A 23-Year Wait Made Championship Sweet for Fittipaldi

Subtitle:Action Express Driver Competitive in Formula One, CART and NASCAR

When Christian Fittipaldi captured the International Formula 3000 title in 1991 at the age of 20, he didn’t realize he would have to wait 23 years until he would win another major championship.

Throughout his career, the Brazilian enjoyed many major accomplishments. He raced three years in Formula One, was second place overall and earned Rookie of the Year in the Indianapolis 500, contended for several CART titles, raced at NASCAR’s highest level and won the 2004 Rolex 24 At Daytona after turning his attention to sports cars. He came close a few times, but won no championships during that span.

That’s what made the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship that much sweeter.

The year opened up with another overall victory in the Rolex 24 alongside co-drivers Joao Barbosa and Sebastien Bourdais. Following the second triumph of the season in the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP at Indianapolis, an exuberant Fittipaldi celebrated on pit road as Barbosa took the checkered flag. Finally winning at Indy was thrilling – but Fittipaldi said that taking a giant step towards a championship was even more exciting.

“If I could go back in my career, I wish I could have won that (F3000) championship one or two years later,” Fittipaldi said. “I was extremely young when I started Formula One – maybe a little bit too young.”

Less than two months after his 21st birthday, Fittipaldi found himself behind the wheel of a Lamborghini-powered Minardi on the grid for the 1992 Formula One season-opening South African Grand Prix. Following in the tracks laid down by his father, Wilson, and uncle, Emerson, on the Grand Prix circuit, Christian drove for three full seasons in Formula One, scoring four top-five finishes.

From there, he followed Emerson’s lead again and went to America, joining Walker Racing for the 1995 CART season. Fittipaldi finished fifth at Miami in his first start. Five races later at Indianapolis, he finished second in open-wheel racing’s crown jewel – one position behind Jacques Villeneuve.

“Finishing second at Indy in 1995 was very special,” Fittipaldi said. “I had never raced on an oval before that year. