Álvaro Parente

Álvaro Parente ( born October 4, 1984 in Porto ) is a Portuguese racing driver. In 2005 he was British Formula 3 champion and 2007 champion of the Formula Renault 3.5. From 2008 to 2011 he raced in the GP2 series. In 2012 he takes in the FIA ​​GT1 World Championship.

Career

Parente started his motorsport career in 1994 in karting, where he was active until 2000. In 2001 he made ​​his debut in the Spanish Formula 3 Championship and was in his first season in twelfth in the championship. 2002 Parente remained in the Spanish Formula 3 and he corrected himself with a victory on the fourth place in the drivers' standings. In 2003, Parente in the Formula 3 Euro Series. He scored only one point and finished at the end of the season 25 overall. He also took part in two races of the British and the Italian Formula 3 Championship and succeeded a victory in the Italian championship.

2004 Parente moved to Carlin Motorsport and he started an entire season in the British Formula 3 Championship. With a win and a further three podium finishes, he finished at the end of the season in seventh place overall. 2005 Parente remained with Carlin Motorsport and denied his second season in the British Formula 3 Parente dominated the season with eleven wins and won the league title ahead of teammate Charlie Kimball.

After winning the title Parente started in winter 2005/2006 in the A1GP series for the Portuguese A1 team. He decided not to race, but stood with three races on the podium. After the season Parente moved to Formula Renault 3.5 to Victory Engineering. With three wins, he finished at the end of season fifth overall. Only the master Alx Danielsson had scored more victories than he. After he returned in the winter for six races of the season 2006/2007 in the A1GP series, he played in 2007 his second season in the Formula Renault 3.5 for the French team Tech 1 Racing. With two wins, including the prestigious race in Monte Carlo, the Portuguese won the league title in front of Ben Hanley. In addition, he was in some race of the Spanish GT Championship at the start and was with two wins fourth in the Super GT championship.

2008 Parente drove for Super Nova Racing in the GP2 series. The season started perfectly for him as he won the first race of the season at the Circuit de Catalunya. Thus Parente was the first Portuguese who had won a race in the GP2 series. In the remaining races of the season Parente was a total of three times on the podium. With 34 points, he finished the season in eighth place overall.

In February 2009, Parente moved to the GP2 Asia Series and sparked Earl Bamber at Meritus Mahara from Qi. He took one point and was 21 in the overall standings. In the 2009 GP2 Series season Parente started for Ocean Racing Technology, the team of his compatriot Tiago Monteiro. After he had remained in the first eight races without points and distances itself from his teammate Karun Chandhok, the team-internal duel applied to the Nürburgring where Parente in both races took points in the sprint race also was in second on the podium. In Spa -Francorchamps Parente won the feature race and gave his team their first win in the GP2 series. At the end of the season he once again took the eighth place overall. With 30 points he scored three times also many points as his team-mate Chandhok. He also appeared in two races of the Superleague Formula, of which he won one, and in some races of the Spanish GT Championship.

The end of 2009 took the newly ascended to Formula 1 racing team Virgin Racing Parente as official test driver for the 2010 season under contract. This contract was terminated before the season starts again. After the failure of its Formula 1 involvement Parente rose for the third race weekend of the 2009/2010 season for Scuderia Coloni in the GP2 Asia Series, and finished at the end of the season, even though he had played only half of the race, the eighth overall. He then moved into the Superleague Formula, in which he took part in the 2010 season. He started in this series for assisted by Reid Motorsport team of FC Porto. He chose three races for themselves and stood in another race on the podium. In addition, Parente 2010 returned for the eighth race weekend of the season back in the GP2 Series and replaced Alberto Valerio at the Scuderia Coloni. While Coloni was found predominantly in the previous race of the season in the back of the pack, succeeded Parente right away the first two races at Spa -Francorchamps to finish in second and third on the podium. For the last race of the season he could not compete because of an inflammation in the ear. At the end of the season, he finished 15th in the driver standings. In Parente won as a guest in the International GT Open and participated in a race in the Le Mans Series. He also finished third in the Spanish GT Championship.

In 2011, Parente for Racing Engineering as a substitute for the ailing Christian Vietoris at two GP2 race weekends part. The main race at the Circuit de Monaco, he finished in second place. He then moved within the series to Carlin and completed four race weekends for this team. He finished the season in 16th place overall. In addition, he started as McLaren works driver to three races of the Blancpain Endurance Series. 2012 Parente will go as McLaren works driver for Hexis Racing in the FIA ​​GT1 World Championship with Grégoire Demoustier at the start.

Career stations

• 2006: Formula Renault 3.5 ( 5th place)
• 2007: A1GP
• 2007: Formula Renault 3.5 (Master)
• 2007: Spanish GT Championship, Super GT (4th place )
• 2008: GP2 Series (8th place )
• 2009: GP2 Asia Series (No. 21)
• 2009: GP2 Series (8th place )
• 2009: Superleague Formula
• 2009: Spanish GT Championship, Super GT (8th place )

• 2010: GP2 Asia Series (8th place )
• 2010: GP2 Series (No. 15)
• 2010: Superleague Formula
• 2010: Le Mans Series, LMGT2 ( No. 21 )
• 2010: Spanish GT Championship ( 3rd place)
• 2011: GP2 Series (No. 16)
• 2011: Blancpain Endurance Series
• 2012: FIA GT1 World Championship