Pedro Diniz

Born	(1970-05-22) 22 May 1970 (age 42) São Paulo, Brazil
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Brazilian
Active years	1995–2000
Teams	Forti, Ligier, Arrows, Sauber
Races	99 (98 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	10
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	1995 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last race	2000 Malaysian Grand Prix

Pedro Paulo Diniz (born in São Paulo on May 22, 1970) is a racing driver from Brazil. He participated in 99 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on March 26, 1995. He scored a total of 10 championship points.

Biography[link]

Diniz driving for Forti at the 1995 British Grand Prix.

One of the richest men ever to sit in a Formula One cockpit, Diniz's motor racing career progressed as a result of his father, Abílio dos Santos Diniz, owning the Brazilian distribution company Companhia Brasileira de Distribuição and the supermarket chain Pão de Açúcar.^[1] After several years in junior formulae, he joined the Forti F1 team in 1995, largely funded by the Diniz family's wealth and sponsorship connections. This in turn led to a long-term marketing deal with Parmalat, backing he took throughout his career.^[2] Diniz's first year was unsuccessful; the Forti cars proving to be at least several seconds a lap slower than the ultimate pace.

Diniz moved to the more established Ligier team for 1996, a blow to the Forti team's finances which saw it fail to complete its second season in the sport. At the Argentine Grand Prix, his car burst into flames after a pit-stop due to its fuel valve sticking open; British newspaper The Sun famously printed the photo alongside the headline "Diniz in the Oven".^[3] However, he also scored his first championship points at the Spanish and Italian Grands Prix, both races of attrition in which he impressed by staying in the race.

For 1997, Diniz moved to the Arrows team, where he was partnered by reigning champion Damon Hill after the latter's departure from the Williams outfit. Diniz embarrassed Hill by outqualifying him at the challenging Spa circuit in Belgium, and then again at the tough Suzuka Circuit. He also took a personal best finish of fifth at the Luxembourg Grand Prix. He remained at the team in 1998 alongside Mika Salo, matching his higher-rated team-mate for points.

Diniz driving for Sauber at the 2000 Canadian Grand Prix.

Two seasons with Sauber were largely unspectacular in terms of results, although he outscored team-mate Jean Alesi in 1999. He had a huge crash in the 1999 European Grand Prix, from which he was lucky to walk away after his car's roll hoop failed as a result of the impact. While his reputation had advanced from his early days, it dropped again in 2000 after he failed to score a point for the first time since 1995. At Hockenheim he side-swiped Alesi (now driving for Prost) resulting in a huge crash, and was also given a stop-go penalty for an incident in Austria which damaged several cars.^[4] He decided to retire at the end of the season, buying into the Prost team, which folded a year later.^[1] By that time his relationship with team-owner Alain Prost had soured.^[5]

After Formula One[link]

Diniz returned to Brazil and operated the Brazilian Formula Renault championship from 2002 to 2006. Currently, he operates several companies in the country.

Helmet[link]

Diniz's helmet design is a base colour of dark blue with three arrows shaded from yellow to red: two around the sides and one over the top. It is based on the design of compatriot Carlos Pace.

Racing record[link]

Prior To F1[link]

• 1987-88 : Karting
• 1989 : Formula Ford Brazil
• 1990 : Formula Three Sudamericana
• 1991-92 : British Formula Three
• 1993-94 : Formula 3000

Complete International Formula 3000 results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results[link]

(key)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pedro Diniz

• PPD Holding official website - Pedro Diniz's company (Portuguese)

Ricardo Zonta Zonta in 2007, as a Stock Car Brasil driver Born (1976-03-23) 23 March 1976 (age 36) Formula One World Championship career Nationality Brazilian Active years 1999–2001, 2003–2005 Teams BAR, Jordan, Toyota, McLaren (Test Driver), Renault (Test Driver) Races 38 (36 starts) Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Career points 3 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First race 1999 Australian Grand Prix Last race 2005 United States Grand Prix 24 Hours of Le Mans career Participating years 1998, 2008 Teams AMG-Mercedes, Peugeot Best finish 3rd (2008) Class wins 0

Ricardo Luiz Zonta (born March 23, 1976 in Curitiba) is a Brazilian racing driver.

