Enrique Bernoldi

Enrique Bernoldi Bernoldi in 2007, as a Stock Car Brasil driver Nationality Brazilian Date of birth October 19, 1978 (1978-10-19) (age 31) Place of birth Curitiba (Brazil) 2009 Superleague Formula Debut season 2009 Current team CR Flamengo Car no. 7 Starts 0 Wins 0 Poles 0 Fastest laps 0 Previous series 2008 2007, 2009 2005 2003–04 2001–02 1999–2000 1997–98 1995–96 1995–96 IndyCar Series Stock Car Brasil TC 2000 World Series by Nissan Formula One Formula 3000 British Formula Three Championship British Formula Renault Championship Formula Renault Eurocup Championship titles 1996 1996 British Formula Renault Formula Renault Eurocup Formula One World Championship career Active years 2001–2002 Teams Arrows Races 29 (28 starts) Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Career points 0 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First race 2001 Australian Grand Prix Last race 2002 German Grand Prix

Enrique Antônio Langue e Silvério de Bernoldi (born 19 October 1978 in Curitiba) is a Brazilian racing driver who raced for the Arrows Formula One team. He currently drives in the Superleague Formula for CR Flamengo and in the Stock Car Brasil for RCM Motorsport.

Racing career

Early career

Bernoldi started out in karting in 1987 at age nine and won many regional and national titles before heading to Europe at age 17 to try out car racing. He entered Formula Alfa Boxer in Italy, where he finished fourth in his first attempt. He then entered the British Formula Renault Championship and was immediately successful, winning the final round of the series. The following year he took in nine victories and the title. After that he entered British Formula 3 and got his first victory at Spa and finished fifth in the championship. The following year he got six victories.

In 1999 Bernoldi moved to Formula 3000 and began to do some testing for Sauber, in the hopes of earning a Formula One drive with them. At this time, he was a member of the Red Bull Junior Team. However, in 2000 Sauber signed up Kimi Räikkönen for the 2001 season and Bernoldi's hopes went down.

Formula One

Bernoldi follows Arrows team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen at the 2002 French Grand Prix.

In 2001 he was able to get a drive with Arrows and did a respectable job, sometimes matching Jos Verstappen. However, he gained notoriety for his efforts at the Monaco Grand Prix when he held up David Coulthard for 35 laps. The Scot had qualified on pole position and was a championship contender at that stage of the season, but had suffered launch control failure on the grid and had to start from last place, so they were fighting for position. After the race, Bernoldi was unjustly slandered by irritated McLaren Mercedes executives that he was never going to make a good racing driver, and Coulthard called him an idiot,^[1] though Bernoldi did not have to let Coulthard pass because both were running on the same lap.

However, he was retained by Arrows for 2002. At Sepang he notably overtook Michael Schumacher, having been passed by the German as he attempted to fight through the field after a first-lap incident with Juan Pablo Montoya. However, his efforts in 2002 against Heinz-Harald Frentzen were not perceived as impressive and thus, there was little demand for him when Arrows closed down three-quarters of the way into the 2002 season, and he ended up racing in the Nissan World Series.

2003-2007

Without an F1 ride for the 2003 season, Bernoldi stepped down to the World Series by Nissan and finished 6th in points with two wins. He continued in the series in 2004 and finished 3rd in points with another pair of wins. In mid-2004 he was named a test driver for BAR. He was largely inactive in 2005, aside from a single race in Argentina's TC 2000 Touring Car series, but in 2007 he drove in Stock Car Brasil, competing in 11 of the 12 races and finishing 13th in the championship with a pair of podium finishes.

Bernoldi practicing for the 2008 Indianapolis 500

IndyCar Series

For 2008 Bernoldi chased a drive in the USA, and signed with Rocketsports for the 2008 Champ Car World Series.^[2] However, after the announcement of unification between Champ Car and the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series, Rocketsports chose not to compete in the merged series. It was later announced that Bernoldi would drive for Conquest Racing in the newly combined series' 2008 season. He shone at the first road-course event at St. Pete's, and also finished in the top 5 of the final ChampCar sanctioned race at Long Beach.

However, his best result since then has been a 15th place, as he has had to adjust to open-wheel oval racing. A collision with team-mate Jamie Camara at Watkins Glen lead him to publicly criticize the team, leading to speculation that he might leave them.^[3] A thumb injury put him out of the final two races of the season, so he was replaced by Alex Tagliani.^[4]

Bernoldi did not return for the 2009 IndyCar season

Superleague Formula

For 2009, Bernoldi is the full time driver of Flamengo and will also be running a partial schedule in Stock Car Brasil

Racing record

Career summary

Complete Formula One results

(key)

American Open-Wheel

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

IndyCar

* 2008 season in progress

¹ Run on same day.

² Non-points paying, exhibition race.

Superleague Formula

Super Final Results

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Enrique Bernoldi

• IndyCar.com Profile