Vítor Meira
Vítor Meira (born March 27, 1977 in Brasília , Brazil ) is a Brazilian racing car driver . In 2000 he became the South American Formula 3 champion. He drove in the IndyCar Series from 2002 to 2011 , where he was under contract with AJ Foyt Enterprises from 2009 . He achieved his best overall ranking in 2006 when he finished fifth. He started in Stock Car Brasil in 2012 .
Career
Meira began his motorsport career in 1990 in kart racing , in which he was active until 1995. In the further course of his career he took part in kart races again and again. In 1995 he made his debut in formula racing and immediately became champion of the British Formula Ford winter championship. He then finished fourth in 1996 and sixth in the regular British Formula Ford in 1997. In 1998 he switched to British Formula Renault and finished the season in fourth place.
Meira returned to South America in 1999 and finished sixth in the South American Formula 3 Championship with two wins . In 2000 he stayed in this championship and secured the championship title with 8 wins from 18 races ahead of João Paulo de Oliveira . After taking part in a race in the South American Formula 3 championship, in 2001 he concentrated on his involvement in the Euro Formula 3000 . While his compatriot Felipe Massa won the championship title, Meira was fifth overall with a second place as the best result. Meira also competed in a race in the South American Formula 3 championship in 2001 and was fifth in the Federal classification of the Italian Formula 3 . In 2002 he took part in the first three races of the Euro Formula 3000, but scored no points.
After Meira had completed tests for Panther Racing in Fort Worth in the Indy Racing League , he replaced Mark Dismore in the Menard team for the last four races of the 2002 season . At the end of the season in Fort Worth, Meira first took pole position and finished the race in third place. In the overall standings, he was 25th. 2003 Meira stayed with Team Menard in the championship, which has now been renamed the IndyCar Series . He started ten of the 16 races and achieved his best result, fourth place, again in Fort Worth. At the end of the season he finished 22nd overall.
After the Menard team merged with Panther Racing, Meira moved to Rahal Letterman Racing for the third race of the 2004 season . He finished a few races in the top ten and got his best results in the races in Richmond and Kansas City , which he finished in second place. At the end of the season he finished eighth overall. In 2005 Meira stayed with Rahal Letterman Racing. At the prestigious Indianapolis 500 , he finished second behind Dan Wheldon . With another second place in Sparta , he ended the season in seventh place in the drivers' standings.
In 2006 Meira switched to Panther Racing. He finished every race in which he finished among the top ten drivers and was on the podium six times. However, he was again denied a win and three second places were his best results. In the overall standings he improved to fifth overall and only had to admit defeat to the Penske and Ganassi pilots. He also took part in a race in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) and achieved a podium finish in the LMP1 category. In 2007, Meira no longer built on the successes of the previous season and a fourth place at the season opener remained his best result. In the end, finished twelfth in the championship. He also completed two races in the A1GP series and one race in the ALMS. In 2008 he played his third season for Panther Racing. A runner-up at the Indianapolis 500 was his only podium finish of the season, which he finished in 13th overall. In the last race in Surfers Paradise , in which there were no points, Meira switched to AJ Foyt Enterprises prematurely , where he replaced Darren Manning . Meira also took part in a race in the Rolex Sports Car Series in 2008 .
In 2009 Meira was supposed to compete for the entire season for AJ Foyt Enterprises, but he was injured so badly in the fourth race in Indianapolis that he could not complete the rest of the season. After Meira initially survived a fire in the pit lane unharmed, he collided with his compatriot Raphael Matos and broke his L1 and L2 lumbar vertebrae . Meira did not need an operation. At the end of the season he finished 28th overall. In 2010 , Meira returned to the Foyt cockpit and achieved a podium finish in third place at the opening race in São Paulo . Without further podium placements, he finished twelfth overall at the end of the season. In 2011 Meira stayed with AJ Foyt Enterprises. He finished the season with a fifth place as the best result in 16th place in the drivers' standings. Foyt and Meira terminated their contract at the end of the 2011 season.
In 2012 Meira left the IndyCar Series and returned to Brazil. There he competes in the touring car series Stock Car Brasil in a Chevrolet for Officer ProGP .
Personal
Vitor Meira is also active as a triathlete and started in Florida in November 2010 at the Triathlon World Championship on half the Ironman distance ( Ironman 70.3 : 1.9 km swimming, 90 km cycling and 21.1 km running) and finished the race after 4:47 hours. In 2011 he took part in the Ironman Hawaii and was 1486th of 1918 participants.