Early career[link]

Born in Curitiba, Brazil, Zonta began karting in 1987, winning his first race shortly thereafter. The following year, he was runner-up for the Curitiba Karting Championship, and in 1991, he won the title. He continued karting until 1992, finishing 4th in the São Paulo Karting Championship before progressing to single-seaters for 1993. He finished 6th in the Brazilian Formula Chevrolet Championship, and then in 1994, came 5th in the Brazilian Formula Three Championship. A year later, Zonta won both the Brazilian and South American Formula Three Championships.

Moving to Europe in 1996, Zonta competed in the International Formula 3000 Championship for Draco Racing, winning two races and finishing 4th overall. In the same year, he became the first Brazilian to compete in International Touring Cars, with Mercedes. In 1997, he won three races and the Formula 3000 championship. He also took home the "Golden Helmet" award for best international driver for his efforts. The Jordan Formula One team signed him as their official test driver following his championship, and in 1998, he was signed by McLaren boss Ron Dennis. Zonta tested with the McLaren F1 team in 1998, and concurrently won the FIA GT Championship (GT1 class) and the "Golden Helmet" award in the "world prominence" category.

In October 1998, immediately after winning the FIA GT championship, Zonta signed up with the B.A.R. Formula One racing team as one of its race drivers for the 1999 season [1], [2], after rejecting offers from Jordan and Sauber [3].

Formula One career[link]

Zonta qualifying in place of an injured Ralf Schumacher at the 2005 United States Grand Prix.

In 1999, Zonta started as an F1 race driver alongside 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve at new team B.A.R. Zonta injured his foot in an accident during practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix, and was forced to miss three races. He also had a large accident at Spa-Francorchamps, and finished the season with no championship points. Zonta remained with B.A.R for the 2000 season, scoring his first world championship point with a 6th place in the opening race. He had another large accident when his front suspension broke during testing at Silverstone, but continued the season, scoring points in both the Italian and United States Grands Prix, to finish 14th in the championship. Replaced by Olivier Panis for the 2001 season, Zonta became the third driver for the Jordan team, replacing the injured Heinz-Harald Frentzen for one race, and then again when Frentzen was sacked, but was overlooked to replace him for the remainder of the season. In 2002, he decided to focus on the Telefonica World Series, which he won. Zonta was then hired as test driver for the Toyota F1 team in 2003, retaining the position in 2004. Towards the end of the season, the team sacked Cristiano da Matta from a race seat, and Zonta drove in four Grands Prix. In Belgium a brilliant fourth place went beckoning when engine failure struck three laps from the finish. In Suzuka the team hired Jarno Trulli and Zonta had to sit the event out, however the team allowed him to compete in his home race, the Brazilian Grand Prix, which he finished in 13th. He continued as a test driver for Toyota in 2005, alongside veteran French pilot Olivier Panis. At the US Grand Prix later that year, he stood in for an injured Ralf Schumacher and took his place on the grid, only for Toyota, like the other six Michelin-shod teams, to withdraw from the race due to safety concerns. 2006 saw Zonta continue with Toyota as the teams third and test driver.

Ricardo Zonta was confirmed as test driver for the Renault Formula One team for the 2007 season on 6 September 2006.^[1]

After Formula One[link]

In 2007, Zonta entered the Stock Car Brasil series in parallel with the work for the Renault team.^[2]

In 2008, Zonta kicked off his sportscar career by contesting the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Peugeot Sport, driving the #9 car alongside Franck Montagny & F1 tester Christian Klien. He is also driving in the Grand Am Championship in America with Krohn Racng and is Team owner and Driver of Panasonic racing in the stock car series in Brazil.

