Alex Fontana
Alex Fontana is a Swiss racing driver of Greek descent, currently racing as a professional driver in the GT World Challenge Asia for Zun Motorsport Crew, as well as in China GT Championship for Phantom Pro Racing and in the China Touring Car Championship for KIA Motors. He is a freelance driver with an open contract able to race for different teams and different manufacturers at the same time. When he is not racing, he works as a coach and driving instructor in Europe, America and China, while commentating the Formula 1 Grands Prix for Swiss television with RSI.
Career
Karting
Fontana's passion for racing began in 1996 at three and a half years old in the Greek island of Rhodes, driving his first baby Puffo Kart. Until 2008 he raced in the Swiss National Championships and international events as a factory driver for Swiss Hutless and PCR International. Highlights include the Swiss Karting Championship 2007 KF3 title, the 2006 Biland 4 Stroke World Final win in Dubai, the Bridgestone Cup 2008 KF2 title win and the Italian Open Master 2008 Runner Up, as well as qualifying for the World Karting Championship 2008 in La Conca, Italy.Single seaters
In 2009 came the switch to single-seaters after making into the BMW Talent Scout event at Valencia in 2008. In 2009 he raced in Formula Azzurra with MG Motorsport taking two wins and one additional podium.In 2010 there was the switch to Formula 3 with Corbetta Competizioni in the Italian Championship, before moving up in 2011 with the same team in the European Formula 3 Open. 2011 was a successful year for Fontana with two wins and nine podiums, allowing him to take the overall championship title. At the end of the year, he had the opportunity to test the Mercedes DTM for the HWA Team.
In the same year, he had the first single race weekend as a wild card in GP3 Series with Jenzer Motorsport, scoring points with a 6th place at the race debut.
In 2012 he joined the FIA Formula 2 Championship with three podiums and a win, being selected at the end of the year by Lotus F1 Junior Team, thanks also to other points finish in GP3 Series in 4th place, again as a wild card entry and again with Jenzer Motorsport.
2013 was the first season with Lotus F1 Junior Team and the first full season with Jenzer Motorsport in the GP3 Series, with one podium finish and the highlight of the first Formula 1 test with Lotus F1 Team 30 September in Paul Ricard circuit.
In 2014 he continued with Lotus F1 Junior Team in GP3 Series but switching to ART Grand Prix, with two podiums and two front rows start. With only 5 races in the points out of 18, he finished 11th in the championship. At the end of the year, he joined the World Series 3.5 by Renault official test in Jerez with Lotus Charouz signing the 2nd best lap time.
2015 was a bit of a special year. Lotus was sold to Renault and this caused the exit from the Junior Program. He raced again in GP3 Series with Status GP, with the Canadian team having some difficulties throughout the year and eventually exit the series. In the same year came the call from Pons Racing to replace Roberto Mehri in Monte Carlo, where he raced with Marussia F1. The first race in World Series 3.5 by Renault, the first race in the streets of Monaco, finished in the points with a 9th place. At the end of the year he was called by Jarno Trulli to compete in the FIA Formula E Championship last double-round of London Battersea Park, and with the best result in 9th place in the second qualifying. After that, the last single-seater experience to date was the official GP2 Series test in Abu Dhabi, with Status GP and Rapax Team, with the highest result of 8th in the standings.
GT and touring cars
In 2016 there was the switch to GT cars joining McLaren GT Academy for a Blancpain GT Endurance campaign and 24 Hours of Spa in PRO class. At the end of the year, it was called by KIA Motors to develop the new Super Production car for China Touring Car Championship, collecting a podium and a pole position in the debut weekends.2017 was again in Blancpain GT Endurance and 24 Hours of Spa but in PRO-AM, with the Mercedes AMG supported car of AKKA ASP and his Chupa-Chups livery. A highlight of the year is the overall best lap time in the two days of official testing in Paul Ricard on a field of 55 cars. He was signed by KIA Motors for the maximum number of rounds a foreign driver could complete, four, taking two pole positions, two wins and one more podium.
In 2018 he raced for Emil Frey Jaguar Racing winning the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup - Silver Cup and also placing the car in the top 5 in the overall standings 2 times out of 5. In China, he has been confirmed for the third year by KIA Motors in China Touring Car Championship. As a foreign driver he disputed the 4 mandatory races on 8 where, thanks to two victories, he allowed Kia to win the constructors' championship. He also took part at two VLN races to achieve the Permit A for the Nordschleife.
2019 was opened by taking part in the first round of the VLN with the official Nissan KCMG team at the 65. ADAC Westfalenfahrt. In this year Fontana was chosen as a driver for the official AMG team - Phantom Pro Racing in the China GT Championship, GT4 class, where, after an intense championship, he managed to win the title.
