Giorgio Pantano

Giorgio Pantano Nationality Italian Formula OneWorld Championship career Active years 2004Teams JordanRaces 15 (14 starts) Championships0 Wins 0 Podium finishes 0 Career points 0 Pole positions0 Fastest laps0 First race 2004 Australian Grand PrixLast race 2004 Italian Grand Prix

2008 GP2 SeriesDebut season 2005Current team Racing EngineeringCar No. 12 Former teams Super Nova
FMS International
Campos Grand PrixStarts 66 Wins 6 Poles 3 Fastest laps 1 Best finish 3rd in 2007

Giorgio Pantano (born February 4, 1979 in Padua, Italy) is an Italian racing driver who drove for the Jordan Formula One team for much of the 2004 season before being replaced by Timo Glock. He has raced in the GP2 Series since its inaugural year in 2005, currently driving for the Racing Engineering team.

1 Career
2 Racing record
3 External links

Career

Pantano is the holder of one of the best records ever in karting, where he started at age nine. 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 F3 in his first year of single-seater racing. He won his first race and went on to win the title.

Pantano driving for Jordan at the 2004 French Grand Prix.

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.

He signed for the Jordan Formula One team in early 2004, but his season proved troublesome. He finished last in his first race in Melbourne, although did better than his more experienced team-mate Nick Heidfeld, who retired. He continued on 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 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 on with more disappointing results until the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, whereafter he was replaced by Timo Glock for the remaining three races of the season.

After his unsuccessful season in F1, 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-F1 driver Adrián Campos's team in 2007. On June 30th 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 4th and 3rd 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 4th in the sprint race Pantano leads the championship, two points clear of Bruno Senna.

Racing record

Complete Formula 3000 results

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

Year Entrant Chassis Engine Tyres 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DC Points 2001 Astromega LolaB99/50 Zytek V8 A BRA
Ret SMR
11 ESP
9 AUT
15 MON
Ret EUR
21 FRA
8 GBR
Ret GER
7 HUN
5 BEL
11 ITA
1 9th 12 2002 Coloni LolaB02/50 Zytek-JuddKV A BRA
8 SMR
3 ESP
1 AUT
4 MON
Ret EUR
Ret GBR
4 FRA
3 GER
1 HUN
2 BEL
1 ITA
3 2nd 54 2003 Durango LolaB02/50 Zytek-JuddKV A SMR
Ret ESP
1 AUT
3 MON
Ret EUR
16 FRA
1 GBR
2 GER
7 HUN
4 ITA
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