Racing career[link]

Complete International Formula 3000 results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results[link]

(key)

^† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they had completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete GT1 World Championship results[link]

24 Hours of Le Mans results[link]

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1998	GT1	36	B	Mercedes-Benz CLK LM Mercedes-Benz M119 5.0L V8	AMG-Mercedes	Jean-Marc Gounon Christophe Bouchut	31	DNF	DNF
2008	LMP1	9	M	Peugeot 908 HDi FAP Peugeot HDi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	Peugeot Sport Total	Franck Montagny Christian Klien	379	3rd	3rd

Complete Stock Car Brasil results[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ricardo Zonta

• Ricardo Zonta's official website
• Ricardo Zonta profile and statistics

Ukyo Katayama Katayama in 2008 Born (1963-05-29) 29 May 1963 (age 49) Formula One World Championship career Nationality Japanese Active years 1992–1997 Teams Larrousse, Tyrrell, Minardi Races 97 (95 starts) Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Career points 5 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First race 1992 South African Grand Prix Last race 1997 European Grand Prix 24 Hours of Le Mans career Participating years 1998-1999 Teams Toyota Team Europe Best finish 2nd (1999) Class wins 1 (1999)

Ukyo Katayama (片山 右京, Katayama Ukyō^?, born May 29, 1963) is a Japanese racing driver, most notable for competing six years in Formula One. Despite struggling with under-funded teams throughout his career, Katayama's performances impressed on several occasions, and was popular in the F1 paddock for his unshakeably sunny disposition and self-deprecating sense of humour ("It is possible to do more with this car - the only problem is my driving!")^[1]

He participated in 97 Grands Prix, debuting on March 1, 1992. He scored a total of five championship points, all of them for the Tyrell team in 1994.

He also competed in the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing 2nd overall and 1st in the GTP class.

Biography[link]

Katayama was born in Tokyo. He first raced in Europe in 1986 in France before returning home to win the Japanese F3000 series in 1991.

Formula One[link]

His sponsors, Japan Tobacco, arranged a Formula One seat for Katayama in 1992 with Cabin brand, with the Larrousse team. The car was unreliable and a distinct midfielder, with team-mate Bertrand Gachot getting the lion's share of the team's meagre resources. However, Katayama impressed by running in 5th at the Canadian GP until his engine blew, but was eventually left with a brace of 9th places as his best result. Unfortunately, the year was also remembered for two embarrassing collisions with Gachot in Canada and at home in Japan.

Japan Tobacco managed to arrange a switch to Tyrrell for 1993, but the team were at a nadir, with the interim 020C essentially three years old, and the new 021 proving uncompetitive. 10th place at the Hungarian GP was his best result, in a year in which he attracted more attention for accidents.

1994 was to see a considerable turnaround for Tyrrell and Katayama. He impressed with the new 022, with three points-scoring finishes, a number of good qualifying performances, and generally being faster than his more experienced and acclaimed team-mate Mark Blundell. He was consistently a top-6 runner, but the car proved to be unreliable, leading him to 12 retirements, including the German GP, in which he was running 3rd before his throttle stuck open. However, in the four races that he did finish, he scored two 5th places, one 6th, and one 7th, good enough for 5 World Championship points.

Katayama driving for Tyrrell at the 1995 British Grand Prix.

After his 1994 performance, he was allegedly offered a contract with a top team for the 1995 season, but in Katayama's words, "he couldn't sign it". It would later emerge that in 1994 he had been diagnosed with cancer in his back; while non-threatening, it was painful, and his Grand Prix commitments delayed treatment. Katayama did not announce this until he retired from Formula One, not wanting anyone's sympathy to make excuses for him.

He stayed on with Tyrrell for the next two seasons, but suffered a loss of form, with two 7th places in high-attrition races his best results, thus scoring no points whilst being outpaced by rookie team-mate Mika Salo. During these years his habit of crashing would re-emerge, notably with a spectacular barrel-roll at the start of the 1995 Portuguese GP, and, as a rather short man, was highly disadvantaged by the regulation changes which led to walls being built up around the cockpit, a response to the death of Ayrton Senna at the 1994 San Marino GP.

