Giorgio Pantano

Giorgio Pantano
File:Giorgio pantano brandshatch2014.JPG Pantano in 2014 at Brands Hatch
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1979-02-04) 4 February 1979 Padua, Veneto, Italy
Formula One World Championship career Active years 2004 Teams Jordan Entries 15 (14 starts) Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Career points 0 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First entry 2004 Australian Grand Prix Last entry 2004 Italian Grand Prix
Previous series 2009 2008 2005–08 2005 2004 2001–03 2000–02 2000 1999 1999 1999 Superleague Formula International GT Open GP2 Series IndyCar Series Formula One International Formula 3000 Formula One testing German Formula Three Championship Formula Palmer Audi Winter Series Euro Open by Nissan British Formula 3 Championship Championship titles 2008 2000 GP2 Series German Formula Three Championship
IndyCar Series career 6 races run over 3 years Team(s) Chip Ganassi Racing (2005 & 2012), Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (2011) Best finish 26th (2005) First race 2005 Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix Last race 2012 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio

Giorgio Pantano (born 4 February 1979) is an Italian professional racing driver who drove for the Jordan Formula One team for much of the 2004 season before being replaced by Timo Glock. He was also successful in Formula 3000.

He raced in the GP2 Series from its inaugural year in 2005 until his championship campaign in 2008, holding the record for most races competed and most races won in the series. As of 2011, these records have been taken over by Luca Filippi (86 starts) and Pastor Maldonado (10 wins) respectively.

Career

Early years

Born in Padua, Pantano is the holder of one of the best records ever in karting, where he started at age nine. Nico Rosberg grew up with a poster of Pantano on his bedroom wall and later would describe the Italian as being "probably the best of all time in karts." Fernando Alonso once called Pantano "invincible" and that in karting he had looked up to him as being "a really incredible talent."

In his first year in Cadet karting he achieved the Italian and European titles. In 1994 he won the Italian and World titles in Junior karting and in 1995 and 1996 won the European Formula A title. In 1996 he was signed by AMG-Mercedes, from where he went through a difficult patch to enter Formula One racing. He entered the winter series of Palmer Audi in 1999 and tested for the Astromega Formula 3000 team before signing for the KMS team that would take him to race in Formula Three in his first year of single-seater racing. He won his first race and went on to win the title.

File:Pantano Jordan 2004.JPG

Pantano driving for Jordan at the 2004 French Grand Prix.

F3000

His first taste of Formula One came in 2000, when he was tested by Benetton. However, he joined Astromega in Formula 3000 in 2001 and won at Monza. That same year he tested for McLaren. In 2002 he tested for Williams and Minardi, but was unable to break into Formula One, so he signed for the Durango team and won two races in the International Formula 3000 series in 2003, which earned him third place in the championship. He nearly spent 2003 in Champ Car, but the BC Motorsports team with whom he believed he had a contract proved to be fake.

Formula One

Pantano had been all set to make his Formula One debut for Jaguar, however two days before he was due to sign with the squad they concluded a deal with Christian Klien, who was able to bring $10million of funding from Red Bull. The Italian instead signed for the Jordan Formula One team in early 2004, and after minimal testing his season proved troublesome. He finished last in his first race in Melbourne, while his more experienced team-mate Nick Heidfeld, retired with a transmission problem. He continued racing, never managing to qualify or finish any higher than around the back of the field, and retiring on several occasions, failing to grab much attention. He was replaced for a one-off by German debutant Timo Glock (due to financial reasons) at the Canadian Grand Prix, who scored two points finishing seventh, ahead of team-mate Nick Heidfeld who was eighth. Pantano returned to his seat in the team for the next race in Indianapolis, but went out at the first corner after colliding with other drivers. He continued with more disappointing results until the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, after which he was replaced by Timo Glock for the remaining three races of the season. Pantano later divulged that it had been his own choice to stop racing with Jordan due to the financial burden placed on his family and his own feelings that the team was favouring his team-mate Heidfeld over him. Pantano was linked to returning to Formula One in 2010 with Campos Meta but the team confirmed that Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok would be joining the team.

GP2 and IndyCar

After his unsuccessful season in Formula One, he left the series. In 2005 he raced in the inaugural GP2 Series season for the SuperNova team, alongside Adam Carroll of Northern Ireland, who defied expectations by outpacing Pantano. He also drove in the Indy Racing League for Chip Ganassi Racing in the two road-course races in the 2005 season. The team scaled back to two cars for 2006, signing champion Dan Wheldon alongside Scott Dixon. Pantano had several off-season Champ Car tests for PKV Racing and Mi-Jack Conquest Racing but they failed to result in a ride for the season and Pantano sat out most of the early part of the new season before finding a new lease of life in Giancarlo Fisichella's GP2 team FMS. After a crash on his first time back, Pantano impressed in the car, his experience gaining him solid points-scoring finishes in the second half of the season, including three wins. He raced for ex-Formula One driver Adrián Campos's team in 2007. On 30 June he claimed the team's maiden victory in the series, winning a chaotic feature race in France.

