Álvaro Parente

Álvaro Parente
Nationality	Portuguese
Born	(1984-10-04) 4 October 1984 Porto (Portugal)
2014 FIA GT Series
Debut season	2012
Current team	Hexis Racing
Starts	18
Wins	0
Poles	1
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	8th in 2012
Previous series
2008–2011 2008–09, 2009–10 2006–07 2004–05 2003 2001–02	GP2 Series GP2 Asia Series Formula Renault 3.5 Series British Formula Three Formula 3 Euro Series Spanish Formula Three
Championship titles
2005 2007	British Formula Three Formula Renault 3.5 Series

Álvaro Parente (born 4 October 1984 in Porto) is a Portuguese racecar driver. He is currently under contract with McLaren racing their GT cars for several customer teams.^[1]

Career

Early career

After winning the Karting European Junior Championship in 1998, Parente made his debut in auto racing in 2001 at the age of 16, driving in the Spanish F3 Championship. In the following year, he was integrated into the Team Portugal project and scored a win on his way to 4th place in the series.

Formula Three

Parente than began a more international career in 2003, moving to the F3 Euroseries with Team Ghinzani, but the Mugen-Honda engine proved to be inferior to the Mercedes and he scored a single point. He did better with one-off entries in Italian Formula 3 and at Spa in a round of the British Formula 3 Championship, his first association with Carlin Motorsport, which was repeated that year in the Macau Grand Prix.

This brief contact paved the way for a contract with Carlin for the 2004 season, where he took part in the British series, scoring another win and finishing 7th in the championship standings. He also took part in the Marlboro Masters and at Macau, but in the former the Mugen-Honda could not take the fight to the Mercedes drivers and in the latter he was taken out in the first lap.

Parente stayed in the British Formula Three for another season, and his experience helped him to win the championship with four races to go, scoring a total of 11 wins. This result made him the natural candidate to represent A1 Team Portugal for the new A1 Grand Prix series.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

For 2006, Parente joined the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with the Victory Engineering team, and achieved his first win at Istanbul in only his fifth race in the category. He took two further wins at the Nürburgring and Circuit de Catalunya to finish fifth in the final standings. He had hoped to progress onto the GP2 Series in 2007, but a lack of sponsorship scuppered his plans. He did, however, return to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with the French Tech 1 Racing team, having signed a contract on the eve of the first pre-season test.^[2]

During the 2007 season Parente took five podium finishes, including two race victories at Monaco and Spa, and was crowned World Series by Renault champion at the final round in Barcelona on 27 October.^[3]

As a prize for winning the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, Parente has tested for the Renault F1 team on 17 January 2008 at the Circuito de Jerez.^[4]

GP2 Series

For 2008 Parente moved to the Super Nova Racing team in the GP2 Series,^[5] widely regarded as the primary feeder series to Formula One.

Alvaro Parente made a stunning start to his GP2 career in the opening round of the season at the Circuit de Catalunya, Parente won the feature race making him the first Portuguese driver to win in GP2 Series.^[6] Alvaro Parente led from start to finish, to claim victory ahead of Bruno Senna and Andreas Zuber. He eventually finished eighth in the drivers' championship.

Super Nova team nicknamed Parente as "Chachi", due to his likeness to the famous character in Happy Days.^[7]

In 2009 Parente participated in the GP2 Asia Series with My Team Qi.Meritus, and competed in the GP2 Series with Ocean Racing Technology, finishing eighth once again.

Parente began the 2010 season without a drive, but replaced Alberto Valerio at the Coloni team from the Belgian round onwards.^[8] On his return to the category, he scored a double podium finish, and ended the weekend as the highest scoring driver. He was replaced for the final round by James Jakes.

