Álvaro Parente
Álvaro Parente is a Portuguese professional racing driver. He is currently under contract with McLaren racing their GT cars for several customer teams.
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.team.
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.
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.
GP2 Series
For 2008 Parente moved to the Super Nova Racing team in the GP2 Series, 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. 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.
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. 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. 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. He then returned for the season finale at Monza, ending up in 16th place in the drivers' championship.
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. 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. 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. 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
† - Team standings.Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results
| 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 |
Complete A1 Grand Prix results
| 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 | Portugal | 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
| 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
| 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 | ||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 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 | 16th | 8 |
Complete GP2 Asia Series results
| 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 |
FIA GT competition results
GT1 World Championship results
FIA GT Series results
Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results
Complete Stock Car Brasil results
Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results
| 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 |