Ricardo Maurício

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Ricardo Maurício 2009 in a Chevrolet Astra in Stock Car Brasil

Ricardo Maurício (born January 7, 1979 in São Paulo ) is a Brazilian racing driver .

Career

Maurício began his motorsport career in 1989 in kart racing , in which he was active until 1994. He then made his formula racing debut in 1995 in the Brazilian Formula Ford , which he won straight away. In 1996 the Brazilian moved to Europe and competed in the British Formula Vauxhall . At the end of the season he finished fourth in the overall classification. In 1997 he competed in the British Formula 3 championship and finished the season in eleventh place overall. A year later he stayed in this championship and improved to seventh place in the drivers' standings with two podium finishes. His performance was outshone by his compatriots Mario Haberfeld , Enrique Bernoldi and Luciano Burti , who occupied the first three positions in the championship. He also finished second behind Peter Dumbreck at the prestigious Macau Grand Prix .

In 1999 Maurício switched to the international Formula 3000 championship and initially competed for the Super Nova Racing championship team. He had no chance against the eventual runner-up Jason Watt , who was his team-mate, and was replaced by David Saelens after just three races . The Brazilian then replaced Markus Friesacher in the Red Bull Junior Team supervised by RSM Marko . Although he was unable to qualify for three races, he managed to score a point in Spa-Francorchamps . At the end of the season he finished 22nd overall and had only one point less than his team-mate and compatriot Bernoldi. In 2000 Maurício stayed at RSM Marko together with Bernoldi. After failing to finish the first seven races, the racing driver was able to achieve his first podium finish in Formula 3000 in third place on the Hungaroring . At the end of the season he finished 17th in the drivers' championship and was again only one point behind Bernoldi.

While Bernoldi switched to Formula 1 in 2001 , Maurício initially had no cockpit, as RSM had signed Marko Patrick Friesacher and Antonio García . However, RSM Marko separated from García after four races and Maurício was able to enter the 2001 Formula 3000 season for the fifth race . He did not disappoint his team and finished second at the Hungaroring and third at Spa-Francorchamps twice on the podium. He finished the season as the best RSM Marko driver in eighth place overall. In 2002 the Brazilian contested his fourth season in Formula 3000 for RSM Marko. With a third place in his home race in Interlagos , he started the new season well. In the further course of the season, however, he did not manage to build on these achievements and he took a position behind his teammate Patrick Friesacher in eleventh place overall. Once again, his placement was outshone by the performances of other Brazilians, as Ricardo and Rodrigo Sperafico as well as Mario Haberfeld and Antonio Pizzonia were four Brazilians ahead of him this season. His accident at the last race in Monza will be remembered . Maurício drove close behind Rob Nguyen's racing car, took off after a collision and rolled over several times. His bolide caught fire in the run-off zone. The racing driver was able to leave the car independently and was uninjured.

After Red Bull stopped promoting the Brazilian in 2003, he could no longer find a cockpit in Formula 3000. For Racing Engineering he competed in the Spanish Formula 3 championship and won the championship title with six victories.

After he hadn't found a cockpit in a formula series in 2004, he turned his back on formula racing. He switched to touring car racing and completed four races in the Stock Car Brasil . In the next few years he stayed in the Stock Car Brasil and improved from 16th place in 2005 to tenth place in 2006. After finishing ninth overall with his first win in 2007, he won the Stock Car championship title in 2008 with five victories Brazil. In 2009 he finished the season in fifth place in the championship. In addition, as in previous years, he started some races in the Argentine TC2000 touring car series and won one race in this series. He also won the Endurance Cup of the TC2000 and finished fourth in the Brazilian GT3 championship with three wins.

In 2010 he competes in the Stock Car Brasil and in the Brazilian GT3 championship.

statistics

Career stations

Web links

Commons : Ricardo Maurício  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Maurício, Ricardo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Brazilian racing driver
DATE OF BIRTH 7th January 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH São Paulo , Brazil