E. J. Viso

Infobox racing driver
name = E. J. Viso


pixels =
caption =
nationality = flagicon|Venezuela Venezuelan
date of birth = Birth date and age|1985|03|19
place of birth =
current series = IndyCar Series
first year = 2008
current team = HVM Racing
car number = 33
former teams =
starts = 16
wins = 0
poles = 0
fastest laps =
best finish = 18th
year = 2008
prev series = Skip Barber Formula Dodge
British Formula Renault
Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup
British F3 Championship
GP2 Series
prev series years = 2001
2002
2002
2003-2004
2005-2007
titles = National Class British F3 Champion
title years = 2003
awards =
award years =

Ernesto José Viso Lossada (born March 19, 1985) is a Venezuelan race car driver. He is commonly referred to as Ernesto Viso or, since his move to American racing, E. J. Viso.

Viso was born in Caracas, Venezuela. He has raced in the 2005 and 2006 GP2 Series seasons, and has also driven the third car for Spyker MF1 Racing. In 2007 he competed in the GP2 Series for Racing Engineering. For 2008, he races for HVM Racing in the IndyCar Series

Career

Early racing

Viso's career started in karting back in 1993, where he stayed until 2001 when he moved to US Barber Formula Dodge East, becoming champion with confidence. He also raced in the Italian Formula Renault Winter Series at the end of that year, moving to British Formula Renault for 2002. In 2002 he also drove in one race of Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup, and at the end of the year in the British Formula Three Winter Series.

2003 saw a move to British Formula Three, where he raced in the B-Class and became champion after a controversial collision with his main rival during the final race of the season. He then moved to the main class in 2004, racing part of the season for the P1 team, his performances attracting the attention of F3000 team Durango who lured him to the series for the remainder of the season.

GP2

In 2005, he raced in the inaugural season of the GP2 Series for the BCN Competicion team, alongside Hiroki Yoshimoto. In 2006, he again raced in the GP2 Series for the iSport team. He won the San Marino Sunday race and the Spain Sunday race. He also drove the third Spyker MF1 Team car in the Friday practice sessions of the Brazilian Grand Prix. [cite news| title =Viso and Spyker MF1| publisher =Grandprix.com| url =http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns17466.html| date =2006-09-18| accessdate =2007-01-15]

Before the 2007 French Grand Prix, it was confirmed that Ernesto Viso would replace the underperforming Sérgio Jimenez at Racing Engineering. [cite news| title =Viso stapt in bij Racing Engineering| publisher =GPUpdate.net| url =http://gp2.gpupdate.net/nl/nieuws/2007/06/28/viso_stapt_in_bij_racing_engineering/| date =2007-06-28| accessdate =2007-06-28] His race ended on the first lap in a spectacular collision with Michael Ammermüller and Kazuki Nakajima in which his car somersaulted over the barriers at tremendous speed, smashing through an advertising hoarding and narrowly missing a bridge (as luck would have it, hitting the board saved him from clouting the bridge and probably more severe injuries.), leaving the Venezuelan only a severe concussion and painful arm. This crash was very similar to the one of Marco Campos that happened on the same track in 1995, leading to Campos's death. Campos died of severe head trauma after hitting his head on the concrete barrier. Viso was only inches away from the same fate. For the British round, he was replaced by Filipe Albuquerque. [cite news| title =Silverstone: Racing Engineering preview| publisher =flagworld.auto123.com| url =http://flagworld.auto123.com/en/racing/news/index,view.spy?artid=85595| date =2007-07-04| accessdate =2007-07-04] Viso took part in the following race meeting, but was then replaced by Marcos Martinez.

IndyCar Series

Viso is competing in the newly united IndyCar Series in 2008 for HVM Racing. He made his first series start in the first oval race of his career on March 29. His next start, at St. Petersburg, was a superb preformace ending with a 4th place finish. At Milwaukee he ended with an 8th place. Shortly after the Watkins Glen race (in which he finished 10th but forced Vitor Meira off the track, causing Meira to run back onto the track to confront Viso on the next lap) he was diagnosed with the Mumps and was forced to withdraw from the next race. [ [http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/irl/2008-07-09-viso-mumps_N.htm IndyCar rookie Viso sidelined by case of mumps] , Associated Press via "USA Today", July 9, 2008]

Racing record

Complete Formula 3000 results

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

American Open-Wheel

() (Races in bold indicate pole position)

IndyCar

: "* 2008 season in progress": "¹ Run on same day.": "² Non-points-paying, exhibition race.": "³ Pulled out of race after contracting mumps"

References

External links

* [http://www.ernestoviso.com/ Official website]