Amir Nasr Racing	Peugeot 408	CTB	SAO	RBP Ret	VEL	CGD	RIO																26th	6
	Scuderia 111								SAO 10	SAL	SCS	LON	BSB	VEL
2012	Comprafacil Nascar JF	Peugeot 408	INT 30	CTB 11	VEL 17	RBP Ret	LON 10	RIO 4	SAL Ret	CGD 26	TAR 18	CUR 7	BRA 25	INT 10										15th	81
2014	Prati-Donaduzzi	Peugeot 408	INT 1 21	SCZ 1 11	SCZ 2 1	BRA 1 Ret	BRA 2 DNS	GOI 1 12	GOI 2 7	GOI 1 6	CAS 1 11	CAS 2 8	CUR 1 12	CUR 2 21	VEL 1 13	VEL 2 10	SCZ 1 7	SCZ 2 4	TAR 1 10	TAR 2 1	SAL 1 6	SAL 2 22	CUR 1 22	9th	158.5
2015	Prati-Donaduzzi	Peugeot 408	GOI 1 25	RBP 1 10	RBP 2 9	VEL 1 24	VEL 2 12	CUR 1 4	CUR 2 11	SCZ 1 NC	SCZ 2 Ret	CUR 1 14	CUR 2 9	GOI 1 17	CAS 1 26	CAS 2 11	MOU 1 16	MOU 2 Ret	CUR 1 18	CUR 2 7	TAR 1 14	TAR 2 13	INT 1 15	18th	97
2016	Voxx Racing	Peugeot 408	CUR 1 1	VEL 1	VEL 2	GOI 1	GOI 2	SCZ 1	SCZ 2	TAR 1	TAR 2	CAS 1	CAS 2	INT 1	LON 1	LON 2	TBA 1	TBA 2	GOI 1	GOI 2	CDC 1	CDC 2	INT 1	NC†	0†

^† Ineligible for championship points.

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
2012	Ombra Racing	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	VAL 1	VAL 2	MAR 1	MAR 2	HUN 1	HUN 2	ALG 1	ALG 2	CUR 1 1	CUR 2 1					9th	45
	Zele Racing													SON 1 Ret	SON 2 12†
2014	Zele Racing	MAR 1	MAR 2	LEC 1	LEC 2	HUN 1	HUN 2	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	IMO 1	IMO 2	RBR 1	RBR 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	EST 1 4	EST 2 3	14th	25
2015	Zele Racing	HUN 1 2	HUN 2 1	SIL 1 1	SIL 2 3													1st‡	79‡

^‡ Position when season was cancelled.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

Year	Entrant	Class	Car	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Rank	Points
2013	Delta-ADR	LMP2	Oreca 03	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	SIL 1	SPA Ret	LMS	SÃO	COA	FUJ	SHA	BHR		15th	26
2016	Manor	LMP2	Oreca 05	Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8	SIL	SPA	LMS	NÜR 5	MEX	COA	FUJ	SHA	BHR	27th	10

See also

• News of Antônio Pizzonia (Article)

References

1. "F1 in the news". F1Fanatic.co.uk. 2006-12-08. Retrieved 2006-12-16.
2. "Entrevista: Pizzonia fala de sua vinda para a Stock Car" (in Portuguese). www.stockcar.com.br. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
3. "Pizzonia (Zele Racing), Von Grünigen (Paolo Coloni Racing) join 2015 Auto GP ranks". Auto GP. Auto GP Organisation. 22 April 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2015.

External links

• AntonioPizzonia on YouTube
• Official site