Christian Fittipaldi

Christian Fittipaldi (born 18 January 1971) is a Brazilian former racing driver who has competed in various forms of motorsport including Formula One, Champ Car, and NASCAR. He was a highly rated young racing driver in the early 1990s, and participated in 43 Formula One Grands Prix for Minardi and Footwork between 1992 and 1994.

Christian Fittipaldi
Fittipaldi in 2006 as a Stock Car Brasil driver
Nationality	Brazilian
Born	(1971-01-18) 18 January 1971 São Paulo, Brazil
Related to	Wilson Fittipaldi (father) Emerson Fittipaldi (uncle) Pietro Fittipaldi (first cousin once-removed) Enzo Fittipaldi (first cousin once-removed) Emerson Fittipaldi Jr. (cousin) Max Papis (cousin-in-law)
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship career
Debut season	2014
Current team	Action Express Racing
Racing licence	FIA Gold
Car number	5
Engine	Chevrolet 5.5L V8
Co-driver	João Barbosa Sébastien Bourdais
Starts	47
Championships	2
Wins	7
Poles	6
Best finish	1st in 2014, 2015
Finished last season	3rd (2017)
Previous series
2008 2003–2013 2005–06 2002–2003 2003 2002 1995–2002 1992–1994 1991	American Le Mans Rolex Sports Car Series A1 Grand Prix NASCAR Winston Cup Series ARCA Re/Max Series NASCAR Busch Series CART Formula One Formula 3000
Championship titles
1991	Formula 3000
Awards
1995	Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year
Formula One World Championship career
Teams	Minardi, Footwork
Entries	43 (40 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	12
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1992 South African Grand Prix
Last entry	1994 Australian Grand Prix
Champ Car career
135 races run over 8 years
Years active	1995–2002
Team(s)	Walker Racing Newman/Haas Racing
Best finish	5th (1996, 2002)
First race	1995 Grand Prix of Miami (Bicentennial Park)
Last race	2002 Gran Premio Telmex-Gigante (Mexico City)
First win	1999 Champ Car Grand Prix of Road America (Road America)
Last win	2000 Marlboro 500 (Fontana)
Wins Podiums Poles 2 20 1
NASCAR Cup Series career
16 races run over 2 years
Best finish	44th (2003)
First race	2002 Checker Auto Parts 500 Presented by Pennzoil (Phoenix)
Last race	2003 UAW-GM Quality 500 (Charlotte)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
3 races run over 2 years
Best finish	102nd (2002)
First race	2001 GNC Live Well 300 (Homestead)
Last race	2002 Mr. Goodcents 300 (Kansas)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0

Fittipaldi was fifth in the CART series in both 1996 and 2002, earning two wins and a second place in the 1995 Indianapolis 500. He has also had success racing sports prototypes, winning the 24 Hours of Daytona of 2004, 2014 and 2018, the 12 Hours of Sebring of 2015, the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen of 2013, 2016 and 2017, and has captured two IMSA SportsCar Championships with Action Express Racing during the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

A member of the Fittipaldi racing family, he is the son of former Formula One driver and team owner Wilson Fittipaldi, the nephew of two-time Formula One World Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi, and the cousin of racing driver Emerson Fittipaldi Jr.. He is also the first cousin once-removed of Pietro and Enzo Fittipaldi, who are the grandsons of Emerson Fittipaldi.

Early years

Fittipaldi was born in São Paulo. He is named after Christian Heins, a Brazilian racing driver who was killed in a wreck during the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans. Fittipaldi was second in the Brazilian Formula Ford in 1988. After finishing third in the South American Formula 3 in 1989, in 1990 he won the title in the Formula 3 Sudamericana and the fourth place in the British Formula 3.

In 1991, the Brazilian was installed in Europe to compete in the Formula 3000, where he captured two wins and seven podiums in ten races to obtain the championship against Alessandro Zanardi. Later, he was third in the Macau Grand Prix of Formula 3.

Formula One

Fittipaldi driving for Footwork at the 1994 British Grand Prix.

