Roberto Moreno
Roberto Pupo Moreno, usually known as Roberto Moreno and also as Pupo Moreno, is a Brazilian racing driver. He participated in 75 Formula One Grands Prix, achieved 1 podium, and scored a total of 15 championship points. He raced in CART in 1986, and was Formula 3000 champion before joining Formula One full-time in 1989. He returned to CART in 1996 where he enjoyed an Indian summer in 2000 and 2001, and managed to extend his career in the series until 2008. Also raced in endurance events and GT's in Brazil, but now works as a driver coach and consultant, and although this takes up a lot of his time, he is not officially retired yet, as he appears in historic events. Away from the sport, he enjoys building light aeroplanes.
Moreno was known as the "Super Sub" late in his career as he was used to replace injured drivers several times.
Career
Early career
After winning the 1976 Brazilian 125cc Karting championship, Moreno set his sights on getting to Europe. He arrived in England in 1979, to race in his first season in Formula Ford. He was the driver, the mechanic and used to tow the car on a trailer. Ralt owner/designer Ron Tauranac lent Moreno an old shed to work out of as his home base. He had a couple of good results, and these convinced Ralph Firman, Sr., to sign him as a works Van Diemen driver for the 1980 season. Whilst driving for Firman, he would win the Townsend Thoresen British Formula Ford title, winning eight races in the process. Meanwhile, in Europe, he drove the same car to three more victories, earning himself second place in the EFDA Townsend Thoresen Euroseries Formula Ford 1600 Championship. His also finished 4th in the RAC British series and 6th the P&O Ferries series. He then rounded out the season by winning the Formula Ford Festival.Moreno's success alerted the attention of no lesser person than Colin Chapman, the successful owner and founder of Formula One's Team Lotus. Roberto only returned to Europe in 1981, because Chapman had given him a F1 testing contract with enough money to continue racing. With these funds, he raced Formula Three, but money was tight. Despite that, paired with Barron Racing, he managed to win two races, however he was more successful across the Atlantic the following season, racing in the CASC North American Formula Atlantic Championship, defeating Al Unser, Jr. in a supporting race at the 1982 United States Grand Prix West in Long Beach. Later in 1982, he made another big impression by winning the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières. Prior to that victory, Moreno had found some money to do half a season in the British Formula 3 Championship with Ivens Lumar Racing, winning three races in the process, before he was given the opportunity to drive at the 1982 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort for Lotus, though he ultimately failed to qualify.
Australian Grand Prix (1981–1984)
In this period, Moreno was a popular triple winner of the Australian Grand Prix in 1981, 1983 and 1984, before it became a Formula One World Championship race from 1985. These wins came in the days when the Grand Prix was a Formula Mondial race held at Melbourne's 1.6 km Calder Park Raceway. He often defeated current or past World Drivers' Champions to win the AGP, including Piquet, Alan Jones, Niki Lauda and Keke Rosberg, as well as other F1 drivers such as Jacques Laffite, Andrea de Cesaris and François Hesnault. In the only Australian Grand Prix he competed in but did not win during the period, he finished third behind future four time World Champion Alain Prost, and Ligier F1 driver Laffite. In all of his pre-F1 Australian Grand Prix drives, Moreno drove a Formula Pacific or Formula Mondial Ralt RT4 powered by a 1.6 litre Ford 4cyl engine.F1 Substitute (1982 & 1987)
Moreno was winning races in Formula Atlantic, Formula Mondial and Formula Three, when he received a call-up from Colin Chapman to stand in for Nigel Mansell at Lotus at the 1982 Dutch Grand Prix after Mansell broke his wrist in the previous Grand Prix in Canada. Prior to this, Theodore Racing's Jan Lammers broke a thumb during the Detroit Grand Prix and team owner Teddy Yip wanted Moreno to take over the seat, however Chapman refused to release him. Then during the race in Montréal, Mansell injured his wrist, allowing for Moreno to stand in. This soon turned into a nightmare, as the Lotus 91 was a beast to handle, Moreno had barely driven the car, as regular drivers, Mansell and Elio de Angelis did most of the testing, with Moreno being restricted to the older Lotus 87B and Lotus 88 models. Moreno failed to come to grips with the Lotus 91, with his best qualifying lap over two seconds away from making the grid. At the end of 1982, Lotus released him from his duties as test driver and it took his reputation a while to recover from this poor showing.He was to get another chance, but that Dutch race handicapped him for a number of years. At the end of the season he was called up to replace Pascal Fabre for the AGS team at the Japanese Grand Prix. Five years after the Lotus fiasco, Moreno was set to make his debut, except he was the slowest of all and once again did not qualify. However, Williams driver Nigel Mansell injured himself during practice and the team subsequently withdrew his entry, thus letting Moreno in for his debut Grand Prix. In the following race, the Australian Grand Prix, he drove the ungainly JH22 between the walls of the Adelaide Street Circuit to finish a fine 7th, while others hit the walls and broke their cars. Following post-race scrutineering, Ayrton Senna's Lotus-Honda was disqualified from 2nd for oversized brake ducts and Moreno was promoted to 6th place, scoring his, and the team's, first-ever point in Formula One.
