Raphael Matos (born August 28, 1981) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. He was the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights Series champion and the 2007 Champ Car Atlantic Series champion. He lives in Miami.
Raphael Matos
Nationality
Brazilian
Born
(1981-08-28) August 28, 1981 (age 42)
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
IndyCar Series career
Debut season
Current team
Racing licence
Car number
17
Former teams
Starts
34
Wins
0
Poles
0
Best finish
13th in 2009
Previous series
2008
2006-2007
2004-2005
2002-2003
Firestone Indy Lights
Champ Car Atlantic Series
A1 Grand Prix
Star Mazda Series
Skip Barber Formula Dodge Series
Championship titles
2008
2007
2005
2003
Firestone Indy Lights Series
Champ Car Atlantic Series
Star Mazda Series
Skip Barber Formula Dodge
Awards
2009
IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year
Born in Belo Horizonte, Matos came to the United States in 2002 after karting in Brazil and began competing in Skip Barber Formula Dodge, winning the championship in 2003. In 2004, he moved up to the Star Mazda Series and in 2005 he won the Star Mazda championship. In 2006 he moved up the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Series where he drove for the Sierra Sierra team and captured one victory on his way to 4th place in the points standings.
He also competed in 4 Indy Pro Series races for Guthrie Racing and swept the two races held in March at St. Petersburg, Florida. During the fall he was named a driver for A1 Team Brazil in the A1 Grand Prix series and made his debut at the series' race in Beijing in the 2006–2007 season. He raced a Lola B07/40-Mazda in the 2007 12 Hours of Sebring and the 2007 Petit Le Mans.[1]
Matos continued with the Sierra Sierra team in Atlantics in 2007 and clinched the championship with several races remaining in the season, securing for himself the $2 million "scholarship" for a ride in Champ Car for the 2008 season.
However, Matos decided to pass on the scholarship and sign with Andretti Green Racing to drive in the Indy Racing League's Firestone Indy Lights Series in 2008, where he won the series championship.[2]
Prior to the 2008 Indy Lights season, he drove a Mazda RX-8 for the SpeedSource team in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, taking first in the GT class and a 9th place overall finish, sharing the car with Nick Ham, David Haskell and Sylvain Tremblay. After the season, he drove for Michael Shank Racing on the winning team in the DP class (with Ian James and John Pew) at the SunRichGourmet.com 1000 at Miller Motorsports Park.
Matos competed in the full 2009 IndyCar Series season for Luczo-Dragon Racing.[3] He qualified third in his second race, the Long Beach Grand Prix and finished eight. He was the fastest rookie qualifier in his first Indy 500 and ran in the lead pack, but had a crash with Vítor Meira in which Meira was injured. Matos finished 22nd. Matos captured seasonal Rookie of the Year honors by a wide margin over former F1 driver Robert Doornbos. Matos' best finish was 6th at the Milwaukee Mile. He was running at the finish of each of the last ten races of the season, consistency that led to 13th in the championship despite few top ten finishes. Raphael qualified 12th in both the 2009 and 2010 Indy 500 and he also crashed in both races in roughly the same location at the exit of turn 1. He failed to qualify the AFS entry for the 2011 Indianapolis 500. He was also the fastest Rookie during the 2009 Indy 500 qualifying.
Matos raced full-time in Stock Car Brasil between 2013 and 2015, claiming a race win in 2014, and a best of 13th overall in 2015.[4] At the end of 2015, he failed a drug test, and was suspended for two years.[5] Matos claimed that he used the undisclosed substance in question in order to treat several tumors he had since he was 18.[6]
In2018, Matos started racing in the Trans-Am Series, and won the TA2 class championship at his first attempt. He won the class championship again in 2021, after finishing in first place in six out of twelve races.[7]
American Le Mans Series results
Year
Entrant
Class
Chassis
Engine
Tyres
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Rank
Points
B-K Motorsports
LMP2
Courage C65
Mazda R20B 2.0L 3-rotor
SEB
ovr:Ret
cls:Ret
23rd
14
B-K Motorsports
Mazdaspeed
LMP2
Mazda MZR-R 2.0L Turbo I4
SEB
ovr:NC
cls:NC
PET
ovr:Ret
cls:Ret
28th
10
B-K Motorsports
LMP2
Mazda MZR-R 2.0 L Turbo I4
(E85 ethanol)
SEB
ovr:DNS
cls:DNS
33rd
10
MON
ovr:30
cls:10
Acura 3.4L V8
MID
ovr:14
cls:7
GT
Ferrari 4.5 L V8
PET
ovr:DNS
cls:DNS
NC
-
Performance Tech Motorsports
PC
SEB
ovr:49
cls:6
BAL
ovr:Ret
cls:Ret
28th
10
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
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
MYS
SPR
19
MYS
FEA
18
NZL
SPR
16
NZL
FEA
14
18th
9
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year
Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Rank
Points
LBH
2
HOU
11
MTY
23
POR
6
CLE1
5
CLE2
Ret
TOR
9
EDM
Ret
SJO
1
DEN
2
MTL
7
ROA
2
4th
205
LVG
1
LBH
1
HOU
1
POR1
4
POR2
6
CLE
1
MTT
2
TOR
3
EDM1
1
EDM2
1
SJO
4
ROA
2
1st
341
Year
Team
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Rank
Points
STP1
1
STP2
1
WGL
13
IMS
4
10th
154
HMS
8
STP1
1
STP2
12
KAN
19
INDY
10
MIL
3
IOW
7
WGL1
1
WGL2
2
NSH
5
MDO1
1
MDO2
18
KTY
6
SNM1
2
SNM2
6
CHI
3
1st
510
IndyCar Series results
Year
Team
Chassis
No.
Engine
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Rank
Points
Ref
Dallara IR-05
2
STP
20
LBH
8
KAN
20
INDY
22
MIL
6
TXS
12
IOW
16
RIR
8
WGL
12
TOR
10
EDM
18
KTY
16
MDO
9
SNM
9
CHI
9
MOT
9
HMS
14
13th
312
SAO
4
STP
8
ALA
14
LBH
20
KAN
16
INDY
29
TXS
16
IOW
14
WGL
4
TOR
21
EDM
13
MDO
7
SNM
21
CHI
29
KTY
16
MOT
18
HMS
17
14th
290
17
STP
7
ALA
20
LBH
11
SAO
25
INDY
DNQ
30th
67
Years
Teams
Races
Poles
Wins
Podiums
(Non-win)
Top 10s
(Non-podium)
Indianapolis 500
Wins
Championships
3
2
38
0
0
0
13
0
0
Year
Chassis
Engine
Start
Finish
Team
12
22
12
29
DNQ
Stock Car Brasil results
Year
Team
Car
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Rank
Points
BSB
23
INT
9
NC†
0†
INT
10
CUR
26
TAR
16
SAL
26
BRA
10
CAS
19
RBP
6
CAS
8
VEL
16
CUR
18
BRA
10
INT
18
13th
84
INT
1
17
SCZ
1
7
SCZ
2
23
BRA
1
2
BRA
2
26
GOI
1
17
GOI
2
Ret
GOI
1
DSQ
CAS
1
Ret
CAS
2
27
CUR
1
22
CUR
2
12
VEL
1
Ret
VEL
2
Ret
SCZ
1
10
SCZ
2
1
TAR
1
15
TAR
2
8
SAL
1
10
SAL
2
2
BRA
1
Ret
16th
104
† Ineligible for championship points.
Sporting positions
Firestone Indy Lights Champion
2008
Champ Car Atlantic Champion
2007
Star Mazda Championship Champion
2005
Achievements
IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year
2009
