Álvaro Parente

Álvaro Parente (born 4 October 1984) is a Portuguese professional racing driver. He is currently under contract with McLaren racing their GT cars for several customer teams.[1]

Álvaro Parente
Nationality Portuguese
Born (1984-10-04) 4 October 1984
Porto, Portugal
Pirelli World Challenge career
Debut season2016
Current teamK-PAX Racing
Car number9
Starts14
Wins5
Poles2
Fastest laps5
Previous series
20082011
2008–09, 2009–10
200607
200405
2003
200102
GP2 Series
GP2 Asia Series
Formula Renault 3.5 Series
British Formula 3
Formula 3 Euro Series
Spanish Formula Three
Championship titles
2005
2007
British Formula 3
Formula Renault 3.5 Series

Career

Early career

After winning the Karting European Junior Championship in 1998, Porto-born Parente made his debut in auto racing in 2001 at the age of 16, driving in the Spanish F3 Championship. In the following year, he was integrated into the Team Portugal project and scored a win on his way to 4th place in the series.

Formula Three

Parente than began a more international career in 2003, moving to the F3 Euroseries with Team Ghinzani, but the Mugen-Honda engine proved to be inferior to the Mercedes and he scored a single point. He did better with one-off entries in Italian Formula 3 and at Spa in a round of the British Formula 3 Championship, his first association with Carlin Motorsport, which was repeated that year in the Macau Grand Prix.

This brief contact paved the way for a contract with Carlin for the 2004 season, where he took part in the British series, scoring another win and finishing 7th in the championship standings. He also took part in the Marlboro Masters and at Macau, but in the former the Mugen-Honda could not take the fight to the Mercedes drivers and in the latter he was taken out in the first lap.

Parente stayed in the British Formula 3 for another season, and his experience helped him to win the championship with four races to go, scoring a total of 11 wins. This result made him the natural candidate to represent A1 Team Portugal for the new A1 Grand Prix series.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

For 2006, Parente joined the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with the Victory Engineering team, and achieved his first win at Istanbul in only his fifth race in the category. He took two further wins at the Nürburgring and Circuit de Catalunya to finish fifth in the final standings. He had hoped to progress onto the GP2 Series in 2007, but a lack of sponsorship scuppered his plans. He did, however, return to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with the French Tech 1 Racing team, having signed a contract on the eve of the first pre-season test.[2]

Parente won the 2007 Formula Renault 3.5 Series championship with the Tech 1 Racing team.
Parente driving for Ocean Racing Technology at the Nürburgring round of the 2009 GP2 Series season.

During the 2007 season Parente took five podium finishes, including two race victories at Monaco and Spa, and was crowned World Series by Renault champion at the final round in Barcelona on 27 October.[3]

As a prize for winning the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, Parente has tested for the Renault F1 team on 17 January 2008 at the Circuito de Jerez.[4]

GP2 Series

For 2008 Parente moved to the Super Nova Racing team in the GP2 Series,[5] widely regarded as the primary feeder series to Formula One.

Alvaro Parente made a stunning start to his GP2 career in the opening round of the season at the Circuit de Catalunya, Parente won the feature race making him the first Portuguese driver to win in GP2 Series.[6] Alvaro Parente led from start to finish, to claim victory ahead of Bruno Senna and Andreas Zuber. He eventually finished eighth in the drivers' championship.

Super Nova team nicknamed Parente as "Chachi", due to his likeness to the famous character in Happy Days.[7]

In 2009 Parente participated in the GP2 Asia Series with My Team Qi.Meritus, and competed in the GP2 Series with Ocean Racing Technology, finishing eighth once again.

Parente began the 2010 season without a drive, but replaced Alberto Valerio at the Coloni team from the Belgian round onwards.[8] On his return to the category, he scored a double podium finish, and ended the weekend as the highest scoring driver. He was replaced for the final round by James Jakes.

Parente again went into the 2011 GP2 Series season without a drive, but was called up by Racing Engineering for the second round of the championship at Catalunya. He replaced Christian Vietoris, who had complained of recurring headaches following a heavy crash at the first round in Turkey.[9] Vietoris returned after two rounds, but Parente remained in the series by switching to the Carlin team, where he took the seat previously occupied by Oliver Turvey. After a further six races, he relinquished the seat to Mikhail Aleshin.[10] He then returned for the season finale at Monza, ending up in 16th place in the drivers' championship.[11]

Superleague Formula

Parente agreed to race at the 2009 Estoril round of the 2009 Superleague Formula season for his football squad team, F.C. Porto, and went on to win the second race, on his series debut.

