Manuel Maldonado Vargas (born 5 October 1999) is a

Venezuelan Venezuelans (Spanish language, Spanish: ''venezolanos'') are the Citizenship, citizens identified with the country of Venezuela. This connection may be through citizenship, descent or cultural. For most Venezuelans, many or all of these connect ...

racing driver currently racing in the

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

for

United Autosports United Autosports is a sports car racing team based in Wakefield, England, United Kingdom, founded by businessman Zak Brown and former driver Richard Dean (racing driver), Richard Dean. United Autosports has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans (LMP2 Cl ...

. He is the cousin of former

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 ...

driver

Pastor Maldonado Pastor Rafael Maldonado Motta (; born 9 March 1985) is a Venezuelan former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Maldonado won the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix with Williams. After winning the GP2 Series in 2010 with Rapax, Maldona ...

Career

Italian F4

Maldonado's first experience in single seaters was in

Italian F4 Italian Formula 4 Championship is the first formula racing series regulated according to FIA Formula 4 regulations. The inaugural season was the 2014 Italian F4 Championship, effectively replacing the Formula Abarth. The Italian F4 championship ...

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 ...

. He drove alongside Leonard Hoogenboom for the

Cram Motorsport Cram Motorsport (formerly known as Cram Competition) is an auto racing team based in Italy. Cram started in 1994 out of the Tatuus racing department. It has participated in Formula Alfa Boxer, Formula Renault 2000, Formula 3 Germany, Formula Maste ...

team, a lackluster first year in

saw Maldonado fail to score any points and record his best result of 12th only 7 races into a 23 race season. Maldonado_in_Barcelona_2020

Maldonado_front_row_start_in_Circuit_de_Barcelona-Catalunya_2020_with_Team_Motopark

Maldonado_in_Red_Bull_Ring_during_the_2020_Euroformula_Season

MRF Challenge

Maldonado's first points of his career came at the 1st round of the

2016–17 MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship The 2016–17 MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship was the fifth running of the MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship. It began on 18 November 2016 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain and ended on 19 February 2017 at the ...

where he finished 9th. Another poor season took Maldonado to 14th in the table with his best 2 finishes of 8th coming at the

Buddh International Circuit The Buddh International Circuit is an Indian motor racing circuit situated in Jaypee Sports City, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The track shares its name with Gautama Buddha, as does the Gautam Buddha Nagar district, district of its location. ...

. Maldonado returned for the following campaign finishing in the points 7 times with his best finish of 5th coming on two occasions. Maldonado originally finished 3rd at the second race after a poor start from pole-sitter

Julien Falchero Julien Falchero (born 2 March 1997) is a former French racing driver. Career GP3 Series In December 2016, Falchero partook in post-season testing with Campos Racing Campos Racing (formerly Adrián Campos Motorsport and Campos Grand Prix) i ...

allowed Maldonado to jump into 2nd place, Indonesian driver Presley Martono kept the pressure on Maldonado all race before pipping him to the line after a photo finish. Maldonado was later disqualified. The next race another penalty forced Maldonado out of the points after a drive-through penalty for jumping the start, dropped him to 15th.

British F3

Maldonado joined the

Fortec Motorsport Fortec Motorsport Ltd. is a motor-racing team that races in the GB3 Championship, GB4 Championship, and F4 British Championship. The team was bought in 1995 by current owner Richard Dutton. Past drivers for the team include Juan Pablo Montoya, ...

team for the

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

BRDC British F3 Championship, he enjoyed an uneventful season with his best result coming 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 ...

where he finished 6th. He ended up 20 points ahead of closest rival

Guilherme Samaia Guilherme de Abreu Sampaio Samaia (born 2 October 1996 in São Paulo) is a Brazilian former racing driver. He has competed in the 2021 Formula 2 Championship with Charouz, and in 2020 racing for Campos. In 2017 he won the Brazilian Formula 3 s ...

and 11 points behind Omar Ismail. The

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

season was where Maldonado took his first career victory at a wet

Oulton Park Oulton Park is a hard surfaced Race track, track used for motor racing, close to the village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England, from Winsford, from Chester city centre, from Northwich and from Warrington, with a nearby rail connection a ...

, still with Fortec, Maldonado started in 5th place however after the first corner he was leading the race. Despite a safety car and a red flag due to incidents behind them, the top 3 drove a close yet uneventful race which Maldonado came out on top. Maldonado shared the podium with teammate

Tristan Charpentier Tristan Charpentier (born 12 August 2000) is a French race car driver from Béthune Béthune ( ; archaic and ''Bethwyn'' historically in English) is a town in northern France, Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais De ...

and Douglas Motorsport driver

Jamie Chadwick Jamie Laura Chadwick (born 20 May 1998) is a British racing driver who competes for IDEC Sport Racing, IDEC Sport in the 2025 European Le Mans Series, and previously raced for Andretti Global in 2024 Indy NXT, Indy NXT. She won the inaugural 20 ...