For the 2008 season he signed to partner Spaniard Javier Villa at the Racing Engineering team. Pantano started the season well, taking fourth and third positions in the Spanish feature and sprint races respectively. Things were even better in the Turkish feature race, for which he took pole and won the race. After a measured drive to fourth in the sprint race Pantano led the championship, but lost the lead to Bruno Senna following two retirements in Monaco. However he retook the lead following a win at the French feature race, in which Senna retired. Despite retirement in the sprint race Pantano left France with the championship lead. Following further feature race wins in both Britain and Germany Pantano increased his championship lead over Senna.

A bad weekend in Hungary dented his advantage but he bounced back with pole for the feature race at the new Valencia street circuit. Having led the whole race in dominant style Pantano faced the heartbreak of running out of fuel on the last lap, handing victory to Vitaly Petrov. However, Senna also ran out of fuel, and thus Pantano's lead was undamaged. With Senna retiring again in the sprint race, where Pantano finished third, the Italian held a 13-point lead in the series with two rounds remaining. At Spa-Francorchamps he qualified fourth, before a mechanical problem under the safety car dropped him down the order. Attempting to fight back, he spun at La Source with two laps to go, before running into Lucas di Grassi at the same corner on the final lap, causing him to be disqualified. At Monza, he took the GP2 crown, in spite of finishing 10th. His nearest rival Bruno Senna only finished fifth, thus handing Pantano the crown.

At the Silverstone race, Pantano became the most successful driver of all time in the F1 feeder championships (F2 / F3000 / GP2). His win in the Saturday race gave him a cumulative F3000/GP2 win tally of 14, taking him above the 13 F2/F3000 championship wins of Mike Thackwell and 12 European championship Formula Two wins of Jochen Rindt. (If non-championship wins are included, Rindt and other drivers exceed this total). Pantano's Silverstone win was his eighth in the GP2 Series, making him also the most successful driver in GP2 history.

Superleague Formula

Unable to find a drive in Formula One and unable to return to GP2 as former champions are not permitted, Pantano joined up with Superleague Formula to drive the A.C. Milan entry. Pantano won one race for A.C. Milan at the Magny-Cours round.

After 2010

File:Blancpain McLaren Onidi Pantano.JPG

Pantano's McLaren MP4-12C from the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series

Pantano was linked to a return to the IndyCar Series in 2010, driving a Panther Racing entry. He instead signed on to drive in Auto GP for Super Nova Racing, finishing 13th in the championship.

Pantano is scheduled to return to the IndyCar Series in 2011 as an injury replacement for Justin Wilson in races at Sonoma and Baltimore. He does not seem to consider to racing again in Europe in the near future.

Pantano made a brief return to IndyCars in 2012, racing at the 2012 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio for Chip Ganassi Racing. He finished 14th after qualifying in 24th place. In 2013 Pantano competed in the International GT Open GTS class and won the championship with three wins and five podium finishes in 13 races. He subsequently switched to the Blancpain Sprint Series for 2014, sharing a Bhaitech-run McLaren MP4-12C with Fabio Onidi, with a view to pursuing a career as a sportscar racer. He also secured a drive at the 2014 Spa 24 Hours for Thierry Boutsen's Boutsen Ginion team, sharing a McLaren with Frédéric Vervisch, Olivier Grotz and Karim Ojjeh.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	DC	Points
2001	Team Astromega	INT Ret	IMO 11	CAT 9	A1R 15	MON Ret	NÜR 21	MAG 8	SIL Ret	HOC 7	HUN 5	SPA 11	MNZ 1	9th	12
2002	Coloni F3000	INT 8	IMO 3	CAT 1	A1R 4	MON Ret	NÜR Ret	SIL 4	MAG 3	HOC 1	HUN 2	SPA 1	MNZ 3	2nd	54
2003	Durango	IMO Ret	CAT 1	A1R 3	MON Ret	NÜR 16	MAG 1	SIL 2	HOC 7	HUN 4	MNZ Ret			3rd	41

