Antônio Pizzonia
Nationality	Brazilian
Date of birth	September 11, 1980 (1980-09-11) (age 29)
Place of birth	Manaus, Amazonas
2009 Superleague Formula
Debut season	2008
Current team	Corinthians
Car no.	14
Starts	10
Wins	0
Poles	0
Fastest laps	1
Best finish	9th in 2008

Antônio Reginaldo Pizzonia Júnior (born September 11, 1980 in Manaus) is a Brazilian racing driver who has raced in Formula One and the Champ Car World Series.

He is nicknamed "Jungle Boy", a reference to his native Amazonas. He is currently a resident of Manaus, a city in the northern part of Brazil and capital of Amazonas State.

[edit] Racing career

[edit] 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 F-Vauxhall Junior, he won the Formula Renault Winter Festival. His 1999 season was even more successful, winning the British F-Renault series and finishing second in its European counterpart. In 2000, Pizzonia took 5 wins on his way to winning the British Formula Three Championship.

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

[edit] 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 Jerez racing circuit 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 readilly 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 mechanical problems. He claimed a further 2 points in Italy (during which he achieved the fastest ever recorded top speed in a F1 race, 369.9 km/h), 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 the Chinese Grand Prix after a puncture. Having been replaced by Nico Rosberg for 2006, Pizzonia's Formula One career seemed to be over, but in 2009 he started negotiations with Manor to drive for the team in 2010.^[1]

[edit] 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.^[2] 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.^[3] He has remained in Stock Car Brasil for 2008, and is also set to race in the new Superleague Formula championship after missing the first round.

[edit] Racing record

[edit] Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key)

[edit] American Open Wheel Racing

[edit] Complete Champ Car results

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

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

[edit] 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 DNP	STP DNP	MOT1 DNP	LBH1 16	KAN DNP	IND DNP	MIL DNP	TXS DNP	IOW DNP	RIR DNP	WGL DNP	NSH DNP	MDO DNP	EDM DNP	KTY DNP	SNM DNP	DET DNP	CHI DNP	SRF2	-	0

¹ Run on the same day
² Non-points race

[edit] Complete GP2 Series results

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

[edit] Superleague Formula

(key)

[edit] Super Final Results

[edit] Brazilian competitions

[edit] Stock Car Brasil

Year

#

Team

Car

T

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Rank

Pts.

2008

70

K-Med Racing

Peugeot 307

G

SAO 15

BSB Ret

CTB DSQ

SCZ Ret

CGD 14

SAO 24

RIO 16

LON Ret

CTB DNP¹

BSB 18

TAR DNP

SAO 11

31st

8

2009

1

Amir Nasr Racing

Peugeot 307

G

SAO 3

CTB 4

BSB Ret

SCZ 4

SAO 9

SAL 20

RIO DNP

CGD DNP

CTB

BSB

TAR

SAO

8th*

-

¹ Replaced by Renato Jader

* Season still in progress

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• News of Antônio Pizzonia (Article)

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Antônio Pizzonia

• @AntonioPizzonia on Twitter
• AntonioPizzonia on YouTube