Carlos Andrés Muñoz (born 2 January 1992) is a Colombian former professional

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

. He last drove for

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports The IndyCar Series operation of McLaren, competing as Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team due to sponsorship, is based in Indianapolis and was founded by former IndyCar driver Sam Schmidt in 2001 as Sam Schmidt Motorsports (SSM). The team operates the N ...

part-time in the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

in 2018. He has twice finished second 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 ...

, during his rookie year in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Career

Karting

Born in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

, Muñoz began his

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

career in

karting 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 motor ...

back in 2002.

Formula TR Pro Series FR 1600

In 2007, just fifteen years old, Muñoz made his debut in

single-seaters An open-wheel car is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have their wheels below the body or inside fend ...

, racing in the Formula TR Pro Series. He took one podium place in four races to end the season in eighth place.

Formula Renault

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 ...

, Muñoz took part in both the Italian Formula Renault 2.0 and Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championships, racing for

Prema Powerteam Prema Racing, previously known as Prema Powerteam, is an Italian motorsport team, owned and operated through the ''DC Racing Solutions'' parent company. Founded in 1983, the team is based in Grisignano di Zocco and currently operates out of Ita ...

. In the Italian series, he finished sixteenth, taking six-point-scoring positions in twelve races. In the Eurocup, he failed to score a championship point with a best result of thirteenth at both the

Nürburgring The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...

and

Estoril Estoril () is a town in the civil parish of Cascais e Estoril of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination, with hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numero ...

. The following season, Muñoz competed in both the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 West European Cup championships for

Epsilon Euskadi EPIC Racing (Euskadi Phil Imanol Claudio Racing) was a racing team from Spain. The team's headquarters were located in Vitoria ( Alava). It was the second major motorsport team from the Basque Country, (Euskadi). Epsilon Euskadi was the bigg ...

. He finished eighth in the Eurocup standings, taking ten points-scoring positions in fourteen races, including a podium in the second race at the Nürburgring. In the West European Cup, he took seventh place in the championship, scoring two podium places.

Formula Three

Along with his Formula Renault campaigns, Muñoz competed in three rounds of the

European F3 Open Championship The Euroformula Open Championship (formerly the Spanish Formula Three Championship, European F3 Open Championship) is a junior formula racing series based in Spain. It was one of six national and international Formula Three championships in Europe ...

, driving for Porteiro Motorsport. He finished eleventh in the championship, with a best result of second at

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), informally referred to as Spa, is a motor-racing circuit located in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium, about southeast of Spa. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, ho ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

saw Muñoz move to the

Formula 3 Euro Series The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The ...

, competing for

Mücke Motorsport Mücke Motorsport (also known as ADAC Berlin-Brandenburg) is an auto racing team based in Germany. History Single-seaters Mücke Motorsport was formed by Peter Mücke in 1998 to run his son Stefan Mücke in the German Formula BMW ADAC series, ...

, joining

Roberto Merhi Roberto Merhi Muntan (born 22 March 1991) is a Spanish racing driver, who competes in the GT300 class of Super GT for LeMans. Merhi competed in Formula One at 14 Grands Prix in . Merhi previously competed in Formula E for Mahindra and who ...

at the team. Muñoz finished ninth in the championship with a runner-up finish at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

as his best finish. He also competed in two rounds (six races) of the

British Formula 3 Championship The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level feeder formula that used small single sea ...

as a guest driver in the Invitational Class. In

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Muñoz returned to F3 Euro Series, this time driving for

Signature A signature (; from , "to sign") is a depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. Signatures are often, but not always, Handwriting, handwritt ...

. He finished eighth in the championship with a best finish of third at

Silverstone Circuit Silverstone Circuit is a motor racing circuit in England, near the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. It is the home of the British Grand Prix, which it first hosted as the 1948 British Grand Prix. The 1950 British Grand ...