His jump into Formula 1 happened in 1992 with Minardi, one of the smallest teams of the grid at the time; he scored a single point in 1992. Fittipaldi is the first Formula One driver to be born in the 1970s. Next year, he managed to score a total of five points in the Drivers' Championship, but the team decided to do away with him with two races to go in the season. The following season, he competed in the Footwork team and earned two fourth places, adding to a total of six points in the championship (as those finishes were his only points-paying results that year). At the end of the 1994 season Fittipaldi decided to try his luck in the racing competitions in the United States.

In 2016, in an academic paper that reported a mathematical modeling study that assessed the relative influence of driver and machine, Fittipaldi was ranked the 11th best Formula One driver of all time.

CART

Competing mainly in CART, Fittipaldi was a slow starter, noted for his consistency rather than his outright pace, although by the time he won his first CART event at Road America in 1999, he was a championship contender due to his consistent finishing, among which was a second place in the 1995 Indianapolis 500, which earned him Rookie of the Year honors in the race. However, just as Fittipaldi's American career looked to be taking off, he broke his leg for the first time (out of the two total he suffered while racing in CART) at the Surfer's Paradise race in 1997. Although he was able to return both times and win two races, he never won a CART championship.

NASCAR

With his Champ Car career on hold, Fittipaldi shifted his focus to NASCAR. He made three appearances in the Busch Series during the 2001 and 2002 seasons. Although he was not impressive in those races, he was signed to Petty Enterprises near late-2002 and made his Winston Cup debut at Phoenix after he caught the eye of Richard Petty. In 2003, he made his first (and only) Daytona 500 start in a one-race deal with Andy Petree and then made a handful of appearances for Petty in ARCA. In the summer of that year, Fittipaldi became the driver of the illustrious #43 car after John Andretti (cousin of Fittipaldi's former CART teammate Michael Andretti) was let go. He struggled and was reassigned shortly after the start of autumn, but remained with the team, driving the #44 car.

Sports cars racing

In parallel to his activity in Formula 1, was winner of the 1993 24 Hours of Spa and 1994 Brazilian 1000 Miles.

Fittipaldi debuted at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2003 with the Bell team, resulting sixth with a Doran-Chevrolet of the class Daytona Prototype. It was one of the pilots that won the 2004 24 Hours of Daytona, in this case with a Doran-Pontiac. Then participated in four other rounds from the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series with Bell, earning seventh in Virginia.

The Brazilian contested the first two races of the 2006 Grand-Am series with Bell, earning a sixth place at Homestead. Then ran six rounds with Riley-Pontiac of The Racer's Group, earning a victory in Phoenix, a second place in the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen and third in the 200 Miles at Watkins Glen.

In 2006, Fittipaldi disputed fully the Grand-Am series with the team of Eddie Cheever Jr. Obtained a second place and a sixth, to be located in the 23rd position in the drivers' championship of DP class. That same year, he participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a Saleen S7, where he finished in sixth place in the GT1 class, a total of eleven participants.

Continuing with Cheever, Fittipaldi achieved a fourth, seventh and eighth in 2007 and resulting 20th in the overall table of the DP class of the Grand Am series. Also, it came tenth in the GT1 class of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, at the wheel of an Aston Martin DB9 of team Modena alongside Antonio Garcia and amateur.

Fittipaldi disputed the first four rounds of the 2008 American Le Mans Series with Andretti Green. Piloting an Acura LMP2 with Bryan Herta, earned a fourth place, a fifth, a sixth and a seventh. Then again disputed the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Aston Martin DB9 of Modena, reaching delayed in the 30th overall position. He then ran in the final five rounds of the Grand-Am series with a Coyote-Pontiac of Cheever's team, earning a second place and a sixth.

The driver was invited to run the 2011 24 Hours of Daytona with a Porsche-Riley of Action Express Racing, resulting third overall with Max Papis and João Barbosa among others. In 2012 he participated again in this race with Action Express, in this case at the wheel of a Chevrolet Corvette DP, with which finished fifth.