Parente again went into the 2011 GP2 Series season without a drive, but was called up by Racing Engineering for the second round of the championship at Catalunya. He replaced Christian Vietoris, who had complained of recurring headaches following a heavy crash at the first round in Turkey.^[9] Vietoris returned after two rounds, but Parente remained in the series by switching to the Carlin team, where he took the seat previously occupied by Oliver Turvey. After a further six races, he relinquished the seat to Mikhail Aleshin.^[10] He then returned for the season finale at Monza, ending up in 16th place in the drivers' championship.^[11]

Superleague Formula

Parente agreed to race at the 2009 Estoril round of the 2009 Superleague Formula season for his football squad team, F.C. Porto, and went on to win the second race, on his series debut.

Formula One

Parente was a leading contender for a seat at Campos Meta, other contenders were Vitaly Petrov and Pastor Maldonado. On 15 December 2009, it was officially announced that Parente would join the new Virgin Racing team as a test driver.^[12] However, he was not present at the launch of the VR-01 chassis in February 2010, and it was reported that he had left the team due to sponsorship problems.^[13] Andy Soucek replaced Parente as the reserve driver.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	Points	Position
2001	Spanish F3 Championship	G-Tec	9	0	0	50	12th
		E. V. Racing
2002	Spanish F3 Championship	Racing Engineering	13	1	1	139	4th
2003	Formula 3 Euro Series	Team Ghinzani	19	0	0	1	25th
	Italian F3 Championship		2	1	1	34	9th
	2003 Masters of Formula 3		1	0	0	N/A	22nd
	F3 Macau Grand Prix[14]	Carlin Motorsport	1	0	0	N/A	NC
	F3 Korea Super Prix[15]		1	0	0	N/A	10th
	British F3 Championship		2	0	0	7	22nd
2004	British F3 Championship	Carlin Motorsport	24	1	2	137	7th
	2004 Masters of Formula 3		1	0	0	N/A	34th
	F3 European Cup[16]		1	0	0	N/A	8th
	F3 Macau Grand Prix[17]		1	0	0	N/A	NC
2005	British F3 Championship	Carlin Motorsport	18	11	9	289	1st
2005–06	A1 Grand Prix	A1 Team Portugal	20	0	0	66†	9th†
2006	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Victory Engineering	15	3	0	94	5th
2006–07	A1 Grand Prix	A1 Team Portugal	6	0	0	10†	17th†
2007	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Tech 1 Racing	17	2	2	129	1st
2008	GP2 Series	Super Nova Racing	20	1	0	34	8th
2008–09	GP2 Asia Series	Qi-Meritus Mahara	6	0	0	1	21st
2009	GP2 Series	Ocean Racing Technology	20	1	1	30	8th
	Spanish GT Championship	Aurora Racing Team	2	0	1	10	25th
	Superleague Formula	F.C. Porto	2	1	0	302†	5th†
2009–10	GP2 Asia Series	Scuderia Coloni	4	0	0	12	8th
2010	GP2 Series	Scuderia Coloni	4	0	0	13	15th
2011	GP2 Series	Racing Engineering	4	0	0	8	16th
		Carlin	8	0	0	0

† - Team standings.

Complete A1 Grand Prix 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	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	DC	Points
2005–06	Portugal	GBR SPR 8	GBR FEA Ret	GER SPR Ret	GER FEA 11	POR SPR 6	POR FEA 5	AUS SPR 2	AUS FEA 7	MYS SPR 9	MYS FEA 18	UAE SPR 8	UAE FEA 4	RSA SPR 8	RSA FEA 3	IDN SPR 19	IDN FEA Ret	MEX SPR Ret	MEX FEA 10	USA SPR 3	USA FEA 4	CHN SPR	CHN FEA	9th	66
2006–07		NED SPR	NED FEA	CZE SPR	CZE FEA	BEI SPR	BEI FEA	MYS SPR	MYS FEA	IDN SPR	IDN FEA	NZL SPR	NZL FEA	AUS SPR	AUS FEA	RSA SPR 8	RSA FEA 5	MEX SPR 14	MEX FEA 7	SHA SPR	SHA FEA	GBR SPR 11	GBR SPR 11	17th	10

