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Gustavo Menezes
American-Brazilian racing driver (born 1994) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Gustavo Soiblemann Menezes[2] (born 19 September 1994) is an American-Brazilian racing driver, currently racing for Peugeot Sport in the FIA World Endurance Championship.[3]
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Early career
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Karting
Menezes began karting in 2001, and took his first championship in 2005 in the IKF Region 7 Sprint - HPV 1 Cadet. He additionally won the SKUSA SuperNationals in both the 2003 and 2004 editions. In 2007 he was the Stars of Tomorrow Juniors champion. In 2008 he began karting outside the United States. In Asia he competed in the CIK-FIA Asia-Pacific Championship becoming 5th in the championship in 2008.[4] That same year Carlos Sainz, Jr. won the championship. In Europe he competed in championship in among others Monaco, Sweden and Belgium. He competed in the world karting championship from 2009-2010, but he started his single-seater career in 2011.
German Formula Three
In 2013 Menezes competed in the German Formula Three. He drove the full season with Van Amersfoort Racing and won two races.[5][6] He became 4th in the championship with 241 points.
American Le Mans Series/United SportsCar Championship
Menezes began his endurance racing career in 2013, driving for RSR Racing in the American Le Mans Series in the Prototype Challenge class. He only entered the Petit Le Mans with co-drivers Bruno Junqueira and Duncan Ende and finished 29th overall and 6th in class.
Both in 2014 and 2015 he competed again with RSR Racing and again in the Prototype Challenge class. In those two seasons he entered three races. In 2014 he only entered the 24 Hours of Daytona, but he and his co-drivers were unable to finish and were classified in a disappointing 63rd position. In 2015 he entered the first two races of the season: the 24 Hours of Daytona, where he finished 34th overall and 4th in class,[7] and the 12 Hours of Sebring, where he finished 31st overall and 6th in class.[8]
FIA European Formula 3 Championship
After he had finished 4th in the championship in the German Formula Three, Menezes graduated to the FIA European Formula 3 Championship in 2014 and drove again with Van Amersfoort Racing. He finished 11th in the championship and managed to take two third-place finishes at Spa-Francorchamps. In 2015 he joined Jagonya Ayam with Carlin.[9]
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Sportscar career (2016-)
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Following a test at Bahrain near the end of 2015, Menezes signed for Signatech-Alpine to compete in the LMP2 category of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship, partnering Nicolas Lapierre and Stéphane Richelmi.[10][11] The team experienced a dominant campaign, winning four races, including three wins in a row and a class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and ended up winning the title.[12][13] As a result of his impressive debut season, Menezes was selected to drive a Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1 car at the post-season rookie test.[14] The American's hot streak continued into 2017, as he took two race wins in the Asian Le Mans Series held during the winter. However, the trio of Menezes, Tung Ho-Pin, and Thomas Laurent missed out on the overall title due to accident damage sustained at the start of the season finale.[15]
For the main 2017 campaign, ahead of which he was upgraded to gold-ranking by the FIA, Menezes returned to Signatech-Alpine for another season of the WEC, this time driving alongside a litany of other drivers throughout the year.[16][17] Despite scoring three pole positions and five podiums, chief among which being a second successive triumph at the Circuit of the Americas, the team ended up third in the standings.[18]
In 2018, Menezes would not just contest the European Le Mans Series with Algarve Pro Racing alongside Harrison Newey and Ryan Cullen (where the trio finished all six races on their way to ninth in the teams' standings), but also stepped up to the LMP1 class with Rebellion Racing for the 'Super Season' in the WEC.[19][20] In a truncated LMP1 field, Rebellion stood out as the best of the privateer entries, as Menezes, Thomas Laurent, and Mathias Beche helped the No. 3 squad towards third in the championship. Highlights included an overall podium at the 2018 Le Mans race as well as a win at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, where a disqualification for both Toyota entries handed the win to Menezes and his teammates.[21][22]
Menezes remained at Rebellion for the 2019–20 WEC season, this time partnering Bruno Senna and LMP1 rookie Norman Nato in the team's sole full-time entry.[23] This campaign saw more success, as the trio managed to win at both Shanghai and Austin, with a runner-up finish at the postponed 24 Hours of Le Mans to boot.[24][25][26]
Entering the new Le Mans Hypercar era, Menezes drove for Glickenhaus Racing at the 6 Hours of Monza in 2021, one of just four events the American participated in during the year – the others being appearances in the European Le Mans Series with DragonSpeed USA and G-Drive Racing.[27][28][29] Before the 2022 WEC campaign, it was announced that Menezes would join Peugeot Sport for their Hypercar class debut.[30][31] He made appearances in all three of Peugeot's 2022 races as the team battled technical gremlins.
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Menezes and Peugeot entered the WEC season full-time in 2023, as the American joined Nico Müller and Loïc Duval in the No. 94 lineup.[32] Having struggled throughout the year, the team came to the fore at Le Mans, with Menezes taking the lead as the rain came down.[33] Unfortunately, shortly after re-entering the car, Menezes has an incident from the P3, later on the team faced a list of mechanical issues leaving them to finish in 12th-place.[34] At the end of the year, which Menezes ended 11th in the drivers' standings, the American ended his tenure at the French manufacturer.[35][36]
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Racing record
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Career summary
† As Menezes was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.
Complete Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
† As Menezes was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points
Complete Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete German Formula Three Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete FIA Formula 3 European Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results
(key)(Races in bold indicate pole position, Results are overall/class)
Complete Global RallyCross Championship results
GRC Lites
Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
Complete European Le Mans Series results
‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
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References
External links
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