The Brazilian became in regular driver of Action Express for the 2013 Rolex Sports Car Series season. He achieved two wins at Mid-Ohio and the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, two second places, a fourth and a fifth, mostly with Barbosa. Thus, he was seventh in the drivers' championship in the Daytona Prototypes class.

He won the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2014 in the Action Express Corvette DP with João Barbosa and Sébastien Bourdais.

Motorsports career results

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Points
1991	Pacific Racing	Reynard 91D	Mugen Honda	VAL 2	PAU 2	JER 1	MUG 3	PER Ret	HOC 4	BRH 3	SPA Ret	BUG 2	NOG 1	1st	47

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1992	Minardi Team	Minardi M191	Lamborghini 3.5 L V12	RSA Ret	MEX Ret	BRA Ret	ESP 11													18th	1
		Minardi M192	Lamborghini 3.5 L V12					SMR Ret	MON 8	CAN 13	FRA DNQ	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL DNQ	ITA DNQ	POR 12	JPN 6	AUS 9
1993	Minardi Team	Minardi M193	Ford HB 3.5 L V8	RSA 4	BRA Ret	EUR 7	SMR Ret	ESP 8	MON 5	CAN 9	FRA 8	GBR 12	GER 11	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA 8	POR 9	JPN	AUS	13th	5
1994	Footwork Ford	Footwork FA15	Ford HB 3.5 L V8	BRA Ret	PAC 4	SMR 13	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN DSQ	FRA 8	GBR 9	GER 4	HUN 14	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR 8	EUR 17	JPN 8	AUS 8	15th	6

Complete CART results

(key)

Year	Team	No.	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points	Ref
1995	Walker Racing	15	Reynard 95i	Ford XB V8t	MIA 5	SRF 25	PHX 10	LBH 14	NZR 20	INDY 2	MIL 7	DET 17	POR 12	ROA 8	TOR 9	CLE 24	MIS 9	MDO 25	NHM 8	VAN 24	LS 24					15th	54
1996	Newman/Haas Racing	11	Lola T96/00	Ford XD V8t	MIA 6	RIO 5	SRF 5	LBH 21	NZR 9	500 12	MIL 6	DET 2*	POR 3	CLE 7	TOR 7	MIS 10	MDO 7	ROA 16	VAN 3	LS 10						5th	110
1997	Newman/Haas Racing		Swift 007.i	Ford XD V8t	MIA 26	SRF 28	LBH Inj	NZR Inj	RIO Inj	STL Inj	MIL Inj	DET Inj	POR 4	CLE 6	TOR 11	MIS 16	MDO 21	ROA 4	VAN 9	LS 21	FON 9					15th	42
1998	Newman/Haas Racing		Swift 009.c	Ford XD V8t	MIA 4	MOT 25	LBH 26	NZR 11	RIO 21	STL 11	MIL DNS	DET 17	POR 26	CLE 11	TOR 16	MIS 25	MDO 13	ROA 3	VAN 14	LS 9	HOU 27	SRF 3	FON 7			14th	56
1999	Newman/Haas Racing		Swift 010.c	Ford XD V8t	MIA 9	MOT 3	LBH 5	NZR 7	RIO 3	STL 9	MIL 6	POR 14	CLE 12	ROA 1	TOR 3	MIS 8	DET Inj	MDO Inj	CHI Inj	VAN Inj	LS Inj	HOU 7	SRF 25	FON 3		7th	121
2000	Newman/Haas Racing		Lola B2K/00	Ford XF V8t	MIA 7	LBH 18	RIO 5	MOT 11	NZR 11	MIL 9	DET 19	POR 3	CLE 17	TOR 17	MIS 14	CHI DNS	MDO 3	ROA 15	VAN 4	LS 10	STL 12	HOU 6	SRF 15	FON 1		12th	96
2001	Newman/Haas Racing		Lola B01/00	Toyota RV8F V8t	MTY 20	LBH 24	TXS NH	NZR 5	MOT 4	MIL 18	DET 5	POR 3	CLE 11	TOR 12	MIS 18	CHI 25	MDO 8	ROA 18	VAN 11	LAU 19	ROC 24	HOU 8	LS 9	SRF 8	FON 13	15th	70
2002	Newman/Haas Racing		Lola B02/00	Toyota RV8F V8t	MTY 3	LBH 13	MOT 12	MIL 4	LS 2	POR 13	CHI 14	TOR 3	CLE 12	VAN 13	MDO 2	ROA 6	MTL 7	DEN 5	ROC 17	MIA 2	SRF 11	FON 7	MXC 15			5th	122

