Raphael Matos

Infobox racing driver
name = Raphael Matos


pixels =
caption = Raphael Matos during a press conference for the 2008 SpeedJam at the Homestead-Miami Speedway
nationality = BRA
date of birth = Birth date and age|1981|8|28
place of birth = Belo Horizonte
date of death =
retired =
related to =
current series = IndyCar Series
first year = 2009
current team = Luczo-Dragon Racing
car number = 12
starts = 0
wins = 0
poles = 0
fastest laps =
former teams =
best finish =
year = 2009
prev series = Firestone Indy Lights
Champ Car Atlantic Series
A1 Grand Prix
Star Mazda Series
Skip Barber Formula Dodge Series
prev series years = 2008
2006-2007
2006-2007
2004-2005
2002-2003
titles = Firestone Indy Lights Series
Champ Car Atlantic Series
Star Mazda Series
Skip Barber Formula Dodge
title years = 2008
2007
2005
2003
awards =
award years =

Raphael Matos (born August 28, 1981) is a Brazilian race car driver from Belo Horizonte who currently resides in Miami. He will drive in the 2009 IndyCar Series for Luczo-Dragon Racing. He was the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights Series champion and the 2007 Champ Car Atlantic Series champion.

Career highlights

Early career

He came to the United States in 2002 after Karting in Brazil and began competing in Formula Dodge and Skip Barber amateur competition. In 2004, he moved up to the Star Mazda Series and in 2005 he won the Star Mazda championship. In 2006 he moved up the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Series where he drove for the Sierra Sierra team and captured one victory on his way to 4th place in the points standings. He also competed in 4 Indy Pro Series races for Jim Guthrie Racing and swept the two races held in March at St. Petersburg, Florida. During the fall he was named a driver for A1 Team Brazil in the A1 Grand Prix series and made his debut at the series' race in Beijing in the 2006-2007 season. He raced a Lola B07/40-Mazda in the 2007 12 Hours of Sebring and the 2007 Petit Le Mans.

Atlantics championship and Indy Lights

Matos continued with the Sierra Sierra team in Atlantics in 2007 and clinched the championship with several races remaining in the season, securing for himself the 2 Million US Dollar "scholarship" for a ride in Champ Car for the 2008 season.

However, Matos decided to pass on the scholarship and sign with Andretti Green Racing to drive in the Indy Racing League's Firestone Indy Lights Series in 2008, where he won the series championship. [ [http://www.paddocktalk.com/news/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=75167 Andretti Green, AFS To Field Two-Car Indy Pro Team - Matos Added to Driver Lineup] , PaddockTalk, January 18, 2008] .

Prior to the 2008 Indy Lights season, he drove a Mazda RX-8 for the SpeedSource team in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, taking first in the GT class and a 9th place overall finish, sharing the car with Nick Ham, David Haskell and Sylvain Tremblay. After the season, he drove for Michael Shank Racing on the winning team in the DP class (with Ian James and John Pew) at the SunRichGourmet.com 1000 at Miller Motorsports Park.

IndyCar Series

Matos will drive the full 2009 IndyCar Series for Luczo-Dragon Racing.

References

External links

* [http://www.rafamatos.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.champcaratlantic.com/Drivers/Driver.asp?ID=426 Champ Car Atlantic Series bio]
* [http://www.americanlemans.com/News/Article.aspx?ID=2774 Two 2007 ALMS races]