Formula One

Parente was a leading contender for a seat at Campos Meta, other contenders were Vitaly Petrov and Pastor Maldonado. On 15 December 2009, it was officially announced that Parente would join the new Virgin Racing team as a test driver.[12] However, he was not present at the launch of the VR-01 chassis in February 2010, and it was reported that he had left the team due to sponsorship problems.[13] Andy Soucek replaced Parente as the reserve driver.

GT

Since 2012, Parente has regularly been a factory GT3 driver for McLaren customer teams. His highlight was winning the 2016 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour for Tekno Autosports alongside Shane van Gisbergen and Jonathon Webb as well as taking the 2016 Pirelli World Challenge Championship title.[14][15] He has also competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2012 for Ram Racing in a Ferrari 458 Italia GT2.

Racing record

Career summary

Season Series Team Races Wins Poles Points Position
2001 Spanish Formula 3 Championship G-Tec 9 0 0 50 12th
E. V. Racing
2002 Spanish Formula 3 Championship Racing Engineering 13 1 1 139 4th
2003 Formula 3 Euro Series Team Ghinzani 19 0 0 1 25th
Italian Formula 3 Championship 2 1 1 34 9th
2003 Masters of Formula 3 1 0 0 N/A 22nd
F3 Macau Grand Prix[16] Carlin Motorsport 1 0 0 N/A NC
F3 Korea Super Prix[17] 1 0 0 N/A 10th
British Formula 3 Championship 2 0 0 7 22nd
2004 British Formula 3 Championship Carlin Motorsport 24 1 2 137 7th
2004 Masters of Formula 3 1 0 0 N/A 34th
F3 European Cup[18] 1 0 0 N/A 8th
F3 Macau Grand Prix[19] 1 0 0 N/A NC
2005 British Formula 3 Championship Carlin Motorsport 18 11 9 289 1st
2005–06 A1 Grand Prix A1 Team Portugal 20 0 0 66† 9th†
2006 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Victory Engineering 15 3 0 94 5th
2006–07 A1 Grand Prix A1 Team Portugal 6 0 0 10† 17th†
2007 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Tech 1 Racing 17 2 2 129 1st
2008 GP2 Series Super Nova Racing 20 1 0 34 8th
2008–09 GP2 Asia Series Qi-Meritus Mahara 6 0 0 1 21st
2009 GP2 Series Ocean Racing Technology 20 1 1 30 8th
Spanish GT Championship Aurora Racing Team 2 0 1 10 25th
Superleague Formula F.C. Porto 2 1 0 302† 5th†
2009–10 GP2 Asia Series Scuderia Coloni 4 0 0 12 8th
2010 GP2 Series Scuderia Coloni 4 0 0 13 15th
2011 GP2 Series Racing Engineering 4 0 0 8 16th
Carlin 8 0 0 0

† - Team standings.

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

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

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points
2003 Team Ghinzani Dallara F302/003 Mugen HOC
1

9
HOC
2

13
ADR
1

11
ADR
2

14
PAU
1

11
PAU
2

Ret
NOR
1

Ret
NOR
2

Ret
LMS
1

16
LMS
2

10
NÜR
1

DSQ
NÜR
2

EX
A1R
1

29†
A1R
2

DSQ
ZAN
1

8
ZAN
2

11
HOC
1

18
HOC
2

15
MAG
1

12
MAG
2

12
25th 1

Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete A1 Grand Prix 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 DC Points
2005–06 Portugal GBR
SPR
8
GBR
FEA
Ret
GER
SPR
Ret
GER
FEA
11
POR
SPR
6
POR
FEA
5
AUS
SPR
2
AUS
FEA
7
MYS
SPR
9
MYS
FEA
18
UAE
SPR
8
UAE
FEA
4
RSA
SPR
8
RSA
FEA
3
IDN
SPR
19
IDN
FEA
Ret
MEX
SPR
Ret
MEX
FEA
10
USA
SPR
3
USA
FEA
4
CHN
SPR
CHN
FEA
9th 66
2006–07 NED
SPR
NED
FEA
CZE
SPR
CZE
FEA
BEI
SPR
BEI
FEA
MYS
SPR
MYS
FEA
IDN
SPR
IDN
FEA
NZL
SPR
NZL
FEA
AUS
SPR
AUS
FEA
RSA
SPR
8
RSA
FEA
5
MEX
SPR
14
MEX
FEA
7
SHA
SPR
SHA
FEA
GBR
SPR
11
GBR
SPR
11
17th 10

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 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 DC Points
2006 Victory Engineering ZOL
1