He also raced for the fourth year in a row as an official Kia motors driver for Dongfeng Yueda Kia Racing Team in the China touring car championship for the maximum number of races allowed for a foreign driver.
Thanks to his 84 points the Dongfeng Yueda Kia Racing Team has won the manufacturers' title for the second year in a row.
Lastly, he has been involved in other motorsports competitions during the year including the china endurance championship as a driver for Lamborghini in GT3 class and as a coach for Volkswagen in TCR class.
2019 has also shown Fontana engaged in collaborations with the Swiss television RSI for the events of Formula 1 and other motorsport shows.
In recognition for this year, Fontana was awarded by the Swiss Automobile Club an award for sports merit and a trophy in memory of Loris Kessel.
In 2020 Alex Fontana will join three different competition in Asia, as well as a comeback in the Europe competitions.
He will race with Adderly Fong in the Silver-Pro class of the GT World Challenge Asia behind the wheel of a Mercedes-AMG GT3 of the Zun Motorsport Crew.
He will also continue in the China GT Championship where he will drive two cars: a Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT3 class with Chris Chia and the Phantom Pro Racing Team, and, after the success of the last year, a Mercedes-AMG GT4 in GT4 class.
Furthermore, after a long stop of the activities due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, Alex Fontana has been called to compete in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup 2020, driving the new Mercedes-AMG Evo GT3 of the AKKA ASP Team.
Racing record
Career summary
* Season still in progress.Complete GP3 Series results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | DC | Points |
| 2011 | Jenzer Motorsport | IST FEA | IST SPR | CAT FEA | CAT SPR | VAL FEA | VAL SPR | SIL FEA | SIL SPR | NÜR FEA | NÜR SPR | HUN FEA | HUN SPR | SPA FEA 14 | SPA SPR 6 | MNZ FEA | MNZ SPR | 24th | 1 | ||
| 2012 | Jenzer Motorsport | CAT FEA | CAT SPR | MON FEA | MON SPR | VAL FEA | VAL SPR | SIL FEA | SIL SPR | HOC FEA | HOC SPR | HUN FEA 17 | HUN SPR 15 | SPA FEA 10‡ | SPA SPR 4 | MNZ FEA | MNZ SPR | 18th | 8.5 | ||
| 2013 | Jenzer Motorsport | CAT FEA 10 | CAT SPR 9 | VAL FEA 14 | VAL SPR 11 | SIL FEA 7 | SIL SPR 3 | NÜR FEA Ret | NÜR SPR 17 | HUN FEA 10 | HUN SPR 19 | SPA FEA 21 | SPA SPR 12 | MNZ FEA Ret | MNZ SPR Ret | YMC FEA 13 | YMC SPR 10 | 17th | 18 | ||
| 2014 | ART Grand Prix | CAT FEA 11 | CAT SPR 19 | RBR FEA Ret | RBR SPR 17 | SIL FEA 15 | SIL SPR Ret | HOC FEA 11 | HOC SPR 13 | HUN FEA 14 | HUN SPR 13 | SPA FEA 6 | SPA SPR 3 | MNZ FEA Ret | MNZ SPR 10 | SOC FEA 3 | SOC SPR Ret | YMC FEA 6 | YMC SPR 15 | 11th | 43 |
| 2015 | Status Grand Prix | CAT FEA 9 | CAT SPR 16 | RBR FEA 10 | RBR SPR 6 | SIL FEA 19 | SIL SPR 18 | HUN FEA 14 | HUN SPR 13 | SPA FEA 10 | SPA SPR 6 | MNZ FEA 8 | MNZ SPR 16 | SOC FEA 19 | SOC SPR 11 | BHR FEA 19 | BHR SPR 19 | YMC FEA 15 | YMC SPR 13 | 16th | 16 |
‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.
Complete FIA Formula Two Championship results
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Pos | Points |
| 2012 | SIL 1 3 | SIL 2 3 | ALG 1 7 | ALG 2 10 | NÜR 1 6 | NÜR 2 5 | SPA 1 8 | SPA 2 5 | BRH 1 Ret | BRH 2 7 | LEC 1 14 | LEC 2 Ret | HUN 1 1 | HUN 2 5 | MNZ 1 9 | MNZ 2 6 | 7th | 115 |
Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Pos | Points |
| 2015 | Pons Racing | ALC 1 | ALC 2 | MON 1 9 | SPA 1 | SPA 2 | HUN 1 | HUN 2 | RBR 1 | RBR 2 | SIL 1 | SIL 2 | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | BUG 1 | BUG 2 | JER 1 | JER 2 | 24th | 2 |
Complete Formula E results
| Year | Team | Chassis | Powertrain | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos | Points |
| 2014–15 | Trulli Formula E Team | Spark SRT01-e | SRT01-e | BEI | PUT | PDE | BUE | MIA | LBH | MCO | BER | MSC | LON Ret | LON 14 | 33rd | 0 |