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	WDC	Points
2004	Jordan Ford	Jordan EJ14	Ford V10	AUS 14	MAL 13	BHR 16	SMR Ret	ESP Ret	MON Ret	EUR 13	CAN DNP	USA Ret	FRA 17	GBR Ret	GER 15	HUN Ret	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	CHN	JPN	BRA	24th	0

American open–wheel racing results

(key)

IndyCar Series

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Rank	Points
2005	Chip Ganassi Racing	Panoz	Toyota	HMS	PHX	STP	MOT	INDY	TXS	RIR	KAN	NSH	MIL	MCH	KTY	PPIR	SNM 14	CHI	WGL 4	FON		26th	48
2011	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dallara	Honda	STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY	TXS	TXS	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	MDO	NHM	SNM 17	BAL 26	MOT 16	KTY	LVS	34th	37
2012	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara DW12	Honda	STP	ALA	LBH	SAO	INDY	DET	TXS	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	MDO 14	SNM	BAL	FON				31st	16

Complete GP2 Series results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	DC	Points
2005	Super Nova Racing	SMR FEA 13	SMR SPR Ret	ESP FEA 13	ESP SPR 14	MON FEA Ret	EUR FEA 2	EUR SPR 7	FRA FEA 10	FRA SPR 7	GBR FEA 12	GBR SPR 7	GER FEA 6	GER SPR 2	HUN FEA 3	HUN SPR 3	TUR FEA 2	TUR SPR 8	ITA FEA 6	ITA SPR 3	BEL FEA NC	BEL SPR 11	BHR FEA 5	BHR SPR 5	6th	49
2006	Petrol Ofisi FMS International	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	SMR FEA	SMR SPR	EUR FEA	EUR SPR	ESP FEA 9	ESP SPR 7	MON FEA Ret	GBR FEA 5	GBR SPR 4	FRA FEA 6	FRA SPR 1	GER FEA 4	GER SPR 5	HUN FEA 3	HUN SPR 13	TUR FEA Ret	TUR SPR Ret	ITA FEA 1	ITA SPR 1			5th	44
2007	Campos Grand Prix	BHR FEA DNS	BHR SPR Ret	ESP FEA Ret	ESP SPR 6	MON FEA 2	FRA FEA 1	FRA SPR 3	GBR FEA Ret	GBR SPR 8	EUR FEA 4	EUR SPR 7	HUN FEA Ret	HUN SPR 7	TUR FEA 2	TUR SPR 12	ITA FEA 1	ITA SPR DSQ	BEL FEA Ret	BEL SPR 14	VAL FEA 2	VAL SPR 5			3rd	59
2008	Racing Engineering	ESP FEA 4	ESP SPR 3	TUR FEA 1	TUR SPR 4	MON FEA Ret	MON SPR Ret	FRA FEA 1	FRA SPR Ret	GBR FEA 1	GBR SPR 3	GER FEA 1	GER SPR Ret	HUN FEA 14	HUN SPR 5	EUR FEA 14	EUR SPR 3	BEL FEA DSQ	BEL SPR EX	ITA FEA 10	ITA SPR 5				1st	76

Superleague Formula

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Pts
2009	A.C. Milan Azerti Motorsport	MAG 12	MAG 1	ZOL 5	ZOL 11	DON 4	DON 17	EST 6	EST 6	MOZ 15	MOZ 11	JAR 3	JAR 14	7th	286

Super Final Results

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6
2009	A.C. Milan Azerti Motorsport	MAG 2	ZOL N/A	DON DNQ	EST 6	MOZ N/A	JAR DNQ

Complete Auto GP Results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos	Points
2010	Super Nova Racing	BRN 1 Ret	BRN 2 9	IMO 1 11	IMO 2 9	SPA 1 3	SPA 2 6							13th	8
	Euronova Racing							MAG 1 13	MAG 2 11	NAV 1	NAV 2
	Ombra Racing											MNZ 1 12	MNZ 2 Ret

Complete Blancpain Sprint Series results

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos.	Points
2014	Bhaitech	McLaren MP4-12C GT3	Pro	NOG QR 11	NOG CR 8	BRH QR 8	BRH CR 16	ZAN QR 13	ZAN CR Ret	SVK QR Ret	SVK CR Ret	ALG QR Ret	ALG CR 10	ZOL QR 7	ZOL CR 6	BAK QR 12	BAK CR 7	14th	19

* Season still in progress.

External links

• Official website
• Giorgio Pantano driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Giorgio Pantano at Driver Database

Sporting positions
Preceded by Christijan Albers	German Formula Three champion 2000	Succeeded by Toshihiro Kaneishi
Preceded by Timo Glock	GP2 Series Drivers' Champion 2008	Succeeded by Nico Hülkenberg