In between years
Moreno went back to North America with Siddle. A sponsor had been found for a whole season of Formula Atlantic, but the support race at Long Beach GP was changed to a Super Vee, then he lost his sponsor. Despite the set-back, his new team, Theodore Racing went off and won the first race at Willow Springs. With the prize money, he did two more races, before the team stopped racing. Luckily for Moreno, the team owner, Teddy Yip help finance a move to another team. He won four races, while championship rival, Michael Andretti won three. Moreno missed out on the title as everytime he won, Andretti would finish second.For 1984, Roberto decided to return to Europe to race F3. Whilst pre-season testing with West Surrey Racing, he got an invitation from Tauranac to join the works Ralt Formula Two team. Moreno finished runner-up to Mike Thackwell, the pair dominated the final European Formula Two Championship, in their Ralt-Hondas. He tasted victory at the Hockenheim and Donington Park races. Tauranac wanted Moreno to stay for the inaugural International Formula 3000 season, but Moreno had been testing the Toleman at the end of 1984, with Senna's car. He look set to get a drive with the team, only to be told that they did not have any tyres, and the deal fell through. A move to Indycars was next for Roberto with Rick Galles's Galles Racing, as he had seen Moreno impress frequently. The deal was for Roberto to drive in the road race. He was invited to do a full campaign in 1986, however they had problems with the car and did not have any good results. When he was unable to find a full-time Indycar drive, he decided to try to get into F3000 driving with Ralt. During that season, he won Gran Premio del Mediterraneo, together with some consistent finishing saw him finished 3rd overall, before receiving the call to join up with AGS.
Moreno almost joined the Brabham Formula One team in. On the suggestion of his friend, Brabham lead driver and defending World Champion Nelson Piquet, Brabham team owner Bernie Ecclestone almost signed the young Brazilian to drive the teams #2 car. However, this opportunity for Moreno came to nothing when Brabham's Italian based sponsor Parmalat insisted on having an Italian driver as Piquet's teammate. This led to the unique situation where Ecclestone signed brothers Teo and Corrado Fabi to share the drive in the car. Teo was the main driver, but as he was already contracted to race in the United States based CART/PPG World Series for Forsythe Racing, Corrado, who had driven for Osella in, substituted for him in 3 races where the respective F1 and CART schedules clashed.
His performance at AGS did not get him a seat in F1. He went to Bromley Motorsport in F3000. The team, owned by Ron Salt, had Gary Anderson as its Technical Director, with whom Roberto had worked with at Galles. With help from Reynard Motorsport, they began the season with virtually no money. Revenge was sweet, when Moreno took a sponsorless Reynard-Cosworth 88D to the title by winning three early-season races, at Pau, Silverstone and Monza in a row. A fourth win came in the Birmingham Superprix.
