Maurício Gugelmin (born 20 April 1963) is a Brazilian former racing driver.
He took part in both Formula One and the Champ Car World Series. He participated in 80 Formula One grands prix, debuting in 1988 for the March team. He achieved one top-three finish and scored a total of ten championship points in the series. He competed in the Champ Car series between 1993 and 2001, starting 147 races. He won one race, in 1997 in Vancouver, finishing fourth in the championship that year. His best result in the Indianapolis 500 was in 1995 where he started and finished in sixth position, leading 59 laps.
For a period, he held the world speed record for a closed race track, set at California Speedway in 1997 at a speed of 240.942 mph (387.759 km/h). Gugelmin retired at the end of 2001 after a year that included the death of his son. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Starting in karts in 1971, Mauricio went on to win his local championship nine years in a row and then graduated to the Brazilian national championship in 1980, which he also won. Progressing to single-seaters, he became the Brazilian Formula Fiat Champion in 1981, then moved to England to compete in Formula Ford 1600.
A longtime friend of Ayrton Senna, who was already racing in the UK, the two shared a house for several years. Having raced for the Van Diemen team, Ayrton recommended him to them and after getting the seat, Mauricio became 1982’s British FFord 1600 champion. This was followed by FF2000, and after moving to European FFord he took the title in 1984 at his first attempt.
With sponsorship from Perdigão, he stepped up to F3 with West Surrey Racing and in that year won the British championship and the prestigious Macau Grand Prix. This was followed by two years in F3000, in which he won 1987’s opening race at Silverstone with Ralt.
He had been linked with Lotus for 1986 but they would have had two Brazilian drivers and the seat went to Johnny Dumfries, though his F1 debut came in 1988 with March (teamed with Ivan Capelli). Things looked promising for the team as the March had a chassis designed by Adrian Newey and was powered by a Judd V8 engine. Unfortunately he suffered a number of retirements in the first races but then finished fourth at the British GP followed by further points with fifth place in Hungary.
1989 started well, with a third place podium finish in Brazil, although this was with the 1988 car, but it went on to be a disappointing time for him and the team, with his results being seventh place finishes in Belgium, Japan and Australia plus tenth in Portugal. At the French GP, he was fortunate to escape serious injury after an accident in which his car barrel rolled and, amazingly, after the race was restarted he started from the pit lane and went on to set the race’s fastest lap.
The team initially struggled in 1990 and though designer Adrian Newey left during the season, he had already devised a new floor plan which helped with the car’s aerodynamics. At Paul Ricard, the circuit’s smooth surface and long straights suited the car and it ran so well the tyres wore considerably less than the other teams and both drivers led 1–2 for much of the race until Mauricio retired mid-race with an engine problem.
1991 saw the team become Leyton House Racing though it was a frustrating season and his best results were seventh-place finishes in France, Portugal and Spain. Unfortunately after team principal Akira Akagi was arrested on suspicion of fraud, the team found themselves in a precarious financial state and Mauricio left at the end of the year.
Moving to Jordan for 1992, their Yamaha engine suffered from a lack of power and they struggled with reliability and he retired from seven of the first nine races and his best result was seventh at San Marino.
After leaving Jordan an F1, Mauricio then raced in Champ Car with Dick Simon Racing for the last three races of 1993, finishing thirteenth at Laguna Seca. He signed with Chip Ganassi Racing (partnering Michael Andretti) for the following season and took points finishes in Australia, Long Beach, Detroit, Cleveland and Vancouver.
He then moved to PacWest (where he would continue racing for seven seasons) and 1995 started well when he finished second (to Jacques Villeneuve) in the opening race at Miami. He put in a strong performance at Indianapolis, where he finished sixth after leading the most laps of all the drivers, and went on to take a further eight points finishes, including third at Laguna Seca.
During 1996, he established a reputation for being quick at superspeedway circuits after taking second and third places (both at Michigan), plus took four extra points finishes. For 1997, the team used Firestone tyres and Mercedes-Benz engines and this proved a competitive package, finally finishing fourth in the championship. Notable races that year included Detroit, where he had been leading on the last lap when he ran out of fuel though he took his first Champ Car victory in Vancouver (a popular figure in the championship, it was well received along the pit-lane). As well as finishing fourth at the year’s final race, at the California Speedway, he set a world record in qualifying for the fastest ever lap of a closed race track at 240.942 mph, which stood until 2000 when Gil de Ferran posted a 241.428 mph lap.
1998 was not as successful, with the team suffering a number of setbacks, but he showed determination and results included seventh at Portland, fourth at Mid-Ohio, sixth at Vancouver and fifth at the California Speedway, where he led for 40 laps. Over the next three seasons, his best results included fourth at Vancouver plus sixth places at Houston and Fontana in 1999 then seventh places at Chicago and Laguna Seca plus a strong second at Nazareth in 2000.
2001 would be his final season with PacWest but it would be a difficult year for different reasons. While practising at Texas Motor Speedway, he hit the wall, with the acceleration peaked at 66.2g, but then had a second impact where the acceleration peaked at 113.1g. Sadly, shorty before the race at Nazareth, his son Giuliano (who suffered from cerebal palsy), died from respiratory complications and Mauricio did not take part in the race. His best result that season was seventh at Toronto but at the end of the year he decided to retire.
In 2003 a Renault Megane Super Cup series was proposed to be held in Brazil, and Mauricio was announced as a competitor, though the series did not launch. After selling his Florida home, he moved back to live in Brazil where he ran a business that promotes reforestation plus also did consultancy work for AMG.
Gallery F3000/CART F3 F1
