Roberto Pupo Moreno (born 11 February 1959), 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 (in 1988) 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. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
After winning the Brazilian 125cc Karting championship in 1976, Roberto Moreno travelled to Europe in 1979 and competed in his first season in Formula Ford. He was a one man team, being the driver and mechanic and towing the car on a trailer to races and Ron Tauranac let him use an old shed as his home base. After signing as a Van Diemen driver for 1980 he went on to win eight races and took the Townsend Thoresen British FFord title and also drove in Europe, taking three victories and finished second in the EFDA Townsend Thoresen Euroseries FFord 1600 Championship. He also finished fourth in the RAC British series, sixth in the P&O Ferries series and went on to win the FFord Festival.
Lotus boss Colin Chapman gave him a Formula 1 test contract, and the money from it was a lifeline as it helped him continue racing, winning two races in F3 with Barron Racing. He raced in the North American Formula Atlantic Championship plus won the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières and he won three races with Ivens Lumar Racing in the British F3 Championship. During the year he was asked to stand in for an injured Nigel Mansell at the Dutch GP, though he did not qualify, and there was almost a chance to drive for Theodore Racing (after Jan Lammers broke a thumb) but Chapman refused to release him.
He lost a sponsor the following year but Theodore Racing won at Willow Springs and the prize money allowed him to do two more races. The team then stopped racing but fortunately team owner Teddy Yip helped him into a drive with another team, and he won four races, though finished second to his championship rival Michael Andretti.
He returned to race F3 in Europe and while doing pre-season testing with West Surrey Racing, he was asked to join the Ralt F2 team. He and Mike Thackwell dominated the European F2 Championship, with Roberto winning at Hockenheim and Donington Park, though he finished second. He almost joined the Brabham F1 team for 1984, after being suggested by Nelson Piquet, but their sponsor Parmalat insisted on having an Italian driver as Piquet’s teammate. He also raced at Le Mans with the Skoal Bandit/John Fitzpatrick team, alongside Rupert Keegan and Guy Edwards.
Ron Tauranac wanted him to stay with Ralt for 1985’s F3000 season but he competed in five races for Rick Galles’s IndyCar team then did a full season with them in 1986, taking two sixth place finishes. With no full-time Indycar drive available, he then drove for Ralt in F3000 and won the Gran Premio del Mediterraneo, going on to finish third in the series and there was also a drive in a Schnitzer BMW M3 at the 24 Hours of Spa race.
At the end of the year there was a return to F1, when he replaced Pascal Fabre at AGS for the Japanese Grand Prix, though he did not qualify. However, Nigel Mansell injured himself during practice and due to Williams withdrawing his entry, Roberto was allowed to race. In his second race at Australia he finished seventh, but after Ayrton Senna was disqualified he was promoted to sixth.
Signing for Bromley Motorsport in F3000, he took victories at Pau, Silverstone, Monza and Birmingham (Superprix) in his Reynard-Cosworth 88D on the way to the title.
At this time he had a test contract with Ferrari, which led to a seat with the Coloni F1 team but the car was not competitive and it was a disappointment for him and the team, as he only qualified for four races. In Mexico, in order to comply with the rule that each team must attend every race of the championship, Coloni sent over a crew of just four people, two cars, and both drivers were told not to damage them at any cost in order to make sure they would be at the next race in Phoenix.
Moving on, he signed for EuroBrun, but only qualified for two of the first fourteen races of the season and the team did not enter the last two races. However there came a reprieve when he was asked to drive for Benetton (replacing injured Alessandro Nannini) and finished in an excellent second place in 1990’s Japanese GP then seventh in Australia. This led to a full season with Benetton for 1991 but their B191 was not as competitive as expected, and his best results were fourth at Monaco and Spa. However, despite achieving the fastest lap at Spa, the team were focused on getting Michael Schumacher from Jordan and his signing led to Roberto being fired from the team. Roberto drove for Jordan in Italy (qualifying ninth but he spun off and retired in the race) and Portugal and at the season’s final race, at Adelaide, he replaced Gianni Morbidelli at Minardi.
For 1992, he drove for Andrea Moda. but he (and Perry McCarthy) faced an uphill struggle with an under tested, under funded car and the team folded after owner Andrea Sassetti was arrested at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The next two seasons were spent in Italian and French Touring Cars, plus took part in qualifying for 1994’s Indy 500, and there was a brief F1 return with Forti for 1995 but the car was poor and his best result was fourteenth in the Belgian GP.
Roberto then returned to Champ Car, with Payton-Coyne Racing and he took his Lola-Ford to a third place finish at Michigan, though left the team at the start of 1997. The season would see him race for three teams, and gain his ‘Supersub’ nickname, and his his best result was fifth at Detroit for Newman-Haas. However, despite outqualifying Michael Andretti several times, no competitive drives were offered so he took a test drive role with Penske.
1998 only saw him do three races, with Project CART and Newman Haas, while for the following season he drove for Newman/Haas and PacWest, with fourth places at Illinois and Toronto his best results. During 1999, he also drove for Truscelli Racing in Indy Racing League, and finished sixth at Phoenix and returned to Indianapolis after a 13 year break.
Then came two seasons with Patrick Racing but despite leading for much of 2000, plus winning his first Champ Car race at Cleveland, he would finish the season in third position. There would be another victory with them the following season, at Vancouver, but after this he drove for Herdez Competition in 2003, taking a second place finish in Miami.
In 2006 he competed in a Brazilian Stock Car race at Jacarepaguá, plus drove in an IRL race at St.Petersburg for Vision Racing, while 2007 would see him back at Indianapolis, with Chastain Motorsports, though he crashed during the race. During this time he had been testing a new Panoz-built Champ Car, with Paul Tracy saying of him, he wasn’t ‘a guy who would 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 thousands of miles of testing, he raced it with Pacific Coast Motorsports in 2007 at Houston.
Following this, although Roberto wound down his driving, he still raced in endurance events and GTs in Brazil (including 2008’s Trofeo Maserati Brasil Championship and for the Oregon Team-3 in 2012’s Eurocup Megan Trophy) plus worked as a driver coach and consultant and appeared in historic events.
The link below is an interview with Roberto, from Goodwood in 2015. Very entertaining and worth reading
Roberto Moreno interview
Gallery F Ford/F3/F Atlantic F2/F3000 F1
