Bruno Junqueira

Infobox racing driver
name = Bruno Junqueira


caption =
nationality = flagicon|Brazil Brazilian
related to =
date of birth = Birth date and age|1976|11|4
place of birth = Belo Horizonte
current series = IRL IndyCar Series
first year = 2001
current team = Dale Coyne Racing
car number = 18
former teams = Chip Ganassi Racing
Newman/Haas Racing
starts = 20
wins = 0
poles = 1
fastest laps =
best finish = 20th
year = 2008Infobox racing driver
last series = CART/Champ Car World Series
years active = 2001-2007
teams = Chip Ganassi Racing
Newman/Haas Racing
Dale Coyne Racing
starts = 101
wins = 8
poles = 9
fastest laps =
best finish = 2nd
year = 2002, 2003, 2004
prev series = International Formula 3000
Formula Three Sudamericana
prev series years = 1998-2000
1995-1997
titles = International Formula 3000
Formula Three Sudamericana
title years = 2000
1997
awards =
award years =

Bruno Junqueira (born November 4, 1976 in Belo Horizonte) is a Brazilian racecar driver, currently competing in the IRL IndyCar Series. He is a former Formula 3000 champion and three-time runner-up in the Champ Car World Series.

Racing career

Early career

Junqueira started racing go-karts in Brazil and dominated Formula Three Sudamericana before moving to Formula 3000. He tested for the Williams Formula 1 team for many years, and came close to landing a race drive in 2000, losing out to Jenson Button. He rebounded from this setback, winning that year's International Formula 3000 Championship.

Champ Car

In 2001 Junqueira joined the CART Championship Car series driving for Chip Ganassi Racing 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 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 four times for both Ganassi and Newman/Haas in one-off appearances. In 2002, he qualified for the pole position, and he twice finished 5th in the race.

In 2005, Junqueira was injured in an accident in the Indianapolis 500, while lapping A.J. Foyt IV. Due to his injuries, he 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, 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 Sebastien Bourdais won his third straight title. He was replaced in the second Newman/Haas car in 2007 by rookie Graham Rahal and Junqueira signed to drive for perennial backmarker team Dale Coyne Racing as teammate to the inexperienced Katherine Legge. However, Junquiera delivered results like that team had never seen before, finishing seventh in the championship and three consecutive podium finishes late in the season, nearly capturing the team's first win at Circuit Zolder.

IndyCar Series

Prior to the 2008, Champ Car unified with the rival Indy Racing League. Junqueira drove the #18 car for the team's first season in the new series, alongside rookie Brazilian countryman Mario Moraes. His Indianapolis 500 was ruined by a mirror falling off, causing him to lose three laps during repairs.

Motorsports Career Results

Racing Record

: "* 2008 season in progress": "¹ Run on same day.": "² Non-points-paying, exhibition race."

Indy 500 results

External links

* [http://www.brunojunqueira.com Official Website]