F1 substitute (1989–1995)
Not even winning the FIA International Formula 3000 Championship in 1988 in an unsponsored Reynard 88D made the impression needed for a big team to recruit him. Instead, he signed a testing contract with Ferrari, who helped him land a racing drive with the ambitious Coloni outfit. The car was never competitive and Moreno only made the grid four times out of 16 attempts.Initially, 1990 seemed to be even less promising, with Moreno signing for the nosediving EuroBrun outfit, qualifying for just 2 out of the first 14 races of the season. However, shortly after being informed the team would not be competing in the last two rounds of the season, he was contacted by Benetton to drive their second car, with Alessandro Nannini having almost lost a hand in a helicopter crash following the Spanish Grand Prix. After qualifying 8th, he then shadowed his teammate, Piquet, coming home an excellent 2nd on his Benetton debut in the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix st Suzuka, although this result was helped by most other top cars dropping out, with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna famously colliding at the first corner while their teammates Nigel Mansell and Gerhard Berger would both retire. After then again qualifying 8th in the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide before going on to finish 7th, Moreno got a full contract with Benetton for 1991 season.
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However, the Benetton B191, on Pirelli tyres, was not as competitive as anticipated, and Moreno's best results were 4th place at the Monaco Grand Prix and the Belgian Grand Prix. In the latter race, Moreno made the fastest lap, but this was overshadowed by F1 debutant Michael Schumacher ; this would be Moreno's last race for Benetton before he was controversially paid off and dropped in favour of Schumacher. Schumacher had qualified 7th, and was up to 5th after the start when his clutch failed. The Benetton management, led by Tom Walkinshaw and team manager Flavio Briatore, were after a driver to rebuild the team around, convinced that neither the aging Piquet or Moreno were that driver. Walkinshaw engaged in some high-level dealing behind the scenes and managed to steal Schumacher from Jordan and Moreno was promptly fired. There are rumours to this day that Moreno was purposely driving within himself for the whole season in order to not show Piquet up. As it was, Moreno was offered the vacant Jordan drive for the 1991 Italian Grand Prix, where he qualified a very respectable 9th. Unfortunately he spun off on the second lap and retired. He would race the next race in Portugal, and then replaced Gianni Morbidelli in the Minardi, at the last race of the year in Adelaide, but Formula One seemed to have passed him by.
For the 1992 season, he found himself back with the minnows, signing for Andrea Moda. The outfit had risen from the ashes of Scuderia Coloni, and after two non-starting races with Alex Caffi and Enrico Bertaggia, decided to start over with Moreno and Perry McCarthy. Moreno and McCarthy faced an uphill struggle, with the uncompetitive team scrambling to even get to most races. Moreno would only qualify the under-tested, under-funded car once, for the Monaco Grand Prix, before the team collapsed following team owner Andrea Sassetti's arrest at the Belgian Grand Prix.
team.
After the Andrea Moda disaster, he spent the next two seasons racing Italian and French Touring Cars, and also attempted to qualify for the 1994 Indianapolis 500. 1995 saw Moreno making a brief Formula One comeback, with the ambitious Forti team. Moreno's Brazilian heritage helped him land the drive. Sadly, their car was comparatively slow, and Moreno's best result was 14th in the Belgian Grand Prix. He would exit Formula One crashing into the pitlane wall at the Australian Grand Prix.
IndyCar
1996 would see Moreno resume his Champ Car career, as he raced a Payton-Coyne Racing Lola-Ford, finishing 3rd at Michigan. At the beginning of 1997, he quit Payton-Coyne for its lack of commitment. He drove for three teams during the 1997 season, earning the nickname "Supersub", with his best result of 5th at Detroit in a Newman-Haas Swift-Ford. Here, he replaced an injured Christian Fittipaldi. He outqualified the team leader, Michael Andretti on several occasions, but still could not pick up a competitive drive for 1998, instead accepting a testing role with Penske.1998 was more barren, with just three drives. The following season again saw him take two different cars, with two 4th places his best. In 1999 he also made his first Indy Racing League start at Phoenix International Raceway finishing 6th and returned to the Indianapolis 500 after a 13 year absence finishing 20th for Truscelli Team Racing. Only in 2000, having subbed for Patrick Racing in the previous season, Roberto was granted a full-time seat in one of their Reynard Motorsport-Fords, and he led the series for much of the distance, before hitting a low patch, and losing out to Gil de Ferran, eventually ranking 3rd overall.