DNS
ZOL
2

DNQ
MON
1

6
IST
1

3
IST
2

1
MIS
1

3
MIS
2

4
SPA
1

Ret
SPA
2

4
NÜR
1

1
NÜR
2

Ret
DON
1

17
DON
2

Ret
LMS
1

12
LMS
2

11
CAT
1

3
CAT
2

1
5th 94
2007 Tech 1 Racing MNZ
1

2
MNZ
2

4
NÜR
1

3
NÜR
2

10
MON
1

1
HUN
1

Ret
HUN
2

Ret
SPA
1

1
SPA
2

6
DON
1

4
DON
2

Ret
MAG
1

6
MAG
2

4
EST
1

6
EST
2

7
CAT
1

3
CAT
2

6
1st 129

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 DC Points
2008 Super Nova Racing CAT
FEA

1
CAT
SPR

7
IST
FEA

Ret
IST
SPR

8
MON
FEA

5
MON
SPR

3
MAG
FEA

9
MAG
SPR

Ret
SIL
FEA

16
SIL
SPR

Ret
HOC
FEA

3
HOC
SPR

6
HUN
FEA

16
HUN
SPR

Ret
VAL
FEA

16†
VAL
SPR

Ret
SPA
FEA

2
SPA
SPR

Ret
MNZ
FEA

Ret
MNZ
SPR

12
8th 34
2009 Ocean Racing Technology CAT
FEA

Ret
CAT
SPR

11
MON
FEA

Ret
MON
SPR

Ret
IST
FEA

Ret
IST
SPR

10
SIL
FEA

Ret
SIL
SPR

11
NÜR
FEA

6
NÜR
SPR

2
HUN
FEA

9
HUN
SPR

6
VAL
FEA

4
VAL
SPR

Ret
SPA
FEA

1
SPA
SPR

Ret
MNZ
FEA

11
MNZ
SPR

Ret
ALG
FEA

Ret
ALG
SPR

4
8th 30
2010 Scuderia Coloni CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
IST
FEA
IST
SPR
VAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HOC
FEA
HOC
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA

2
SPA
SPR

3
MNZ
FEA

12
MNZ
SPR

9
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
15th 13
2011 Racing Engineering IST
FEA
IST
SPR
CAT
FEA

11
CAT
SPR

7
MON
FEA

2
MON
SPR

16
16th 8
Carlin VAL
FEA

Ret
VAL
SPR

18
SIL
FEA

9
SIL
SPR

9
NÜR
FEA

20†
NÜR
SPR

Ret
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA

12
MNZ
SPR

12

Complete GP2 Asia 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 DC Points
2008–09 Qi-Meritus Mahara SHI
FEA
SHI
SPR
DUB
FEA
DUB
SPR
BHR1
FEA
BHR1
SPR
LSL
FEA

17
LSL
SPR

16
SEP
FEA

11
SEP
SPR

9
BHR2
FEA

Ret
BHR2
SPR

13
21st 1
2009–10 Scuderia Coloni YMC1
FEA
YMC1
SPR
YMC2
FEA
YMC2
SPR
BHR1
FEA

6
BHR1
SPR

Ret
BHR2
FEA

4
BHR2
SPR

3
8th 12

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 Pos Points
2012 Hexis Racing McLaren NOG
QR

4
NOG
CR

Ret
ZOL
QR

10
ZOL
CR

7
NAV
QR

2
NAV
QR

4
SVK
QR

Ret
SVK
CR

Ret
ALG
QR

8
ALG
CR

Ret
SVK
QR

9
SVK
CR

9
MOS
QR

6
MOS
CR

2
NÜR
QR

5
NÜR
CR

Ret
DON
QR

3
DON
CR

3
11th 65

FIA GT Series results

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos. Points
2013 Sébastien Loeb Racing McLaren MP4-12C GT3 Pro NOG
QR

1
NOG
CR

12
ZOL
QR

17
ZOL
CR

13
ZAN
QR

Ret
ZAN
CR

14
SVK
QR

1
SVK
CR

Ret
NAV
QR

1
NAV
CR

1
BAK
QR

14
BAK
CR

2
4th 82

Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup 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
NOG
CR
BRH
QR
BRH
CR
ZAN
QR
ZAN
CR
SVK
QR
SVK
CR
ALG
QR
ALG
CR
ZOL
QR
ZOL
CR
BAK
QR