. Maldonado won one more race that season taking him to 7th in the standings, behind

Billy Monger Billy Edmund Albert Monger (born 5 May 1999) is a British people, British former racing driver who raced in F4 British Championship, British F4 in 2016 and 2017. He now works as a commentator and pundit. He has been referred to by the nickname ' ...

. A third season in the series with Fortec saw him partner American Kris Wright and Brit Johnathan Hoggard. Maldonado took 5 podiums that year as well as a singular win at Silverstone, a dominating race which saw him finish 4 seconds ahead of 2nd place

Nicolás Varrone Nicolás Martín "Nico" Varrone (born 6 November 2000) is an Argentine Auto racing, racing driver currently competing for Proton Competition in the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship. He is the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship, 2023 WEC c ...

Euroformula Open

Maldonado joined the German based team Motopark for the

2020 Euroformula open championship The 2020 Euroformula Open Championship was a multi-event motor racing championship for single-seater open wheel formula racing cars that was held across Europe. The championship featured drivers competing in the new Dallara 320 car, which featur ...

, this has been up to date Manuel's best season in single seaters, having had 4 podiums and finishing the season in 4th place overall in the driver's standings. Manuel showed strong pace throughout the year having 2 front row starts, one coming in at

Red Bull Ring The Red Bull Ring is a motorsport race track in Spielberg, Austria, Spielberg, Styria, Austria. The race circuit was founded as Österreichring (translation: Austrian Circuit) and hosted the Austrian Grand Prix for 18 consecutive years, from t ...

, Austria and the second one at the season finale in Barcelona at the

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya () is a motorsport race track in Montmeló, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. With long straights and a variety of corners, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is seen as an all-rounder circuit. The track has stands ...

Asian Le Mans Series

Maldonado Joined the UK based team

for the 2021

Asian Le Mans Series The Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS) is an Asian sports car racing endurance series created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and based in Asia. It is the successor to the defunct Japan Le Mans Challenge which folded in 2007 after its second s ...

, to make his endurance racing debut in car 23 an LMP3 Ligier with teammates Wayne Boy and Rory Penttinen, to make an extremely successful campaign by taking the championship. winning both races in Dubai and the last race in Abu Dhabi, the only race the squad didn't win was when they DNF from an alternator failure in race 1 in Abu Dhabi. Manuel_Maldonado_and_Teammates_with_Garage_59

Manuel_Maldonado_and_Teammates_with_Garage_59

GT World Challenge

Manuel made his GT debut in 2022 with team Garage 59, in the McLaren 720s GT3 machinery, he competed in the Silver class with teammates Nicolai Kjærgaard and Dean MacDonald, they scored 3 podiums that season with best result of 2nd in their class during the 3 hours of Barcelona.

European Le Mans Series

Manuel made his European Le Mans Series debut in 2021 with the

team, he paired with

Nico Jamin Nicolas Jamin (born December 5, 1995) is a French racing driver who currently competes in the European Le Mans Series with United Autosports. Open Wheel Racing F2000 Jamin made his professional debut in the 2014 U.S. F2000 National Championsh ...

and

Job van Uitert Jacobus "Job" van Uitert (born 10 October 1998 in Dongen) is a racing driver from the Netherlands. He is currently racing in the LMP2 class of the 2024 European Le Mans Series, European Le Mans Series with IDEC Sport Racing, IDEC Sport. Early ca ...

, they had a best result of 3rd place in the 4 Hours of Le Castellet and concluded the year in 12th place overall. Manuel later went on to race in the GT world championship for a year before making a return to the series, this time around with the well known

Panis Racing Olivier Jean Denis Marie Panis (; born 2 September 1966) is a French former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Panis won the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix with Ligier. Panis competed in Formula One for Ligier, Prost, BAR and Toyota, ...

, which turned to be a successful campaign, alongside

and

Tijmen van der Helm Tijmen van der Helm (born 26 January 2004) is a Dutch people, Dutch racing driver currently competing in the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship with JDC-Miller MotorSports in a Porsche 963. Personal life Van Der Hel ...

as teammates, they went on to score 4 podiums across the season and finished 3rd overall in the final standings.

Racing record

Career summary

^† As Maldonado was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points. ^* Season still in progress.

Complete Italian F4 Championship results

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

Complete MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship results

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

Complete BRDC British Formula 3 Championship results

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

Complete Euroformula Open Championship results

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

Complete European Le Mans Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^* Season still in progress.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup results

(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^*Season still in progress.

Complete GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup results

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maldonado, Manuel 1999 births Living people Venezuelan racing drivers Italian F4 Championship drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers BRDC British Formula 3 Championship drivers MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship drivers Euroformula Open Championship drivers FIA World Endurance Championship drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers Sportspeople from Maracay Cram Competition drivers Fortec Motorsport drivers Motopark Academy drivers United Autosports drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers TDS Racing drivers GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers