Cristiano da Matta

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cristiano da Matta

Champ Car World Series Record
Nationality Brazil Brazilian
Car # 10
Current team RuSPORT
Race starts 101
Series Championships 1
Wins 12
Podium finishes 20
Pole positions 7
First Champ Car race 1999 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami
First win 2000 Target Grand Prix
edit
Cristiano da Matta

Formula One Career
Nationality Brazil Brazilian
Active years 2003 - 2004
Team(s) Toyota
Grands Prix 28
Championships 0
Wins 0
Podium finishes    0
Pole positions 0
Fastest laps 0
First Grand Prix 2003 Australian Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix 2004 German Grand Prix

Cristiano Monteiro da Matta (born September 19, 1973) is a Brazilian auto racing driver, winner of the American CART Championship in 2002, and former Toyota Formula One driver.

Contents

[edit] Career biography

[edit] Origins and early career

Da Matta's father was Toninho da Matta, a 14-time Brazilian touring car champion. He began karting at the age of 16, adopting a helmet design nearly identical to his famous father's helmet. He quickly rose to the top by winning numerous karting championships before winning the 1993 Brazilian Formula Ford championship. In 1994, he continued his successful ways, winning the Formula 3 Brazilian championship. In 1996, da Matta participated in the British Formula Three series.

[edit] North American racing

1997 saw Cristiano move to the United States for the Indy Lights racing series, in which he won "Rookie of the Year" honors. The next year (1998), he won the championship by winning 7 races and securing 4 pole positions. It was at this stage in his career when Cristiano began working with performance scientist Dr. Jacques Dallare on physical and mental training. In 1999, da Matta raced in the CART series for Team Arciero Wells, which were running Toyota engines; da Matta drove a Toyota-powered car from then until 2004. His first win came in 2000, and despite some sponsor opposition he joined the front-running Newman/Haas Racing team for 2001. He won the CART drivers' championship in 2002 under Toyota power with the Newman/Haas Racing team, dominating the year with 7 race wins and 7 poles.

[edit] Formula One

Da Matta driving for the Toyota F1 team at the 2004 USGP
Enlarge
Da Matta driving for the Toyota F1 team at the 2004 USGP

Cristiano completed his move up the racing ladder in 2003, reaching the pinnacle of motor sport with the Toyota Formula One team. He scored 10 championship points that year, four more than seasoned veteran and teammate Olivier Panis. His fortunes took a downturn in 2004, however. Having scored only 3 championship points, da Matta lost his race seat to Ricardo Zonta after the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim. da Matta vowed to never again race in Formula One, as he felt it was not competitive enough, with too much emphasis on car performance.

[edit] Return to USA

In 2005, Cristiano moved back to the Champ Car World Series, to race for the PKV Racing team. That season he won the race at Portland, and finished 11th overall in the standings. For the 2006 Champ Car season, he switched to the Dale Coyne Racing to drive the No.19 Ford Lola, until June 9, 2006, when he switched teams again, to take over A.J. Allmendinger's seat at RuSPORT.[1] Second place at San Jose left him 6th overall in the series.

[edit] Collision with deer during test

On August 3, 2006, Cristiano's car was involved in a collision with a deer that ran in front of him as he headed towards turn 6 during Champ Car open testing at Road America. He hit the deer with his right front tire, the deer then flew back and hit da Matta in the cockpit.[2] It is believed when the deer hit da Matta in the cockpit, he was knocked unconscious. He remained unconscious with his foot still on the brake when the safety crew arrived and extricated da Matta from the car.[3] Da Matta was then airlifted to Theda Clark Medical Center in Neenah, Wisconsin, where he underwent surgery to remove a subdural hematoma.[4] Following the surgery, da Matta was placed in an induced coma, to allow for the swelling to subside.[5] As of August 7, da Matta was making "slow but steady progress", while the doctors were working on reducing da Matta's level of sedation.[6] This slow recovery was confirmed on August 9, as it was reported that Da Matta was able to move "all of his extremities spontaneously as well as in response to physical stimulation".[7] On August 20, Da Matta was transferred out of intensive care.[8] On August 30, Da Matta was confirmed to have made steady progress, conversing in English and Portuguese, and walking short distances.[9] On 21 September 2006, Christiano was allowed to leave the hospital after having recovered better than expected.[10]

When Champ Car World Series had race in Road America on September 24, da Matta gave the traditional order, "start your engines". As of December 2006, he has not yet decided whether or not to return to racing.[11]

[edit] Personal

Outside the racing world, da Matta's interests include playing the guitar, swimming, and mountain biking. He also participated in gymnastics as a youth, at one point training with the Club Flamengo's Olympic team. Cristiano and his girlfriend Vanessa, live in Miami, Florida. They have been together for an ongoing five years.