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series 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	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	DC	Points
2006	Victory Engineering	ZOL 1 DNS	ZOL 2 DNQ	MON 1 6	IST 1 3	IST 2 1	MIS 1 4	MIS 2 4	SPA 1 4	SPA 2 4	NÜR 1 1	NÜR 2 Ret	DON 1 17	DON 2 Ret	LMS 1 12	LMS 2 11	CAT 1 3	CAT 2 1	5th	94
2007	Tech 1 Racing	MNZ 1 2	MNZ 2 4	NÜR 1 3	NÜR 2 10	MON 1 1	HUN 1 Ret	HUN 2 Ret	SPA 1 1	SPA 2 6	DON 1 4	DON 2 Ret	MAG 1 6	MAG 2 4	EST 1 6	EST 2 7	CAT 1 3	CAT 2 6	1st	129

Complete GP2 Series 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	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	DC	Points
2008	Super Nova Racing	ESP FEA 1	ESP SPR 7	TUR FEA Ret	TUR SPR 8	MON FEA 5	MON SPR 3	FRA FEA 9	FRA SPR Ret	GBR FEA 16	GBR SPR Ret	GER FEA 3	GER SPR 6	HUN FEA 16	HUN SPR Ret	EUR FEA 16	EUR SPR Ret	BEL FEA 2	BEL SPR Ret	ITA FEA Ret	ITA SPR 12	8th	34
2009	Ocean Racing Technology	ESP FEA Ret	ESP SPR 11	MON FEA Ret	MON SPR Ret	TUR FEA Ret	TUR SPR 10	GBR FEA Ret	GBR SPR 11	GER FEA 6	GER SPR 2	HUN FEA 9	HUN SPR 6	VAL FEA 4	VAL SPR Ret	BEL FEA 1	BEL SPR Ret	ITA FEA 11	ITA SPR Ret	POR FEA Ret	POR SPR 4	8th	30
2010	Scuderia Coloni	ESP FEA	ESP SPR	MON FEA	MON SPR	TUR FEA	TUR SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	GBR FEA	GBR SPR	GER FEA	GER SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	BEL FEA 2	BEL SPR 3	ITA FEA 12	ITA SPR 9	ABU FEA	ABU SPR	15th	13
2011	Racing Engineering	TUR FEA	TUR SPR	ESP FEA 11	ESP SPR 7	MON FEA 2	MON SPR 16															16th	8
	Carlin							VAL FEA Ret	VAL SPR 18	GBR FEA 9	GBR SPR 9	GER FEA 20	GER SPR Ret	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	BEL FEA	BEL SPR	ITA FEA 12	ITA SPR 12

Complete GP2 Asia Series 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	11	12	DC	Points
2008–09	Qi-Meritus Mahara	CHN FEA	CHN SPR	DUB FEA	DUB SPR	BHR1 FEA	BHR1 SPR	QAT FEA 17	QAT SPR 16	MYS FEA 11	MYS SPR 9	BHR2 FEA Ret	BHR2 SPR 13	21st	1
2009–10	Scuderia Coloni	ABU1 FEA	ABU1 SPR	ABU2 FEA	ABU2 SPR	BHR1 FEA 6	BHR1 SPR Ret	BHR2 FEA 4	BHR2 SPR 3					8th	12

Superleague Formula

2009

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

Year	Team	Operator	1		2		3		4		5		6		Position	Points
2009	F.C. Porto	Hitech Junior Team	MAG		ZOL		DON		EST		MOZ		JAR		5th	302
									16	1

2009 Super Final Results

• Super Final results in 2009 did not count for points towards the main championship.

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6
2009	F.C. Porto Hitech Junior Team	MAG	ZOL	DON	EST DNQ	MOZ	JAR

2010

Year	Team	Operator	1			2			3			4			5			6			7			8			9			10			11			12			Position	Points
2010	F.C. Porto	Reid Motorsport	SIL			ASS			MAG			JAR			NÜR			ZOL			BRH			ADR			POR			ORD			BEI†			NAV			7th	495
			4	5	5	11	16	X	5	11	X	8	11	X	17	1	X	11	12	X	11	4	6	6	11	X	3	17	X				15	1	C	8	1	6

† Round at Beijing was a non-championship event with no points given out for any of the races.

