Bruno Junqueira (born November 4, 1976) is a Brazilian race car driver who most recently competed in the IRL IndyCar Series. He is a former

Formula 3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines. Formula 3000 championships ...

champion and three-time runner-up in the Champ Car World Series.

Racing career

Early career

Junqueira started racing

karts Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on ful ...

in Brazil and dominated Formula Three Sudamericana before moving to

. He tested for the Williams

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

team for many years, and came close to landing a race drive in 2000, losing out to

Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship when he drove for the Brawn GP team. After his F1 career, he became champion of the 2018 season of the Super GT ...

. He rebounded from this setback, winning that year's International Formula 3000 Championship.

Champ Car

In 2001 Junqueira joined the

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed ...

Championship Car series driving for

Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization with teams competing in the NTT IndyCar Series, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, FIA World Endurance Champions ...

where he had immediate success, capturing a win in his 14th race and finished second in points with two wins the following year. In 2003 Ganassi left to the rival

Indy Racing League The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices o ...

and Junqueira joined Newman/Haas Racing, the top team remaining in what was now the Champ Car World Series. He captured series runner up honors in both 2003 and 2004, capturing two wins in each of those seasons. He also drove in the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

four times for both Ganassi and Newman/Haas in one-off appearances. In

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, he qualified for the

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...

, and he twice finished 5th in the race. In the 2005 Indianapolis 500 Junqueira crashed head-on into the turn one wall after colliding with backmarker

A. J. Foyt IV Anthony Joseph Foyt IV (born May 25, 1984) is an American football Scout (sport), scout and former racing driver. He is a scouting assistant for the Indianapolis Colts, and drove in the IndyCar Series and briefly the NASCAR Busch Series. He is t ...

. He suffered a concussion and a fractured vertebrae and missed the remainder of the 2005 Champ Car season. Junqueira was the Champ Car points leader at the time, having won the second race of the year in

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is ancho ...

, Mexico. Veteran

Oriol Servia Oriol () is a Catalan name, which can be found as a given name or a surname. It derives from the Latin word ''aureus'' (golden). It was originally just a surname, but started to be used as a given name in honour of Saint Joseph Oriol. It may refe ...

took his place and finished runner-up in the standings. In 2006 he returned to the cockpit at Newman/Haas but for the first time in his career he did not win a race and only finished fifth in the championship while his teammate Sébastien Bourdais won his third straight title. He was replaced in the second Newman/Haas car in 2007 by rookie

Graham Rahal Graham Robert Rahal (born January 4, 1989) is an American race car driver and small business owner. He currently participates in the IndyCar Series with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, a team partially owned by his father Bobby Rahal, the winn ...

and Junqueira signed to drive for Dale Coyne Racing as teammate to the inexperienced

Katherine Legge Katherine Anne Legge ( ; born 12 July 1980) is a British professional auto racing driver, competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. She is also featured in '' Richard Hammond's Crash Course''. Racing career Early racing and Atlantic ...

. Junquiera finished seventh in the championship including three consecutive podium finishes late in the season.

IndyCar Series

Prior to the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Indycar Series Season, Champ Car unified with the rival

. Junqueira drove the #18 car for the Coyne team's first season in the new series, alongside Brazilian rookie countryman Mario Moraes. His Indianapolis 500 was ruined by a mirror falling off, causing him to lose three laps during repairs. His season was not a great success, as he finished 20th overall with only two top ten finishes, both on road courses. He was out of a drive for 2009. He made a deal with Conquest Racing for the Indianapolis 500 and qualified the car on Bump Day, but was asked to withdraw for the team's regular driver

Alex Tagliani Alexandre Tagliani (; born October 18, 1973), nicknamed "Tag", is a Canadian professional racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series, driving the No. 18 Chevrolet Camaro for 22 Racing. Tagliani has competed in a variety ...

, who had failed to qualify his car due to a technical failure. In 2011, driving for A. J. Foyt, he qualified his car for the 500 in nineteenth position, only to once again have to give up his chance to drive in the actual race. Foyt sold the unsponsored car's entry to

Andretti Autosport Andretti Autosport is an auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series, Indy Lights, Indy Pro 2000, and Formula E. The team also has a 37.5% ownership stake in the Australian Supercars Championship touring car team, Walkinshaw Andretti ...

, whose driver Ryan Hunter-Reay had been the final car bumped from the field.INDYCAR: Junqueira Out, Hunter-Reay In At Indy
by Robin Miller, May 23, 2011 for SpeedTV.com In 2012, he entered in for an injured

Josef Newgarden Josef Nicolai Newgarden (born December 22, 1990) is an American race car driver who competes in the IndyCar Series full-time for Team Penske. He is the 2017 and 2019 IndyCar Series Champion and 2011 Indy Lights champion. Career Karting Newga ...

at the first Grand Prix of Baltimore.

Racing record

Career summary

* Includes points scored by other Team Brazil drivers.

Complete International Formula 3000 results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.)

American open–wheel racing results

( key)

CART/Champ Car Series

: ^ ''New points system implemented in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

.''

IndyCar Series

: ¹ ''Races run on same day.'' : ² ''Non-points-paying, exhibition race.''

Indianapolis 500

Complete American Le Mans Series results

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

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

Complete Stock Car Brasil results

† Ineligible for championship points.

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

† Did not complete sufficient laps in order to score points.

References

External links

Official WebsiteIndyCar Driver Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Junqueira, Bruno 1976 births Living people IndyCar Series drivers Brazilian Champ Car drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Indianapolis 500 polesitters Formula 3 Sudamericana drivers Brazilian racing drivers Brazilian IndyCar Series drivers Brazilian NASCAR drivers Stock Car Brasil drivers International Formula 3000 Champions A1 Team Brazil drivers International Formula 3000 drivers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Sportspeople from Belo Horizonte American Le Mans Series drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Rolex Sports Car Series drivers Brazilian WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers Chip Ganassi Racing drivers Newman/Haas Racing drivers Dale Coyne Racing drivers Sarah Fisher Racing drivers Draco Racing drivers Multimatic Motorsports drivers Super Nova Racing drivers Conquest Racing drivers A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers A1 Grand Prix drivers Charouz Racing System drivers