[edit] Complete Formula One results

(key)

Yr Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Team WDC Points
2003 Toyota AUS
Ret		 MAL
11		 BRA
10		 SAN
12		 SPA
6		 AUT
10		 MON
9		 CAN
11		 EUR
Ret		 FRA
11		 GBR
7		 DEU
6		 HUN
11		 ITA
Ret		 USA
9		 JPN
7		     Toyota 13th 10
2004 Toyota AUS
12		 MAL
9		 BAH
10		 SAN
Ret		 SPA
13		 MON
6		 EUR
Ret		 CAN
DSQ		 USA
Ret		 FRA
14		 GBR
13		 DEU
Ret		 HUN
 BEL
 ITA
 CHN
 JPN
 BRA
 Toyota 17th 3

[edit] Complete Champ Car results

(key)

Yr Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Rank Points
2002 Newman/Haas MTR
1		 LBH
8		 JPN
Ret		 MIL
11		 LAG
1		 POR
1		 CHI
1		 TOR
1		 CLE
Ret		 VAN
Ret		 MID
13		 ROA
1		 MTL
2		 DEN
3		 ENG
2		 MIA
1		 SUR
8		 FON
Ret		 MEX
2		 1 237
2005 PKV LBH
10		 MTY
6		 MIL
11		 POR
1		 CLE
16		 TOR
17		 EDM
17		 SAN
10		 DEN
18		 MTL
6		 LAS
12		 SUR
19		 MEX
14		               11 139
2006 Coyne/
RuSPORT		 LBH
5		 HST
9		 MOT
9		 MIL
Ret		 POR
5		 CLE
14		 TOR
5		 EDM
Ret		 SAN
2		 DEN
INJ		 MON
INJ		 ROA
INJ		 SUR
INJ		 MEX
INJ		             13* 134*

* Denotes present season standing

1999-2001 results to be added

[edit] External links

 Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[edit] References

  1. ^ "RUSPORT ANNOUNCES DRIVER CHANGE", Champ Car World Series, June 9, 2006
  2. ^ "UPDATE: Da Matta In Critical Condition", Speed Channel, August 3, 2006
  3. ^ "Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Cristiano da Matta Still in Critical Condition", PaddockTalk, August 4, 2006
  4. ^ "Update on Condition of RuSPORT Driver Cristiano da Matta", RuSPORT, August 3, 2006
  5. ^ "Update on Condition of Champ Car Driver Cristiano da Matta", RuSPORT, August 5, 2006
  6. ^ "Cristiano da Matta's Condition Continues to Improve", RuSPORT, August 7, 2006
  7. ^ "Cristiano Da Matta Making Steady Progress", RuSPORT, August 9, 2006
  8. ^ "Christiano Da Matta Transferred out of Intensive Care", RuSPORT, August 20, 2006
  9. ^ "More Progress for Cristiano da Matta", RuSPORT, August 30, 2006
  10. ^ "Da Matta leaves hospital", F1technical, September 21, 2006
  11. ^ "Da Matta yet to decide on his future", Grandprix.com, 2006-12-01. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
Preceded by:
Gil de Ferran		 CART Series Champion
2002		 Succeeded by:
Paul Tracy


2006 Champ Car World Series
Newman/Haas Forsythe CTE-HVM Australia PKV Rocketsports RuSPORT Coyne Conquest
1 Bourdais
2 Junqueira		 3 Tracy
7 Rice		 4 Philippe
14 Clarke		 5 Power
15 Tagliani		 6 Servia
20 Legge		 8 Dominguez
18 Pizzonia		 9 Wilson
10 Briscoe		 11 Heylen
19 Wirth		 27 Ranger
34 Zwolsman
Long Beach - Houston - Monterrey - Milwaukee - Portland - Cleveland - Toronto - Edmonton - San Jose - Denver - Montreal - Road America - Surfers Paradise - Mexico City
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../c/r/i/Cristiano_da_Matta_3c18.html"