Indy Lights

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, Muñoz moved to the United States to compete in the

Indy Lights Indy NXT (pronounced "Indy Next"), previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as INDY NXT by Firestone for sponsorship reasons. Indy NXT is the highest step on the Roa ...

series for

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 ...

. He captured two victories, including one on the oval at

Auto Club Speedway Auto Club Speedway (known as California Speedway before and after the 2008–2023 corporate sponsorship by the Automobile Club of Southern California) was a , D-shaped oval superspeedway in unincorporated San Bernardino County, California, ne ...

and a win from the pole in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, in addition to three other podium finishes on his way to fifth in the championship. Muñoz returned to the series for the 2013 season with Andretti Autosport and announced a deal to compete in the

2013 Indianapolis 500 The 97th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday May 26, 2013. It was the premier event of the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season. Tony Kanaan, a native of Brazil, was victorious on a record-set ...

with the team.

IndyCar Series

Muñoz qualified on the front row for the 2013 Indy 500 in second position and ran with the leaders all race long. He led twelve laps and finished in second place, winning Rookie of the Year honors. At the 2013 Honda Indy Toronto, Muñoz replaced Panther Racing's Ryan Briscoe for Race 2 of the doubleheader after Briscoe broke his right wrist in an incident during Saturday's Race 1. After just 12 laps in the morning warmup to get acclimated with the car, Muñoz started 24th in the race and finished 17th. Muñoz got his first IndyCar win in the rain-shortened Race 1 of the Detroit Belle Isle Dual Grand Prix on 30 May 2015. Munoz_at_Portland

After a distant second-place finish to teammate

Alexander Rossi Alexander Michael Rossi (born September 25, 1991) is an American racing driver, who competes in the IndyCar Series for Ed Carpenter Racing, Ed Carpenter. Rossi competed in Formula One at five Formula One Grands Prix, Grands Prix in . In America ...

in the

2016 Indianapolis 500 The 2016 Indianapolis 500 (branded as the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil for sponsorship reasons) took place on Sunday, May 29, 2016, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. It was the pr ...

, Muñoz left Andretti Autosport after the 2016 IndyCar season ended. Muñoz joined

A. J. Foyt Enterprises A. J. Foyt Racing, officially and historically known as A. J. Foyt Enterprises, is an American racing team in the IndyCar Series and formerly NASCAR. It is owned by four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, 1972 Daytona 500 winner, 1967 24 Hours of Le ...

for the 2017 IndyCar season, lasting one season. In 2018, Muñoz made his return to Andretti in a one-race deal at the

2018 Indianapolis 500 The 2018 Indianapolis 500 (branded as the 102nd Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil for sponsorship reasons) was a Verizon IndyCar Series held on Sunday, May 27, 2018, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway ...

, finishing seventh. Later in the season, he filled in for the injured

Robert Wickens Robert Tyler Wickens (born March 13, 1989) is a Canadians, Canadian racing driver from Guelph, Ontario, driving in the Sprint Cup of the IMSA SportsCar Championship for DXDT Racing. In 2009 he finished in second place in the 2009 FIA Formula Two ...

for the final two races of the season at Portland and Sonoma, driving for

. Muñoz started 14th and finished 12th at Portland.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results

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

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

( key)

American open–wheel racing results

( key)

Indy Lights

IndyCar Series

( key) * Season still in progress.

Indianapolis 500

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Munoz, Carlos 1992 births Living people Racing drivers from Bogotá Colombian racing drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Indianapolis 500 Rookies of the Year IndyCar Series drivers Colombian IndyCar Series drivers Indy Lights drivers Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Formula Renault 2.0 WEC drivers Euroformula Open Championship drivers Formula 3 Euro Series drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers Prema Powerteam drivers Andretti Autosport drivers Signature Team drivers Epsilon Euskadi drivers Mücke Motorsport drivers A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers Arrow McLaren SP drivers Panther Racing drivers HVM Racing drivers AFS Racing drivers Jenzer Motorsport drivers Hitech Grand Prix drivers