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
1995	Reynard	Ford-Cosworth	27	2	Walker Racing

Complete A1 Grand Prix 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	22	DC	Points
2005–06	Brazil	GBR SPR	GBR FEA	GER SPR	GER FEA	POR SPR	POR FEA	AUS SPR	AUS FEA	MYS SPR	MYS FEA	UAE SPR	UAE FEA	RSA SPR	RSA FEA	IDN SPR 20	IDN FEA 4	MEX SPR 14	MEX FEA 12	USA SPR 13	USA FEA Ret	CHN SPR 10	CHN FEA Ret	6th	71

Complete Stock Car Brasil results

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

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos	Points
2005	Terra-Avallone	Mitsubishi Lancer	INT 18	CTB 10	RIO Ret	INT 9	CTB 24	LON 16	BSB 7	SCZ Ret	TAR 6	ARG Ret	RIO Ret	INT 7	23rd	32
2006	Terra-Avallone	Mitsubishi Lancer	INT	CTB Ret	CGD 26	INT Ret	LON 15	CTB	SCZ						27th	9
	RC3 Bassani	Chevrolet Astra								BSB 21	TAR 23	ARG 18	RIO 8	INT 24
2010	Gramacho Costa	Chevrolet Vectra	INT 19	CTB 21	VEL 17	RIO 18	RBP 16	SAL 23	INT Ret	CGD 15	LON Ret	SCZ Ret	BSB Ret	CTB Ret	34th	1

24 Hours of Daytona results

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2003	Bell Motorsports	Didier Theys Forest Barber Terry Borcheller	Doran JE4-Chevrolet	DP	67	DNF	DNF
2004	Bell Motorsports	Andy Pilgrim Forest Barber Terry Borcheller	Doran JE4-Pontiac	DP	526	1st	1st
2005	Kodak-Bell Motorsports	Paul Tracy Terry Borcheller Ralf Kelleners	Doran JE4-Pontiac	DP	328	DNF	DNF
2006	Cheever Racing	Eddie Cheever, Jr. Patrick Carpentier	Crawford DP03-Lexus	DP	669	DNF	DNF
2007	Cheever Racing	Eddie Cheever, Jr. Emmanuel Collard Sascha Maassen	Crawford DP03-Porsche	DP	601	24th	14th
2011	Action Express Racing	Terry Borcheller J.C. France João Barbosa Max Papis	Riley Mk. XI-Porsche	DP	721	3rd	3rd
2012	Action Express Racing	David Donohue Darren Law	Coyote Corvette DP	DP	758	5th	5th
2013	Action Express Racing	João Barbosa Burt Frisselle Mike Rockenfeller	Coyote Corvette DP	DP	708	4th	4th
2014	Action Express Racing	João Barbosa Sébastien Bourdais	Coyote Corvette DP	P	695	1st	1st
2015	Action Express Racing	João Barbosa Sébastien Bourdais	Coyote Corvette DP	P	740	2nd	2nd
2016	Action Express Racing	João Barbosa Filipe Albuquerque Scott Pruett	Coyote Corvette DP	P	731	4th	4th
2017	Mustang Sampling Racing	João Barbosa Filipe Albuquerque	Cadillac DPi-V.R	P	659	2nd	2nd
2018	Mustang Sampling Racing	João Barbosa Filipe Albuquerque	Cadillac DPi-V.R	P	808	1st	1st
2019	Mustang Sampling Racing	João Barbosa Filipe Albuquerque	Cadillac DPi-V.R	DPi	573	9th	7th