Moreno won his first Champ Car race at Cleveland, and in a scene scarcely seen in motor racing, the emotional Moreno wept openly. It had been his first race victory since his Formula 3000 victory twelve years earlier. He won again for Patrick Racing at Vancouver the following year, but was less consistent and dropped to 13th in the standings.
In 2003 he drove for Herdez Competition, taking his Lola-Cosworth to 2nd at Miami, and announced his retirement from motorsport at the end of the year.
In April 2006, after just one outing in a Brazilian Stock Car at Jacarepaguá, Moreno substituted for Ed Carpenter at Vision Racing, in the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
In August of the same year, Moreno became the first driver to test the new Panoz-built Champ Car. According to former series champion Paul Tracy, " a guy who's not going to go out there and make mistakes and go off the road. They need to put miles on the car and run it fairly quickly, and he's the perfect guy for the job."
After running thousands of miles of testing in the Panoz DP01, Moreno got a chance to race it at the 2007 Grand Prix of Houston, substituting for the injured Alex Figge at Pacific Coast Motorsports.
Roberto drove as a replacement for an injured Stéphan Grégoire at the 2007 Indianapolis 500 for Chastain Motorsports. He crashed the car early in the race and finished in last place.
Helmet
Moreno's helmet has traditionally been yellow, with blue, red, and white wings adorning the visor, sides, and chin area. Written on the lower portion of the helmet is the name "Moreno." Later versions of his helmet have included blue cylindrical designs along with the wings. His helmets are designed by Sid Mosca.Racing record
Career highlights
| Season | Series | Position | Team | Car |
| 1980 | British Formula Ford Championship | 1st | Van Diemen | Van Diemen-Ford RF80 |
| 1980 | Formula Ford Festival | 1st | Van Diemen | Van Diemen-Ford RF80 |
| 1980 | Euroseries Formula Ford 1600 | 2nd | Van Diemen | Van Diemen-Ford RF80 |
| 1980 | RAC Formula Ford 1600 Championship | 4th | Van Diemen | Van Diemen-Ford RF80 |
| 1980 | P&O Ferries Formula Ford 1600 Championship | 6th | Van Diemen | Van Diemen-Ford RF80 |
| 1981 | Australian Grand Prix | 1st | Graham Watson Racing | Ralt-Ford RT4/81 |
| 1981 | Selangor Grand Prix | 1st | Theodore Racing | Ralt-Ford RT4/81 |
| 1981 | European Formula Three Championship | 10th | Barron Racing | Ralt-Toyota RT3/81 |
| 1981 | British Formula 3 Championship | 11th | Barron Racing | Ralt-Toyota RT3/81 |
| 1982 | New Zealand Formula Pacific | 1st | Goold Motorsport | Ralt-Ford RT4/81 |
| 1982 | North American Formula Atlantic Championship | 9th | Goold Motorsport | Ralt-Ford RT4/81 |
| 1982 | Macau Grand Prix | 1st | Ralt-Ford RT4/81 | |
| 1982 | British Formula 3 Championship | 6th | Ivens Lumar Racing | Ralt-Alfa Romoe RT3C/81 Ralt-Toyota RT3C/81 |
| 1982 | European Formula Three Championship | 16th | Ivens Lumar Racing | Ralt-Toyota RT3C/81 |
| 1983 | Australian Grand Prix | 1st | Ralt-Ford RT4 | |
| 1983 | Formula Mondial North American Cup | 2nd | Theodore Racing/Agapiou Racing | Ralt-Ford RT4/81 |
