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Ricardo Zonta | Birthdate: | March 23rd 1976 | | | | Country: | Brazil  | | | | Gender: | M |
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| History: | | 1987 - | First kart race at 11 years old with victory in his first race | | 1988 - | Runner-up in the Curitiba Karting Championship | | 1991 - | Winner of the Parana Karting Championship | | 1992 - | 4th place in the Sao Paulo Karting Championship | | 1993 - | 6th place in the Brazilian Formula Chevrolet Championship | | 1994 - | 5th place in the Brazilian Formula 3 Championship | | 1995 - | Brazilian Formula 3 Champion. South American Formula 3 Champion. Records of victories, best laps and pole positions | | 1996 - | 4th place in the European Formula 3000 Championship. Two victories, two best laps and one pole position. First Brazilian to race in an ITC race; invited by Mercedes-Benz | | 1997 - | European Formula 3000 Champion with three victories (Nurburgring, Hockenheim, Mugello). Official tests for Jordan Grand Prix | | 1998 - | FIA GT Champion with AMG Mercedes. Formula 1 test driver for McLaren-Mercedes | | 1999 - | First year in Formula 1 for British American Racing team | | 2000 - | Second year in Formula 1 for British American Racing team. 6th place in Australia, Monza and Indianapolis | | 2003 - | Quit F1 racing | | 2004 - | Formula 1: Panasonic Toyota Racing |
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Brazilian Ricardo Zonta made his debut in 1999 for a BAR team which famously claimed it would 'win it's first race'.
They didn't.
Together with team-mate and former champion Jacques Villeneuve, Zonta amassed a grand total of zero points in his debut year. He missed three races after sustaining an injury in Brazil, the second race of the year. Although he finished more races than his illustrious team-mate, the Brazilian was firmly outpaced by Villeneuve. However he was retained for the following season. In 1999 the team once again were beset by mechanical problems, although Villeneuve did atleast score points. Zonta didn't however, and was forced out at the end of the year to be replaced by the more experienced Olivier Panis, back in the cockpit after a season testing for McLaren.
Zonta became a test driver himself, driving for Jordan. When team regular Heinz Harald Frentzen? picked up an injury at Montreal? in 2001 Zonta made his first Jordan race start. He later replaced Frentzen again at Hockenheim when the German was sacked.
Zonta moved to the Telefonica World Series (now World Series by Renault) in 2002, and won convincingly. He then stepped back into Formula 1 in 2003, becoming test driver for Toyota. In 2004 he raced five times for the team, which also ran with Cristiano Da Matta, Olivier Panis and Jarno Trulli over the course of the season.
Ricardo continued to test for Toyota in 2005, and once again deputised at Indianapolis, replacing the injured Ralf Schumacher. He qualified thirteenth, but was unable to race due to safety fears which saw just six cars start.
Statistics
| Statistic | # | Percentage | First | Last | | Number of Grand Prix | 38 | 100% |  1999 |  2005 | | Number of starts | 38 | 100.00% | 1999 | 2005 | | Number of finishes | 18 | 47.37% |  1999 | 2004 | | Number of finishes in points | 3 | 7.89% | 2000 | 2000 | | Number of retirements | 19 | 50.00% | 1999 | 2005 |
| Seasons: | 5 (1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005) | | | | Points: | 3 (Average per start: 0.08) | | | Points per season
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| 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2004 | 2005 | | | | | Team: | British American Racing (1999), Lucky Strike Reynard British American Racing BAR Honda (2000), Benson and Hedges Jordan (2001), Panasonic Toyota Racing (2004), Panasonic Toyota Racing (2005) | | | | Chassis: | BAR 01 (1999), BAR 002 (2000), Jordan EJ11 (2001), Toyota TF104B (2004), Toyota TF104 (2004), Toyota TF105 (2005) | | | | Engine: | Supertec 3.0 V10 (1999), Honda 3.0 V10 (2000), Honda RA001E V10 (2001), Toyota RVX-04 (2004), Toyota RVX-05 (2005) |
Created by: system
last modification: Sunday 13 of November, 2005 [17:04:38 UTC] by Sennaesque
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