FIA GT competition results

GT1 World Championship results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos	Points
2012	Hexis Racing	McLaren	NOG QR 4	NOG CR Ret	ZOL QR 10	ZOL CR 7	NAV QR 2	NAV QR 4	SVK QR Ret	SVK CR Ret	ALG QR 8	ALG CR Ret	SVK QR 9	SVK CR 9	MOS QR 6	MOS CR 2	NUR QR 5	NUR CR Ret	DON QR 3	DON CR 3	11th	65

FIA GT Series results

Year	Class	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos.	Points
2013	Pro	Sébastien Loeb Racing	McLaren	NOG QR 1	NOG CR 8	ZOL QR 10	ZOL CR 9	ZAN QR Ret	ZAN CR 7	SVK QR 1	SVK CR Ret	NAV QR 1	NAV CR 1	BAK QR 6	BAK CR 2	4th	82

* Season in progress.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Álvaro Parente.

• Official Blog
• Alvaro Parente career statistics at Driver Database

Sporting positions
Preceded by Nelson Angelo Piquet	British Formula Three Champion 2005	Succeeded by Mike Conway
Preceded by Alx Danielsson	Formula Renault 3.5 Series Champion 2007	Succeeded by Giedo van der Garde

v t e Manufacturers, Teams, and Drivers competing in the 2012 FIA GT1 World Championship season Teams McLaren Ferrari Aston Martin Hexis Racing 1 — Dusseldorp, Makowiecki 2 — Demoustier, Parente AF Corse 3 — Vilander, Salaquarda 4 — Castellacci, Ide Valmon Racing Team Russia 6 — Afanasyev, Zuber 7 — Martin, Vasilyev Porsche Ford BMW Exim Bank Team China 8 — Ren, Lariche 9 — Parisy, Halliday Sunred 10 — Pavlović, Cressoni 11 — Moncini, Soucek BMW Team Vita4One 17 — Lauda, Mayr-Melnhof 18 — Bartels, Buurman Lamborghini Audi Mercedes-Benz Reiter Engineering 24 — Kox, O'Young 25 — Thurn und Taxis, Enge Belgian Audi Club Team WRT 32 — Vanthoor, Ortelli 33 — Stippler, Jarvis All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport 37 — Jäger, Pastorelli 38 — Basseng, Winkelhock Races Nogaro Zolder Navarra First Slovakia Algarve Second Slovakia Moscow Nürburgring Donington

v t e F.C. Porto in Superleague Formula Seasons competed 2008 2009 2010 Drivers Tristan Gommendy (2008, 2009) Álvaro Parente (2009, 2010) Operating teams Alan Docking Racing (2008) Hitech Junior Team (2008, 2009) Reid Motorsport/Atech (2010)

v t e British Formula Three & Formula Junior champions Three-time Don Parker Jim Russell Dave Walker Roger Williamson Two-time Tony Brise Jim Clark Brian Henton Harry Stiller Trevor Taylor One-time Alguersuari Arundell Asmer Banting Barrichello Brabham Brandon Burt Byrne Conway Daly Dean Dumfries Fenning de Ferran Firman Fittipaldi Gavin Giacomelli Gugelmin Haberfeld Häkkinen Harvey Hynes Johansson Kane Keegan Kerr King Ledbrook Lehto Leston Magnussen van der Merwe Moss Nasr Nilsson von Opel Pace Palmer Parente Piquet Piquet, Jr. Pitcher Pizzonia Ricciardo Sato Schenken Senna Serra South Stewart I. Taylor Trimmer Vergne Wallace Warwick

Persondata
Name	Parente, Alvaro
Alternative names
Short description	Portuguese racing driver
Date of birth	4 October 1984
Place of birth	Porto (Portugal)
Date of death
Place of death