| 1983 | Camel GTU Championship | 41st | William Karges All American Racers | BMW 320 Toyota Celica |
| 1983 | Camel GTO Championship | 43rd | All American Racers | Toyota Celica |
| 1984 | Australian Grand Prix | 1st | Goold Motorsport | Ralt-Ford RT4/81 |
| 1984 | European Formula Two Championship | 2nd | Ralt Racing Ltd. | Ralt-Honda RH6 |
| 1984 | Japanese Formula Two Championship | 12th | Ralt Racing Ltd. | Ralt-Honda RH6 |
| 1985 | Japanese Formula Two Championship | 11th | Advan Sports Nova | March-Mugen Honda 842 |
| 1985 | International Formula 3000 | 14th | Barron Racing | Tyrrell-Cosworth 012 |
| 1985 | Indy Car World Series | 29th | Galles Racing | March-Cosworth 85C |
| 1986 | Indy Car World Series | 16th | Galles Racing | Lola-Cosworth T8600 |
| 1987 | International Formula 3000 | 3rd | Ralt | Ralt-Honda RT21 |
| 1987 | Formula One | 19th | AGS | AGS-Cosworth JH22 |
| 1988 | International Formula 3000 | 1st | Bromley Motorsport | Reynard-Coswoth 88D |
| 1990 | Formula One | 10th | EuroBurn Racing Benetton Formula Ltd | EuroBrun-Judd ER189B Benetton-Ford B190 |
| 1991 | Formula One | 10th | Camel Benetton Ford Camel Benetton Ford Team 7Up Jordan Minardi Team | Benetton-Ford B190B Benetton-Ford B191 Jordan-Ford 191 Minardi-Ferrari M191 |
| 1992 | Campionato Italiano Superturismo | 11th | Ford Escort | |
| 1993 | French Supertouring Championship | 7th | Team Usine Alfa Romeo | Alfa Romeo 155 TS D2 |
| 1996 | Indy Car World Series | 21st | Payton/Coyne Racing | Lola-Cosworth T96/00 |
| 1997 | CART World Series | 19th | Payton/Coyne Racing Bettenhausen Racing Newman-Haas Racing | Lola-Ford T97/00 Reynard-Mercedes Benz 97i Swift-Ford 007.i |
| 1998 | CART World Series | 19th | Newman-Haas Racing Project Indy | Swift-Ford 009.c Reynard-Ford 97i |
| 1999 | CART Championship Series | 14th | PacWest Racing Newman/Haas Racing | Reynard-Mercedes-Benz 99i Swift-Ford 010.c |
| 1999 | Indy Racing League | 29th | Truscelli Racing | G-Force-Oldsmobile GF01C |
| 2000 | CART Championship Series | 3rd | Patrick Racing | Reynard-Cosworth 2KI |
| 2001 | CART Championship Series | 13th | Patrick Racing | Reynard-Toyota 01i |
| 2003 | Champ Car World Series | 13th | Herdez Competition | Reynard-Ford B02/00 |
| 2005 | Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series – DP Class | 39th | Spirit of Daytona Racing Doran Labonte Racing | Crawford-Pontiac DP03 Doren-Pontiac JE4 |
| 2006 | IRL IndyCar Series | 30th | Vision Racing | Dallara-Honda IR4 |
| 2006 | Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series – DP Class | 86th | Brumos Racing | Fabcar-Porsche FDSC/03 |
| 2007 | Brasil GT3 Championship | 11th | CRT | Ferrari F430 GT3 |
| 2007 | Champ Car World Series | 22nd | Pacific Coast Motorsports | Panoz-Cosworth DP01 |
| 2007 | IndyCar Series | 36th | Chastain Motorsports | Panoz-Honda GR09B |
| 2007 | Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series – DP Class | 58th | Brumos Racing | Riley-Porsche Mk XI |
| 2008 | Trofeo Maserati Brasil Championship | 30th | Maserati Trofeo | |
| 2012 | Eurocup Mégane Trophy | 20th | Oregon Team-3 | Renault Mégane |
