The former motocross and kart driver won the Portuguese Formula Ford 1600 title in 1989 and then switched to the GM Lotus Euro Series , which he won in 1991. He was also able to win the Formula Opel Lotus Nations Cup in 1990 and 1991 together with Diago Castro Santos. The following year he won the German Formula 3 championship with a Reynard 923 / Opel with eleven wins . In 1993 he switched to Formula 3000 . With a win at the Grand Prix de Pau and three other podium finishes, he lost the season to Olivier Panis by one point .
formula 1
Because of the good results in Formula 3000, he made the jump to Formula 1 , where he replaced Alessandro Zanardi at Lotus . In the 1994 season he was only able to take part in four Formula 1 races because he broke both legs during tests at Silverstone and had to leave the cockpit to Alessandro Zanardi, Mika Salo and Philippe Adams . For the 1995 season, Pedro Lamy moved to Minardi and achieved a championship point by finishing sixth at the Australian Grand Prix . This made him the first Portuguese to win points in a Formula 1 race. The following year he stayed with Minardi, but could not boast any further successes. His best race result was a ninth place in the San Marino Grand Prix . As the financial situation at Minardi was difficult, he decided to end his Formula 1 career after 32 races.
GT and sports car races
Lamy's Aston Martin in the American Le Mans Series, 2005
After the end of his Formula 1 career, Pedro Lamy started in 1997 in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and achieved third place in the GT1 category. He then switched to the FIA GT , where he won the GT2 driver and team championship together with Olivier Beretta in 1998. On the Chrysler Viper GTS-R, he achieved eight of the ten possible class wins for the Oreca team. He also drove the 24 Hours of Le Mans again and came in second in the GT2 class behind the sister car. In 1999 he switched to Price & Bscher, who took part in selected races in the American Le Mans Series and the FIA Sports Car Championship . His best result with the BMW V12 LMR was a fifth place at the Portland International Raceway . Then Pedro Lamy drove in the newly founded DTM and achieved 13th place overall in a Mercedes CLK 2000 and 16th in 2001. In addition, he drove again for Oreca at Le Mans and finished the race in fourth overall and third LMP900 class position. He also won along with Peter Zakowski and Michael Bartels , the 24 Hours Nürburgring in 2001. The following year he won again for Zakspeed the 24-hour race in the Eifel. For the 2002 and 2003 seasons he drove in the V8 Star , which he was the only driver to win alongside Johnny Cecotto . With the G2 class win at the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race , he took part in an FIA GT race again after 1998. In 2004 he switched to the new Le Mans Endurance Series and, with Christophe Bouchut and Steve Zacchia, achieved the driver and team standings in the GTS category. With his Labre Compétition team, he switched back to the FIA GT in 2005 and won four championship races, two of which for the Aston Martin works team , where he also competed in selected races in the American Le Mans Series. In addition to the activities in the GT championships, he was intended to be a driver in the A1GP Team Portugal, but apart from tests he was not able to take part in any A1 Grand Prix. In 2004 and 2005 he won the 24-hour races at the Nürburgring for Schnitzer Motorsport . In 2006 he switched back to the now renamed Le Mans Series and again won the GT1 championship for Labre. The following year he drove for the Peugeot works team in the LMP1 category and achieved three overall victories and the Le Mans Series championship with Stéphane Sarrazin .