Jonathan De Castro

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Jonathan De Castro
Born: February 11, 1988
Birthplace: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Awards: 2005 Dominican National Rotax-Max Sr. Champion

Jonathan Raphael De Castro Walther (born February 11, 1988 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a Dominican racing driver.

He has been a karting driver for the 3 years easily winning the karting championship in the Rotax Max class in the Dominican Republic in only his second year taking 6 wins out of 7 participated. He also went on to win the first event of the NACAM-FIA karting championship in the TAG class. In July of 2005 he tasted his first experience with the Formula BMW car, in which he tested in Valencia during a Formula BMW USA Licensing course for 2006. At the end of 2005 after winning the Rotax Max challenge in the Caribbean, he also participated in the Rotax Max World Championship hosted in the country of Malaysia.

In 2006, the Dominican driver spent one more year in karting, and participated in a selection hosted in Costa Rica by the renounced French school La Filiere FFSA, where he was selected among several drivers all over South America, competing for a scholarship for the Formula Renault Campus 2007 season. Countries in the selection included: Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Colombia, and Mexico. During 2006 he also participated in some karting races in championships such as Stars of Karting, the Florida Winter Tour and a 4 hour endurance race in New Castle Motorsport speedway where 2005 IRL Champion Dan Wheldon Participated.

In 2007, after announcing that the Dominican Government through SEDEFIR will be sponsoring the young driver, De Castro will move up from karting into the Formula Renault Campus with the Auto Sport Academy, formally known as ‘La Filiere’. The renounced driver training organization, (located in Le Mans, France), will host 14 race events for the 2007 season with 29 drivers. The Auto Sport Academy is responsible to the starting of careers of drivers such as: Sebastian Bourdais, Franck Montagny and Stéphane Sarrazin.