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 championship ...

champion and three-time runner-up in the

Champ Car World Series Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), ...

Racing career

Early career

Junqueira started racing

karts Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using 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 full-size moto ...

in Brazil and dominated Formula Three Sudamericana before moving to

. He tested for the Williams

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

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, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Jota. Button competed in Formula One from to , and won the World Drivers' Championship in with Brawn; ...

. 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 draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

Championship Car American open-wheel car racing, generally and commonly known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in the United States. As of 2025, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sanctioned by IndyCar a ...

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 competing in the NTT IndyCar Series. They have formerly competed in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, Global Rally ...

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 IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing Governing body, sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two Auto racing, racing series: the premier IndyCar Serie ...

and Junqueira joined

Newman/Haas Racing Newman/Haas Racing was an auto racing team that competed in CART, Champ Car, and the IndyCar Series from 1983 to 2011. The team operations were based in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Newman/Haas Racing was formed as a partnership between actor, automo ...

, the top team remaining in what was now the

. 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 shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

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

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, 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 ra ...

, and he twice finished 5th in the race. In the 2005 Indianapolis 500 Junqueira crashed head-on into the turn two wall after he passed backmarker A. J. Foyt IV but Foyt inattentively did not see Junqueira's car under him and struck his right-rear corner. 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 (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

, Mexico. Veteran Oriol Servia 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 Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (; born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver who currently races in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Cadillac Hertz Team Jota in the Hypercar category. He is one of the most successful dr ...

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 races in the IndyCar Series with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, a team partially owned by his father Bobby Rahal, the winner of ...

and Junqueira signed to drive for

Dale Coyne Racing Dale Coyne Racing (DCR) is an American professional open-wheel racing team that currently competes in the IndyCar Series and Indy NXT. The team was founded in 1984 and is owned by former driver Dale Coyne. From 1995 to 2000, the team was known ...

as teammate to the inexperienced

Katherine Legge Katherine Anne Legge ( ; born 12 July 1980) is a British professional auto racing driver who competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship. She holds the record for the fastest qu ...

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

IndyCar Series

Prior to the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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, who had failed to qualify his car due to a technical failure. In 2011, driving for

A. J. Foyt Anthony Joseph Foyt Jr. (born January 16, 1935) is an American former racing driver who competed in numerous disciplines of motorsport. He is best known for his open wheel racing career, and for becoming the first four-time winner of the India ...

, 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 Global is an American motorsports organization with teams competing in the IndyCar Series, Indy NXT, Formula E, and joint entries in IMSA and the Australian Supercars Championship. Starting in 2026, Andretti will also operate the Cad ...

, 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 racing driver who races the No. 2 Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet in the IndyCar Series. He was the 2011 Indy Lights champion, and 2017 and 2019 IndyCar Series Champion. He won the 2 ...

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 60 ...

.''

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 Racing drivers from Minas Gerais 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