| 2014 | Copa Caçula de Pneus de Marcas e Pilotos | 4th | Maguila Motorsport | Chevrolet Celta |
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results
Complete 24 Hours of Spa results
Complete European Formula Two Championship results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos | Pts |
| Ralt Racing Ltd. | Ralt | Honda | SIL 2 | HOC 1 | THR Ret | VAL 2 | MUG Ret | PAU 3 | HOC Ret | MIS NC | PER 2 | DON 1 | BRH 3 | 2nd | 44 |
Complete International Formula 3000 results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pts | |
| 1985 | Barron Racing | SIL 6 | THR Ret | EST 5 | NÜR | VAL 9 | PAU | SPA | DIJ | PER | ÖST | ZAN | DON | 15th | 3 |
| 1986 | Bromley Motorsport | SIL | VAL | PAU | SPA | IMO | MUG | PER | ÖST | BIR 10 | BUG | JAR | NC | 0 | |
| 1987 | Ralt Racing Ltd. | SIL 3 | VAL 11 | SPA 3 | PAU 10 | DON 4 | PER 1 | BRH 3 | BIR 2 | IMO 5 | BUG 9 | JAR Ret | 3rd | 30 | |
| 1988 | Bromley Motorsport | JER Ret | VAL 4 | PAU 1 | SIL 1 | MNZ 1 | PER Ret | BRH Ret | BIR 1 | BUG 5 | ZOL 5 | DIJ Ret | 1st | 43 |
Complete Formula One results
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | WDC | Points |
| 1982 | John Player Lotus | Lotus 91 | Cosworth V8 | RSA | BRA | USW | SMR | BEL | MON | DET | CAN | NED DNQ | GBR | FRA | GER | AUT | SUI | ITA | CPL | NC | 0 | |
| 1987 | Team AGS | AGS JH22 | Cosworth V8 | BRA | SMR | BEL | MON | DET | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | AUT | ITA | POR | ESP | MEX | JPN Ret | AUS 6 | 19th | 1 | |
| 1989 | Coloni SpA | Coloni FC188B | Cosworth V8 | BRA DNQ | SMR DNQ | MON Ret | MEX DNQ | USA DNQ | NC | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 1989 | Coloni SpA | Coloni C3 | Cosworth V8 | CAN Ret | FRA DNQ | GBR Ret | GER DNPQ | HUN DNPQ | BEL DNPQ | ITA DNPQ | POR Ret | ESP DNPQ | JPN DNPQ | AUS DNPQ | NC | 0 | ||||||
| 1990 | EuroBrun Racing | EuroBrun ER189 | Judd V8 | USA 13 | BRA DNPQ | SMR Ret | MON DNQ | CAN DNQ | 10th | 6 | ||||||||||||
| 1990 | EuroBrun Racing | EuroBrun ER189B | Judd V8 | MEX EX | FRA DNPQ | GBR DNPQ | GER DNPQ | HUN DNPQ | BEL DNPQ | ITA DNPQ | POR DNPQ | ESP DNPQ | 10th | 6 | ||||||||
| 1990 | Benetton Formula | Benetton B190 | Ford V8 | JPN 2 | AUS 7 | 10th | 6 | |||||||||||||||
| 1991 | Camel Benetton Ford | Benetton B190B | Ford V8 | USA Ret | BRA 7 | 10th | 8 | |||||||||||||||
| 1991 | Camel Benetton Ford | Benetton B191 | Ford V8 | SMR 13 | MON 4 | CAN Ret | MEX 5 | FRA Ret | GBR Ret | GER 8 | HUN 8 | BEL 4 | 10th | 8 | ||||||||
| 1991 | Team 7UP Jordan | Jordan 191 | Ford V8 | ITA Ret | POR 10 | ESP | JPN | 10th | 8 | |||||||||||||
| 1991 | Minardi Team | Minardi M191 | Ferrari V12 | AUS 16 | 10th | 8 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1992 | Andrea Moda Formula | Andrea Moda S921 | Judd V10 | RSA | MEX | BRA DNPQ | ESP DNPQ | SMR DNPQ | MON Ret | CAN DNPQ | FRA DNA | GBR DNPQ | GER DNPQ | HUN DNQ | BEL DNQ | ITA DNP | POR | JPN | AUS | NC | 0 | |
| 1995 | Parmalat Forti Ford | Forti FG01 | Ford V8 | BRA Ret | ARG NC | SMR NC | ESP Ret | MON Ret | CAN Ret | FRA 16 | GBR Ret | GER Ret | HUN Ret | BEL 14 | ITA Ret | POR 17 | EUR Ret | PAC 16 | JPN Ret | AUS Ret | NC | 0 |