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2006	ACEMCO Motorsports	Johnny Mowlem Terry Borcheller	Saleen S7-R	GT1	337	12th	7th
2007	Team Modena	Antonio García Jos Menten	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	318	17th	10th
2008	Team Modena	Terry Borcheller Jos Menten	Aston Martin DBR9	GT1	302	30th	8th

Complete American Le Mans Series results

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points
2008	Andretti Green Racing	LMP2	Acura ARX-01b	Acura 3.4L V8	SEB 6	STP 5	LBH 4	UTA 7	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	DET	PET	MON	24th	38

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

(key)(Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)

Year	Team	Class	Make	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Rank	Points
2014	Action Express Racing	P	Coyote Corvette DP	Chevrolet 5.5L V8	DAY 1	SEB 3	LBH 3	LGA 4	DET 6	WGL 3	MOS 4	IMS 1	ELK 1	COA 3	PET 2	1st	349
2015	Action Express Racing	P	Coyote Corvette DP	Chevrolet 5.5L V8	DAY 2	SEB 1	LBH 5	LGA 4	DET 3	WGL 3	MOS 5	ELK 2	COA 6	PET 1		1st	309
2016	Action Express Racing	P	Coyote Corvette DP	Chevrolet 5.5L V8	DAY 4	SEB 3	LBH 2	LGA 7	DET 2	WGL 1	MOS 2	ELK 2	COA 3	PET 5		2nd	311
2017	Mustang Sampling Racing	P	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 6.2 L V8	DAY 2	SEB 2	LBH 7	COA 3	DET 4	WGL 1	MOS 6	ELK 6	LGA 5	PET 5		3rd	284
2018	Mustang Sampling Racing	P	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5 L V8	DAY 1	SEB 10	LBH	MDO	DET	WGL 6	MOS 4	ELK	LGA	PET 4		19th	137
2019	Mustang Sampling Racing	DPi	Cadillac DPi-V.R	Cadillac 5.5 L V8	DAY 7	SEB	LBH	MDO	DET	WGL	MOS	ELK	LGA	PET		33rd	24
Source:

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	NWCC	Pts	Ref
2002	Petty Enterprises	44	Dodge	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	MAR	TAL	CAL	RCH	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	CHI	NHA	POC	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	NHA	DOV	KAN	TAL	CLT	MAR	ATL	CAR	PHO 41	HOM	81st	40
2003	Andy Petree Racing	33	Chevy	DAY 35	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI																															44th	857
	Petty Enterprises	45	Dodge							TEX 38	TAL	MAR	CAL	RCH	CLT	DOV	POC
		43																MCH 35	SON 40		CHI 29	NHA 37	POC 24	IND DNQ		MCH 33	BRI 41	DAR 43	RCH 43	NHA 31
		44																		DAY DNQ					GLN 40						DOV DNQ	TAL 28	KAN	CLT 34	MAR	ATL	PHO	CAR	HOM

Daytona 500

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
2003	Andy Petree Racing	Chevrolet	34	35

Busch Series

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	NBSC	Pts	Ref
2001	SKI Motorsports	30	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	NSH	TAL	CAL	RCH	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	KEN	MLW	GLN	CHI	GTY	PPR	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	PHO	CAR	HOM 39		141st	56
2002				DAY	CAR	LVS	DAR	BRI	TEX	NSH	TAL	CAL	RCH DNQ	NHA	NZH	CLT DNQ	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI	GTY 35	PPR	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN 43	CLT	MEM QL†	ATL	CAR	PHO	HOM	102nd	92
† – Qualified but replaced by Chad Chaffin

ARCA Re/Max Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Re/Max Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	ARSC	Pts	Ref
2003	Petty Enterprises	43	Dodge	DAY 10	ATL	NSH	SLM	TOL	KEN	CLT	BLN	KAN	MCH	LER	POC	POC 31	NSH	ISF	WIN	DSF	CHI	SLM	TAL	CLT	SBO	101st	255

External links

• Official website
• Christian Fittipaldi driver statistics at Racing-Reference