Rapax team
Rapax Team is an Italian motorsport team. The team was founded in 2000 by the three-time Formula 1 world champion Nelson Piquet under the name Piquet Sports . In 2007 the racing team merged with GP Racing to form Minardi Piquet Sports . After returning to the name Piquet Sports in 2008, the name was changed to Piquet GP in 2009 . At the end of 2009, the team was finally renamed Rapax Team.
history
2000–2004: Foundation and initial successes in Formula 3
Piquet Sports was founded in 2000 by the Brazilian Nelson Piquet , three-time Formula 1 world champion, around his son Nelson Piquet jr. To enable racing experience in formula racing . Filipe Vargas was hired as team manager . First you entered the South American Formula 3 Championship , where Piquet jr. finished second in his first race and won four races later at Cascavel. Piquet jr. finished the championship with 77 points in fifth place, the team also finished fourth in the team standings with 77 points.
The team stayed in the South American Formula 3 Championship the following year, winning 13 of 18 races. Piquet Jr. won with 296 points. the driver title and Piquet Sports the team title. Piquet jr. had a lead of over 100 points over his next opponent Danilo Dirani . In 2003 they switched from the South American Formula 3 championship to the British Formula 3 championship . The team performed well in its debut season. Piquet jr. won six races, stood on the podium in five other races and scored a total of 231 points. In the championship he was third behind the champion Alan van der Merwe and the second Jamie Green .
The team started in 2004 with Piquet jr. into the second season in the British Formula 3 Championship. In addition, one went to the start with Alexandre Sarnes Negrão in the South American Formula 3 championship. Both drivers won the title in their championship and together they won 16 races.
2005 -: GP2 series
In 2005 the team moved up to the newly founded GP2 series , the successor series to Formula 3000 . They cooperated with the British team Hitech Racing and started the season under the name HiTech / Piquet Racing . The driver duo was made up of the two champions Piquet jr. and Negra. Piquet jr. won the main race in Spa-Francorchamps and gave the team their first victory in the new series. In the team standings, they finished sixth at the end of the season.
After the cooperation with Hitech Racing had already ended in the middle of last season, the team started in 2006 under the name Piquet Sports . They continued to rely on the duo Piquet jr. and Negra. Piquet jr. won four races and was the first driver ever to reach a race weekend in Budapest where he achieved the maximum number of points. In the driver standings, Piquet jr. eventually give Lewis Hamilton defeated and became runner-up. Piquet Sports suffered the same fate and was relegated to second place in the team standings by Hamilton's Team ART Grand Prix . Negrão was unable to keep up with his teammate's performance in either season and only scored a few points.
For the 2007 season , Piquet Sports merged with GP Racing by Minardi and the team was renamed Minardi Piquet Sports . After Piquet Jr. the team had left in the direction of the Formula 1 team from Renault , Roldán Rodríguez was signed as a teammate of Negrão. The best place this time was achieved by Negrão who finished second in the sprint race in Istanbul . Rodríguez also achieved a podium placement. Since the two drivers rarely scored points, Minardi Piquet Sports finished eleventh overall at the end of the season.
In 2008 the team changed its name back to Piquet Sports and also took part in the first season of the new GP2 Asia series . Marcello Puglisi and Marco Bonanomi were signed as drivers . While Puglisi couldn't get any points, Bonanomi won the sprint race in Dubai . It was the first victory in the GP2 Asia series and also the first victory not from Piquet jr. was achieved.
In the European main series, the experienced drivers Andreas Zuber and Pastor Maldonado were signed for the 2008 season . Both drivers achieved ten podium finishes together, including a Maldonado victory at Spa-Francorchamps. In the team ranking, they finished third, the second-best position in the recent GP2 past.
At the end of the season, the name changed again and since then it has been running as Piquet GP . The drivers changed again in the second season of the GP2 Asia series. Roldán Rodríguez returned to the team. His teammate was the Brazilian Diego Nunes . The team won three races in total. Nunes won two and Rodríguez won one. In the team classification, they won the runner- up behind DAMS . For the GP2 series 2009 Nunes was replaced by his compatriot Alberto Valerio . With a win that Valerio took at Silverstone , Piquet GP finished seventh in the team classification at the end of the season.
For the GP2 Asia Series season 2009/2010 were Vladimir Arabadzhiev and Daniel Zampieri committed. After the first race weekend, the racing team decided to change their name again and from now on they will start under the name Rapax Team . The name is based on the name of the 21st Roman Legion under Emperor Augustus , whose motto was veni vincere ( I came to win ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ "GP2 Asia: The field of drivers is forming" (Motorsport-Total.com on October 19, 2009)
- ↑ "Piquet GP becomes Rapax" (Motorsport-Total.com on November 20, 2009)