After leaving Tyrrell, his Mild Seven (another brand of Japan Tobacco) backing landed him a seat at Minardi, but they too were at a low ebb, and two 10th places were his best result. At his home Grand Prix, he emotionally announced his retirement from Formula One.

After Formula One[link]

As a racing driver[link]

Katayama's Toyota GT-One for the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Still popular in his homeland, Katayama has since dabbled in sportscars and GT racing, as well as his other love of mountaineering. One of his most notable performance post F1 was at the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans, when during the last hour, as he was lapping traffic and closing up the leading BMW in his Toyota GT-One, sharing with compatriots Keiichi Tsuchiya and Toshio Suzuki, his car suffered a tyre blowout and, while he managed to keep the car on the track, he was forced to slowly make his way around the track to return to the pits for a new set. In the process the GT-One lost the chance to contend with the lead BMW, and thus lost the race. The lone GT-One would come home 2nd overall. As a consolation prize, the GT-One would win the GTP class, although it was the only car in the class to actually finish.

In 2008, he was one of several retired F1 drivers to compete in the new Speedcar Series.

As a motorsport director[link]

In year 2000, He established TeamUKYO which participated in JGTC/Super GT (2001-2002 in GT500 and 2011 in GT300), also in Dakar Rally (2002-2005, 2007).

As a mountain climber[link]

Katayama is a lover of mountain climbing. He has often been climbing mountains since his F1 era.

In 2001 he climbed the world's sixth-highest mountain, Cho Oyu. On December 1, 2006, it was reported that he had achieved his lifetime ambition of climbing Manaslu, the eighth-highest mountain in the world, after an unsuccessful attempt in 2004.^[2]

On December 18, 2009, it was reported that he had been missing whilst climbing Mount Fuji with two friends. Upon calling a police search and rescue team, they informed the police that one of their climbing party had died, and another was presumed to be dying. Eventually, Katayama was found alive while two fellow climbers were found dead.^[3]

As of the end of 2010, Katayama summited five of the Seven Summits: Mont Blanc (climbed in 1996), Kilimanjaro (1998), Elbrus (1998), McKinley (2008), Aconcagua (2009), and Vinson Massif (2010)^[4]

Other sports[link]

He has been participating other sporting events as an official invitee, such as Honolulu Marathon and Honolulu Century Ride.

Media appearances[link]

He is now a commentator of Formula One in Japan, for Fuji TV. In 1996 he was a guest judge on Iron Chef.

Helmet[link]

Katayama's helmet was blue with a red and white stripe crossing the rear area and going in the sides forming an obliquous T letter, and a vertical red and white stripe going across the top (until the visor)

http://f-lap.net/_src/sc1278/ukyo05.jpg

Racing record[link]

Complete Formula One results[link]

(key)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results[link]

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1988	C1	30	M	Courage C22 Porsche Type-935 2.8L Turbo Flat-6	Courage Compétition	Paul Belmondo François Migault	66	DNF	DNF
1992	C1	7	G	Toyota TS010 Toyota RV10 3.5L V10	Toyota Team Tom's	Geoff Lees David Brabham	192	DNF	DNF
1998	GT1	27	M	Toyota GT-One Toyota R36V 3.6L Turbo V8	Toyota Motorsports Toyota Team Europe	Toshio Suzuki Keiichi Tsuchiya	326	9th	8th
1999	LMGTP	3	M	Toyota GT-One Toyota R36V 3.6L Turbo V8	Toyota Motorsports Toyota Team Europe	Keiichi Tsuchiya Toshio Suzuki	364	2nd	1st
2002	LMP900	18	M	Courage C60 Peugeot A32 3.2L Turbo V6	Pescarolo Sport	Eric Hélary Stéphane Ortelli	144	DNF	DNF
2003	LMP900	9	Y	Dome S101 Mugen MF408S 4.0L V8	Kondo Racing	Masahiko Kondo Ryo Fukuda	322	13th	8th

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ukyo Katayama

• Ukyo Katayama at F1DB.
• F1 Rejects article about Katayama's 1994 season.
• Chequered Flag Motorsport's Profile of Katayama and other Japanese F1 drivers