Cristiano da Matta

**Cristiano da Matta**
Champ Car career

Nationality	Brazilian
Active years	1999–2002, 2005–2006
Team(s)	Arciero-Wells (1999), PPI Motorsports (2000), Newman-Haas (2001-2002), PKV Racing (2005), Dale Coyne Racing (2006), RuSPORT (2006)
Race starts	101
Championships	1
Wins	12
Podium finishes	20
Pole positions	7
First race	1999 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami
First win	2000 Target Grand Prix (Chicago)
Last win	2005 G.I. Joe's Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland
Last race	2006 Canary Foundation Grand Prix of San Jose

Cristiano da Matta
Formula One World Championship career

Born	19 September 1973 (1973-09-19) (age 38)
Nationality	Brazilian
Active years	2003–2004
Teams	Toyota
Races	28
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	13
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	2003 Australian Grand Prix
Last race	2004 German Grand Prix

Cristiano Monteiro da Matta (born September 19, 1973 in Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil) is an auto racing driver, winner of the American CART Championship in 2002, and former Formula One driver with the Toyota team.

1 Career biography
2 Racing career
3 External links
4 References

Career biography

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 Three Sudamericana championship. In 1995, da Matta participated in the British Formula Three series, winning one race and placing eighth in the standings. He then placed 8th in the following year's Formula 3000 championship, with a best finish of 4th at Pau.

North American racing

1997 saw da Matta 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. 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.

Formula One

Da Matta 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, and soon made a name for himself in Formula One when he spent much of the first half of the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix hounding reigning World Champion Michael Schumacher in the monsoon-hit race. 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. This was not only due to performance issues, but also due to Da Matta openly making statements about how uncompetitive the Toyota was. 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.

Return to USA

In 2005, da Matta 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.

Collision with deer during test

On August 3, 2006 da Matta'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, da Matta was allowed to leave the hospital after having recovered better than expected.^[10]

When the Champ Car World Series returned to race in the Grand Prix of Road America on September 24, da Matta gave the traditional command - "start your engines". Throughout the next couple of years, he engaged in a training and therapy regime while deciding his racing future.^[11]

Comeback

On March 20, 2008 da Matta climbed back into a race car for the first time since his accident, completing a two-day test in a Riley Daytona Prototype prepared by reigning Rolex Sports Car Series champions GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing. He found speed right away, and team owner Bob Stallings said "the comeback has begun." ^[12] da Matta said, "After the test, I realized 'I still know how to do this, I remember this very well. The biggest thing I felt after the test was just a sense of relief. For me, it was a big, big relief, bigger than big." da Matta paired with former Champ Car champion, Jimmy Vasser, to enter the Rolex Series racing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in 2008.^[13] after a solid race, the pair were classified in 32nd position.

Brazilian Championship Formula Truck

In December 2009, Da Matta tested team's Iveco truck,[2] and in January 2010 confirmed that he'll race the 2010 Fórmula Truck season for the Iveco team.[3]

American Le Mans Series

In 2011 Da Matta signed for Rocketsports Racing to race in the American Le Mans Series. He scored 6 points at the Grand Prix of Long Beach. history section [4]

Racing career

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	DC	Points
1996	Pacific Racing	NÜR 9	PAU 4	PER 5	HOC Ret	SIL Ret	SPA 10	MAG 5	EST 7	MUG Ret	HOC Ret	9th	7

American Open-Wheel racing

(key)

CART/Champ Car

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points
1999	Arciero-Wells	MIA 14	MOT Ret	LBH Ret	NAZ 4	RIO Ret	GAT Ret	MIL 11	POR 11	CLE Ret	ROA Ret	TOR Ret	MIC Ret	DET Ret	MDO 9	CHI 14	VAN 5	LS Ret	HOU 11	SRF Ret	FON Ret		18th	32
2000	PPI Motorsports	MIA 12	LBH Ret	RIO 4	MOT 4	NAZ 13	MIL 14	DET Ret	POR 5	CLE 3	TOR 4*	MIC Ret	CHI 1	MDO Ret	ROA Ret	VAN 7	LS 15	GAT 4	HOU 14	SRF 4	FON Ret		10th	112
2001	Newman/Haas	MTY 1*	LBH 2	FTW C	NAZ 10	MOT Ret	MIL Ret	DET 7	POR 10	CLE 7	TOR Ret	MIC 4	CHI 19	MDO 10	ROA 6	VAN Ret	LAU Ret	ROC 3	HOU 6	LS Ret	SRF 1	FON 1	5th	140
2002	Newman/Haas	MTY 1*	LBH 8	MOT 13	MIL 11	LS 1*	POR 1*	CHI 1*	TOR 1*	CLE 16	VAN 12	MDO 13	ROA 1	MTL 2	DEN 3	ROC 2	MIA 1*	SRF 8*	FON 11	MXC 2			1st	237
2005	PKV	LBH 10	MTY 6	MIL 11	POR 1*	CLE 16	TOR 17	EDM 17	SJO 10	DEN 18	MTL 6	LAS 12	SRF 19	MXC 14									11th	139
2006	Dale Coyne Racing	LBH 5	HOU 9	MTY 9	MIL Ret																		13th	134
2006	RuSPORT					POR 5	CLE 14	TOR 5	EDM Ret	SJO 2	DEN	MTL	ROA	SRF	MXC								13th	134

Complete Formula One results