Ricardo Teixeira (born 2 August 1984 in Lisbon,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

) is an

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

n- Portuguese

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

. He holds dual nationality and has raced under both nationalities at various points in his career. He was the first Angolan driver to drive a Formula 1 car when he was announced as a test driver for

Team Lotus Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport categories including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar, and sports car racing. Mo ...

for 2011. He has been sponsored throughout his career by the Angolan oil company

Sonangol Group Sonangol ( pt, Grupo Sonangol) is a parastatal that formerly oversaw petroleum and natural gas production in Angola. The group consisted of Sonangol E.P. ( pt, Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola, E.P.) and its many subsidiaries. ...

Career

Formula BMW

Teixeira began his

formula racing Formula racing (known as open-wheel racing in North America) is any of several forms of open-wheeled single-seater motorsport. The origin of the term lies in the nomenclature that was adopted by the FIA for all of its post-World War II single ...

career in 2001 by driving in the Formula BMW Junior Cup in Portugal. He finished in 20th position in the drivers' championship.

Formula Three

Teixeira moved to the National Class 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 ...

in 2002, but did not start a race that year. In 2003 he raced occasionally in the BRSCC's ARP Formula Three Championship, taking one win and three podiums finish at club racing level. He returned to the British Championship in 2005 after taking a couple of years out for study with the Carlin Motorsport team, finishing ninth in the National Class. The following season, he improved to seventh, despite switching teams to Performance Racing Europe part-way through the year finishing twice in the podium. In 2007, he moved up to the Championship Class of the series with Performance Racing, scoring no points. For 2008, he moved to the Ultimate Motorsport team's Mygale chassis. Teixeira also competed in two races of the German

ATS Formel 3 Cup The German Formula Three Championship was the national Formula Three championship of Germany, and the former West Germany, from 1950 to 2002, then as Formel 3 until 2014. In 2003, the series had merged with the French Formula Three Championship to ...

in 2007, and has driven in two Masters of Formula Three races, with a best finish of 24th.

GP2 Series

Teixeira was signed by the Trident Racing team to drive in the fifth and sixth rounds of the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season. He replaced Frankie Provenzano, and was the seventh competitor to drive one of the team's two entries. He was the first Angolan driver to compete at this level of motorsport. Trident kept a hold of Teixeira for the

2009 GP2 Series 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

. After two years away from the series, one in FIA Formula Two Championship and then as a test driver for the

Lotus Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...

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, Teixeira returned to GP2 by signing with the Rapax team for the 2012 season, in which he partnered Tom Dillmann. After ten races, and with a best finish of 13th, he was replaced by Daniël de Jong after suffering from illness. He returned to action for the next round at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

, with De Jong taking Dillmann's seat instead. Teixeira eventually finished 29th in the championship.

FIA Formula Two Championship

Teixeira moved to the FIA Formula Two Championship for

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. He finished fifth in his third race in the series, at

Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrak ...

, but suffered a spectacular aerial accident in the following race when he collided with Ivan Samarin under braking for a chicane. Teixeira was uninjured in the accident. Over the course of the season he amassed 23 points to finish 16th in the drivers' championship: his best showing in any series since 2006.

Formula One

After driving for

in pre-season testing for the 2011 season, Teixeira was confirmed as a test driver for the team in March 2011.

GP2 again

In July 2013, Ricardo Teixeira returned to the GP2 series in Hungary with the Trident team.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete GP2 Series results

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

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

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

Complete FIA Formula Two Championship results

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

Complete Auto GP results

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

References

External links

Ricardo Teixeira career details at driverdb.comBritish F3 driver profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Teixeira, Ricardo 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Lisbon Angolan racing drivers Portuguese racing drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers German Formula Three Championship drivers GP2 Series drivers GP2 Asia Series drivers FIA Formula Two Championship drivers Auto GP drivers Carlin racing drivers Performance Racing drivers Trident Racing drivers Rapax Team drivers Super Nova Racing drivers Portuguese people of Angolan descent