Meira has had a daughter since April 2011.
statistics
Career stations
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Individual results in the IndyCar Series
season | team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14th | 15th | 16 | 17th | 18th | 19th | Points | rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | Team Menard | HMS |
PHX |
HAIRDRYER |
NZR |
INDY |
TXS |
PPI |
RIR |
KAN |
NSH |
MIS |
KTY 15 |
STL 9 |
CHI 8 |
TX2 3 |
96 | 25th | ||||
2003 | Team Menard | HMS |
PHX |
MOT |
INDY 12 |
TXS 12 |
PPI 16 |
RIR 22 |
KAN 20 |
NSH 19 |
MIS 21 |
STL 9 |
KTY DNS |
NZR |
CHI |
FON 11 |
TX2 4 |
170 | 22nd | |||
2004 | Rahal Letterman Racing | HMS |
PHX |
MOT 17 |
INDY 6 |
TXS 6 |
RIR 2 |
KAN 2 |
NSH 12 |
MIL 5 |
MIS 5 |
KTY 7 |
PPI 7 |
NZR 10 |
CHI 5 |
FON 21 |
TX2 4 |
376 | 8th. | |||
2005 | Rahal Letterman Racing | HMS 4 |
PHX 11 |
STP 5 |
MOT 15 |
INDY 2 |
TXS 9 |
RIR 20 |
KAN 3 |
NSH 16 |
MIL 9 |
MIS 14 |
KTY 2 |
PPI 5 |
SNM 9 |
CHI 7 |
WGL 18 |
FON 3 |
422 | 7th | ||
2006 | Panther Racing | HMS 16 |
STP 5 |
MOT 10 |
INDY 10 |
WGL 2 |
TXS 6 |
RIR 2 |
KAN 3 |
NSH 3 |
MIL 15 |
MIS 2 |
KTY 6 |
SNM 3 |
CHI 6 |
411 | 5. | |||||
2007 | Panther Racing | HMS 4 |
STP 16 |
MOT 17 |
KAN 8 |
INDY 10 |
MIL 5 |
TXS 5 |
IOW 9 |
RIR 9 |
WGL 17 |
NSH 10 |
MDO 17 |
MIS 18 |
KTY 10 |
SNM 9 |
DET 15 |
CHI 18 |
334 | 12. | ||
2008 | Panther Racing | HMS 10 |
STP 19 |
MOT 1 16 |
LBH 1 |
KAN 22 |
INDY 2 |
MIL 22 |
TXS 7 |
IOW 15 |
RIR 20 |
WGL 22 |
NSH 6 |
MDO 6 |
EDM 19 |
KTY 4 |
SNM 7 |
DET 17 |
CHI 27 |
324 | 13. | |
AJ Foyt Enterprises | SRF 2 14 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
2009 | AJ Foyt Enterprises | STP 9 |
LBH 14 |
KAN 22 |
INDY 21 |
MIL INJ |
TXS INJ |
IOW INJ |
RIR INJ |
WGL INJ |
TOR INJ |
EDM INJ |
KTY INJ |
MDO INJ |
SNM INJ |
CHI INJ |
MOT INJ |
HMS INJ |
62 | 28. | ||
2010 | AJ Foyt Enterprises | SAO 3 |
STP 15 |
ALA 18 |
LBH 11 |
KAN 10 |
INDY 27 |
TXS 10 |
IOW 7 |
WGL 19 |
GATE 11 |
EDM 16 |
MDO 15 |
SNM 15 |
CHI 9 |
KTY 23 |
MOT 17 |
HMS 6 |
310 | 12. | ||
2011 | AJ Foyt Enterprises | STP 8 |
ALA 12 |
LBH 9 |
SAO 17 |
INDY 15th |
TXS1 8 |
TXS2 11 |
MIL 24 |
IOW 18 |
GATE 5 |
EDM 12 |
MDO 10 |
NHA 10 |
SNM 22 |
BAL 9 |
MOT 25 |
KTY 16 |
LSV C |
287 | 16. |
( Legend )
- 1 The races took place on the same day.
- 2 No points were awarded.
Web links
- Career statistics of Vitor Meira (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ "AJ Foyt: Meira replaces Manning" (Motorsport-Total.com on September 26, 2008)
- ↑ "Horror crash: Meira breaks two vertebrae" (Motorsport-Total.com on May 25, 2009)
- ^ "Meira: No surgery, fracture of the lumbar vertebrae L1 and L2" (Motorsport-Total.com on May 25, 2009)
- ^ "Injured Meira is testing again" (Motorsport-Total.com on September 15, 2009)
- ↑ “Dec. 8: On Sarah, Vitor and Hildebrand ” (indystar.com on December 8, 2010)
- ^ "Foyt and Meira split up" (Motorsport-Total.com on October 16, 2011)
- ↑ "Meira takes off his IndyCar hat" (Motorsport-Total.com on February 12, 2012)
- ↑ “Duda Pamplona confirma Vitor Meira na Officer ProGP” (stockcar.globo.com on February 10, 2012)
- ^ Five great years in Clearwater
- ^ "Hawaii: Kanaan and Meira as real ironmen" (Motorsport-Total.com on October 9, 2011)
- ↑ "26 IndyCars in Brazil" (Motorsport-Total.com on April 26, 2011)
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Meira, Vítor |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Brazilian racing car driver |
DATE OF BIRTH | March 27, 1977 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Brasília , Brazil |