20
BAK
CR

16
56th 0
2016 Garage 59 McLaren 650S GT3 Pro MIS
QR

9
MIS
CR

4
BRH
QR

8
BRH
CR

4
NÜR
QR

2
NÜR
CR

1
HUN
QR

17
HUN
CR

17
CAT
QR

16
CAT
CR

13
6th 56
2017 Strakka Racing McLaren 650S GT3 Pro MIS
QR

22
MIS
CR

18
BRH
QR

6
BRH
CR

10
ZOL
QR

10
ZOL
CR

28
HUN
QR

20
HUN
CR

24
NÜR
QR
NÜR
CR
30th 2

Complete Stock Car Brasil results

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Rank Points
2014 Voxx Racing Peugeot 408 INT
1
Ret
SCZ
1
SCZ
2
BRA
1
BRA
2
GOI
1
GOI
2
GOI
1
CAS
1
CAS
2
CUR
1
CUR
2
VEL
1
VEL
2
SCZ
1
SCZ
2
TAR
1
TAR
2
SAL
1
SAL
2
CUR
1
NC† 0†
2015 Voxx Racing Peugeot 408 GOI
1

7
RBP
1
RBP
2
VEL
1
VEL
2
CUR
1
CUR
2
SCZ
1
SCZ
2
CUR
1
CUR
2
GOI
1
CAS
1
CAS
2
BRA
1
BRA
2
CUR
1
CUR
2
TAR
1
TAR
2
INT
1
NC† 0†

Ineligible for championship points.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

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

Year Entrant Class Car Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rank Points
2014 Ram Racing LMGTE Pro Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 Ferrari 4.5 L V8 SIL
6
SPA LMS
Ret
COA FUJ SHA BHR SÃO 27th 8
2017 Clearwater Racing LMGTE Am Ferrari 488 GTE Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8 SIL SPA LMS
6
NÜR MEX COA FUJ SHA BHR 10th 16

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2014 Ram Racing Matt Griffin
Federico Leo
Ferrari 458 Italia GTC GTE
Pro
140 DNF DNF
2017 Clearwater Racing Richard Wee
Hiroki Katoh
Ferrari 488 GTE GTE
Am
327 40th 11th

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2016 Tekno Autosports Shane van Gisbergen
Jonathon Webb
McLaren 650S GT3 AP 297 1st 1st
2017 Tekno Autosports Rob Bell
Côme Ledogar
McLaren 650S GT3 AP 289 5th 3rd

References

  1. "Álvaro Parente renova contrato com McLaren". Diário de Notícias. 2012-01-13. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  2. "Parente secures Tech 1 seat". crash.net. 2007-03-15. Archived from the original on 2007-03-20. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
  3. "Parente podium enough to take title". crash.net. 2007-10-27. Retrieved 2007-10-28.
  4. "Parente completes Renault test at Jerez". autosport.com. 2008-01-17. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  5. "Super Nova confirm Parente, Bakkerud". autosport.com. 2008-02-07. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  6. "Parente romps to win on debut". crash.net. 2008-04-26. Retrieved 2008-04-26.
  7. Buxton, Will (April 2008). "GP2: Happy Days for Chachi". GPWeek.com. 1 (8): 26.
  8. "Parente rejoins GP2 with Coloni". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. 2010-08-25. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
  9. O'Leary, Jamie (2011-05-19). "Vietoris to miss Barcelona". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2011-05-24.
  10. O'Leary, Jamie (2011-07-28). "Mikhail Aleshin rejoins Carlin for Hungaroring GP2 weekend". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2011-08-02.
  11. Elizalde, Pablo (2011-09-07). "Parente returns to Carlin for Monza GP2 round". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
  12. Elizalde, Pablo; Glendenning, Mark (2009-12-15). "Parente, Razia join Virgin as testers". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2009-12-15.
  13. "Funding woe costs Parente Virgin role". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. 2010-02-18. Retrieved 2010-02-18.
  14. "SVG leads McLaren to Bathurst 12 Hour victory". Speedcafe. 7 February 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  15. "O'Connell Wins Monterey; Parente Takes Title on Final Lap". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  16. F3 Macau 2003 results driverdb.com
  17. F3 Korea Super Prix 2003 results driverdb.com
  18. F3 European Cup 2004 results driverdb.com
  19. F3 Macau 2004 results driverdb.com
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Nelson Angelo Piquet
British Formula Three Champion
2005
Succeeded by
Mike Conway
Preceded by
Alx Danielsson
Formula Renault 3.5 Series
Champion

2007
Succeeded by
Giedo van der Garde
Preceded by
Daniel Zampieri
Roman Mavlanov
International GT Open champion
2015
with Miguel Ramos
Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
Katsumasa Chiyo
Wolfgang Reip
Florian Strauss
Winner of the Bathurst 12 Hour
2016
(with Shane van Gisbergen and
Jonathon Webb)
Succeeded by
Craig Lowndes
Toni Vilander
Jamie Whincup
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