Ricardo Zonta

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Ricardo Zonta
Formula One Career
Nationality	Brazilian
Active years	1997-2001, 2003-2006
Team(s)	Jordan-Peugeot (1997, Test Driver), McLaren-Mercedes (1998, Test Driver), BAR (1999-2000), Jordan Mugen-Honda (2001), Toyota (2003-2006, Test Driver)
Grands Prix	37
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First Grand Prix	1999 Australian Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix	2005 United States Grand Prix

Ricardo Zonta (born March 23, 1976 in Curitiba) is a Brazilian Formula One race car driver.

Contents 1 Early career 2 Formula One career 3 Complete Formula One results 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Early career

Born in Curitiba, Brazil, Zonta began karting in 1987, winning his first race. The following year he was runner-up for the Curitiba Karting Championship, and in 1991, he won the title. He continued karting in 1992, finishing 4th in the São Paulo Karting Championship before progressing to single-seaters for 1993. He finished 6th in the Brazilian Formula Chevrolet Championship, and then in 1994, came 5th in the Brazilian Formula 3 Championship. A year later, Zonta won both the Brazilian and South American Formula 3 Championships.

Moving to Europe in 1996, Zonta competed in the International Formula 3000 Championship,for Draco Racing, winning two races and finishing 4th overall. In the same year, he became the first Brazilian to compete in International Touring Cars, with Mercedes. In 1997, he won three races and became champion, winning the "Golden Helmet" award for best international driver. The Jordan Formula One team signed him as their official test driver. In 1998, he was signed by McLaren boss Ron Dennis, and tested with the McLaren F1 team, along with winning the FIA GT1 Championship and the "Golden Helmet" award in the "world prominence" category.

In October 1998, immediately after winning the FIA GT championship, Zonta signed up with the B.A.R. Formula 1 racing team as one of its race drivers for the 1999 season [1], [2], after rejecting offers from Jordan and Sauber [3].

[edit] Formula One career

In 1999, Zonta started as an F1 race driver alongside 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve at new team B.A.R. Zonta injured his foot in an accident during practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix, and was forced to miss three races. He also had a large accident at Spa-Francorchamps, and finished the season with no championship points. Zonta remained with B.A.R for the 2000 season, scoring his first world championship point with a 6th place in the opening race. He had another large accident when his front suspension broke during testing at Silverstone, but continued the season, scoring points in both the Italian and United States Grands Prix, to finish 13th in the championship. Replaced by Olivier Panis for the 2001 season, Zonta became the third driver for the Jordan team, replacing the injured Heinz-Harald Frentzen for one race, and then again when Frentzen was sacked, but was overlooked to replace him for the remainder of the season. In 2002, he decided to focus on the Telefonica World Series, which he won. Zonta was then hired as test driver for the Toyota F1 team in 2003, retaining the position in 2004. Towards the end of the season, the team sacked Cristiano da Matta from a race seat, and Zonta drove in four grands prix until the team hired Jarno Trulli. However, the team allowed Zonta to compete in his home race, the Brazilian Grand Prix, which he finished in 13th. He continued as a test driver for Toyota in 2005, alongside veteran French pilot Olivier Panis. At the US Grand Prix later that year, he stood in for an injured Ralf Schumacher and took his place on the grid, only for Toyota, like the other six Michelin-shod teams, to withdraw from the race due to safety concerns. 2006 sees Ricardo continue with Toyota as the teams third and test driver.

On the final day of the Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races Presented by Toyota, Ricardo Zonta and the Panasonic Toyota Racing Team TF106 F1 car continued to lower the record for the 11-turn, 2.238 mile Laguna Seca Raceway. Sunday's record-breaking time was 1:06.309 at an average speed of 121.504 mph on lap four of four flying laps. Zonta, traveling on brand new tires for the first time this weekend, laid down four consistent laps for an average of 1:06.640. His Saturday best time was 1:06.596 and Friday's best time was 1:07.587. On all three days, Zonta beat the previous track record of 1:07.722 set by Helio Castroneves at the CART Honda Grand Prix of Monterey in 2000. Castroneves' speed was 118.969. Despite the Toyota team and Zonta only doing demonstration laps for the fans, and not going flat-out to break the record, they still managed to do so. It is estimated that, had they spent a proper test week prior to the event to get a proper set up for the track, had the right compound tires (they did not use the softest Bridgestone compound available, rather a medium compound), and gone full-bore for the track record, it is estimated that, with the TF106 that they used here, a time in the range of 1:04 would be possible, and, of course, a quicker time for a Ferrari 248F1 or Renault R26, as the Toyota TF106 is about 1-1.5 seconds slower than those two cars. Either way, an F1 car is the fastest on that track, even after only doing demonstration laps.

Ricardo Zonta was confirmed as test driver for the Renault Formula One team for the 2007 season on 6 September 2006. ^[1]

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key)

Yr	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Team	WDC	Points
1999	BAR	AUS Ret	BRA DNS	SMR Inj	MON Inj	ESP Inj	CAN Ret	FRA 9	GBR Ret	AUT 15	DEU Ret	HUN 13	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	EUR 8	MAL Ret	JPN 12				BAR	23rd	0
2000	BAR	AUS 6	BRA 9	SMR 12	GBR Ret	ESP 8	EUR Ret	MON Ret	CAN 8	FRA Ret	AUT 13	GER Ret	HUN 14	BEL 12	ITA 6	USA 6	JPN 9	MYS Ret			BAR	14th	3
2001	Jordan	AUS	MYS	BRA	SMR	ESP	AUT	MON	CAN 7	EUR	FRA	GBR	GER Ret	HUN	BEL	ITA	USA	JPN			Jordan	19th	0
2004	Toyota	AUS TD	MYS TD	BAH TD	SMR TD	ESP TD	MON TD	EUR TD	CAN TD	USA TD	FRA TD	GBR TD	GER TD	HUN Ret	BEL 10	ITA 11	CHN Ret	JPN	BRA 13		Toyota	22nd	0
2005	Toyota	AUS TD	MYS TD	BAH TD	SMR TD	ESP TD	MON TD	EUR TD	CAN TD	USA DNS	FRA	GBR TD	GER TD	HUN TD	TUR TD	ITA TD	BEL TD	BRA TD	JPN TD	CHN TD	Toyota	N/A	0

Preceded by: Jörg Müller

International Formula 3000 Champion 1997

Succeeded by: Juan Pablo Montoya

[edit] References

1. ^ Grandprix.com article, retrieved September 6, 2006

[edit] External links

• Ricardo Zontas official website
• Ricardo Zonta profile and statistics