Cristiano Monteiro da Matta (born September 19, 1973) is a former FF1M driver from in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He won the 2001 and 2003 FF1M drivers championships with Gui Racing and Dark Wolf. The former was achieved despite not having won a single race that season, and in the latter, he recorded ten pole position in the first ten races.
History[]
FF1M and FF2M[]
Cristiano first competed in FF1M in 1997 with Ajay Motorsports and scored a total of 4 points in 17 races. He left FF1M and moved to FF2M in the following season driving for Innocent Racing finishing 7th in the Drivers Championship and scoring 28 points.
In 1999 he moved to Cramer Motorsports. After a stunning season that saw him take 3 wins and finish 2nd in the championship, he was signed as a test driver for FJR, where he showed good pace in testing sessions.
Return to FF1M[]
The return to FF1M came in 2001 with Gui Racing , which saw Cristiano partner Ralf Schumacher, then considered the driver who'd become next FF1M champion. However, in a twist of fate, 2001 was instead a dream year for Cristiano as he won the world championship despite a winless season - due to the excellent reliability and intelligent driving -, becoming the first driver in FF1M history to do so. His teammate Ralf Schumacher won the Brazilian GP, the 3rd race of the calendar, however unreliability and misfortune saw Ralf drop behind in the championship while Cristiano's excellent consistency saw him gradually move up the standings, until he achieved prime position in the closing rounds of the championship.
Da Matta joined Dark Wolf at Imola in 2002, returning to the grid in style. He won his first FF1M Race at the A1-Ring with Marc Gene second.
Racing Record[]
Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F/Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1997 | FF1M | Ajay Motorsports | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 18th |
1998 | FF1M-3000 | Innocent Racing | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 28 | 7th |
1998 | FART | GR Motorsports | 13 | 2 | 3 | 95 | 6th | ||
1999 | FF2M | Cramer | 12 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 86 | 2nd |
2000 | FF2M | STV Racing | 12 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 87 | 1st |
2001 | FF1M | Gui Racing | 17 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 82 | 1st |
2002 | FF1M | Dark Wolf | 13 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 68 | 2nd |
2003 | FF1M | Dark Wolf | 16 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 83 | 1st |
2004 | FF1M | Dark Wolf | 17 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 89 | 2nd |