Miguel Ramos

Miguel Ramos
Nationality	Portuguese
Born	September 26, 1971 (1971-09-26) (age 40) Porto (Portugal)
2011 FIA GT1 World Championship
Debut season	2010
Current team	Vitaphone Racing
Car no.	2
Starts	18
Wins	0
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	21st in 2010
Previous series
1994-1996 1995 1997 1998 1999-2000 2001-2002 2002 2003-04, 06-09 2004-2005 2005-2006	BMW Trophy Portugal Portuguese Touring Car Portuguese Racing Italian Superturismo Toyota Super Formula Spanish Formula Three Spanish GT FIA GT Le Mans Endurance Series Italian GT
Championship titles
1996 2002 2005	BMW Trophy Portugal Spanish GT w/(Chaves) Italian GT w/(Malucelli)

Miguel Pedro Caetano Ramos (September 26, 1971 in Porto) is a Portuguese racing driver. He currently races for Vitaphone Racing, driving a Maserati MC12 in the FIA GT1 World Championship.

Early career

Ramos began his career in 1991, when he was only 18 years old, racing in the Autocross National Championship. During three years, he collected an enviable number of victories and two national titles, in 1992 and in 1993, respectively.

Notwithstanding this, Miguel Ramos did not resist to the fascination of speed and to the possibility of competing with some of the best national automobile drivers, participating in the BMW/M3 Trophy, in 1994, the most competitive and spectacular monomake initiative that was ever disputed in Portugal. During three seasons, he drove the powerful BMW M3, of the Trophy promoted by Baviera, being his undeniable talent confirmed in 1996, when he imposed an overwhelming dominion in nine of the races that constituted the calendar, having as adversaries the most renown drivers of Portugal.

The success obtained in the BMW/M3 Trophy motivated him to participate in the 1997 National Speed Championship, with a BMW 320is, supported by the importer of the German make. Following the sequence of three excellent victories, he ended the championship in third position, having been the best Portuguese in the Guia race of the Macau Grand Prix.

Italian Superturismo

In 1998, Ramos became the first Portuguese driver to participate in the Italian Superturismo Championship. Despite the conditions inherent to the debut and some misfortune, he ended the championship reserved for private drivers in a brilliant sixth position, with five ascensions to the podium.

Toyota Super Formula

In 1999 Miguel Ramos participated in the Toyota Super Formula and in spite of the inexperience in Formula cars and of integrating one of the most modest teams, he was systematically one of the 10 fastest drivers, having even conquered a podium, in 2000.

2001 to today

In 2001, Ramos participated in the Spanish Formula Three Championship, ending the season in 10th position – a positive result, taking into consideration the various problems faced by his team and the fact of having more experienced drivers as adversaries.

The year of 2002 was of consecration! In the difficult but spectacular and competitive world of Grand Tourism cars, Miguel Ramos won the Spanish GT Championship with a Saleen, having as team colleague Pedro Chaves. Also in the year 2002 made is first participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. With the team Ray Mallock Ltd. team he achieved the 5th position on the GTS class.

The following seasons, in the years 2003 and 2004, was full of challenges. Having as adversaries some of the World’s best drivers – some of them ex-Formula 1 drivers - Miguel Ramos participated in the prestigious and media-covered FIA GT Championship. Various impediments prevented well-deserved ascensions to the podium, but seven classifications in the first best ten positions, prove his unequivocal value.

Also in 2004 he participated on the Le Mans Endurance Series in a prototype with RML team driving a MG Lola prototype, getting for is team the 5th position on the championship.

2005 was and extremely competitive year for Miguel Ramos. The Italian GT Championship conflates the best of the Italian manufactures of GT, demonstrating a high level of the competitive pace. To traduce these, Miguel Ramos dispute until the last race the first position on the championship. With the same Ferrari 550 Maranello, the Portuguese driver defended the National Flag on the Le Mans Series in the category of GT1, he participated at 4 of the 5 races achieving one first place in 1000km of Spa and two second places at Nürburgring and Istanbul.

In the 2006 season Miguel Ramos returned to the most competitive GT world championship, the FIA GT Championship, with the Aston Martin DBR9 in the GT1 class. The Portuguese driver achieved the 12th classification helping the team BMS Scuderia Italia to achieve the 2nd position in the GT1 Championship Teams. Also compete in a few races of the Italian GT Championship with the Maserati MC12 achieving two victories and one second place accumulating 38 points.

Racing record

Complete GT1 World Championship results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos	Points
2010	Vitaphone Racing Team	Maserati	ABU QR Ret	ABU CR 6	SIL QR 9	SIL CR 15	BRN QR 7	BRN CR 6	PRI QR 5	PRI CR Ret	SPA QR 11	SPA CR 4	NÜR QR 7	NÜR CR 12	ALG QR 13	ALG CR Ret	NAV QR Ret	NAV CR 12	INT QR	INT CR	SAN QR 16	SAN CR 4	21st	28

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2002	GTS	68	D	Saleen S7-R Ford 7.0L V8	Ray Mallock Ltd. (RML)	Pedro Chaves Gavin Pickering	312	23rd	5th
2005	GT1	51	P	Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello Ferrari F133 5.9L V12	BMS Scuderia Italia	Fabrizio Gollin Christian Pescatori	67	DNF	DNF

External links

• Official website
• Ramos career statistics at Driver Database

Sporting positions
Preceded by Alberto Castello Carlos Palau	Spanish GT Champion 2002 with: (Pedro Chaves)	Succeeded by Gines Vivancos
Preceded by Gabriele Matteuzzi Piergiuseppe Perazzini	Italian GT Champion 2005 with: (Matteo Malucelli)	Succeeded by Toni Vilander

Persondata
Name	Ramos, Miguel
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 26, 1971
Place of birth	Porto (Portugal)
Date of death
Place of death