Raphael Matos
Raphael Matos during a press conference for the 2008 SpeedJam at the Homestead-Miami Speedway
Nationality	Brazilian
Date of birth	August 28, 1981 (1981-08-28) (age 28)
Place of birth	Belo Horizonte
2010 IndyCar Series
Debut season	2009
Current team	Luczo-Dragon Racing
Car no.	2
Starts	3
Wins	0
Poles	0
Previous series
2008 2006-2007 2006-2007 2004-2005 2002-2003	Firestone Indy Lights Champ Car Atlantic Series A1 Grand Prix Star Mazda Series Skip Barber Formula Dodge Series
Championship titles
2008 2007 2005 2003	Firestone Indy Lights Series Champ Car Atlantic Series Star Mazda Series Skip Barber Formula Dodge
Awards
2009	IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year

Raphael Matos (born August 28, 1981) is a Brazilian race car driver from Belo Horizonte who currently resides in Miami. He currently drives in the IndyCar Series for Luczo-Dragon Racing. He was the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights Series champion and the 2007 Champ Car Atlantic Series champion He curr

[edit] Career highlights

[edit] Early career

He came to the United States in 2002 after Karting in Brazil and began competing in Skip Barber Formula Dodge, winning the championship in 2003.. In 2004, he moved up to the Star Mazda Series and in 2005 he won the Star Mazda championship. In 2006 he moved up the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Series where he drove for the Sierra Sierra team and captured one victory on his way to 4th place in the points standings.

Matos celebrating an Atlantics victory in Houston in 2007

He also competed in 4 Indy Pro Series races for Jim Guthrie Racing and swept the two races held in March at St. Petersburg, Florida. During the fall he was named a driver for A1 Team Brazil in the A1 Grand Prix series and made his debut at the series' race in Beijing in the 2006-2007 season. He raced a Lola B07/40-Mazda in the 2007 12 Hours of Sebring and the 2007 Petit Le Mans.^[1]

Matos driving in the 2008 Firestone Freedom 100

[edit] Atlantics championship and Indy Lights

Matos continued with the Sierra Sierra team in Atlantics in 2007 and clinched the championship with several races remaining in the season, securing for himself the 2 Million US Dollar "scholarship" for a ride in Champ Car for the 2008 season.

However, Matos decided to pass on the scholarship and sign with Andretti Green Racing to drive in the Indy Racing League's Firestone Indy Lights Series in 2008, where he won the series championship.^[2].

Prior to the 2008 Indy Lights season, he drove a Mazda RX-8 for the SpeedSource team in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, taking first in the GT class and a 9th place overall finish, sharing the car with Nick Ham, David Haskell and Sylvain Tremblay. After the season, he drove for Michael Shank Racing on the winning team in the DP class (with Ian James and John Pew) at the SunRichGourmet.com 1000 at Miller Motorsports Park.

[edit] IndyCar Series

Matos driving in the 2009 Indianapolis 500

Matos competed in the full 2009 IndyCar Series season for Luczo-Dragon Racing.^[3] He qualified third in his second race, the Long Beach Grand Prix and finished eight. He was the fastest rookie qualifier in his first Indy 500 and ran in the lead pack, but had a crash with Vitor Meira in which Meira was injured. Matos finished 22nd. Matos captured Rookie of the Year honors by a wide margin over former F1 driver Robert Doornbos. Matos' best finish was 6th at the Milwaukee Mile. He was running at the finish of each of the last ten races of the season, consistency that led to 13th in the championship despite few top ten finishes.

[edit] Motorsports career results

[edit] American open-wheel

(key)

[edit] IndyCar

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
2009	Luczo Dragon	STP Ret	LBH 8	KAN Ret	INDY Ret	MIL 6	TXS 12	IOW Ret	RIR 8	WGL 12	TOR 10	EDM 18	KTY 16	MDO 9	SNM 9	CHI 9	MOT 9	HMS 14	13th	312

[edit] Indianapolis 500 results

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Champ Car Atlantic Series bio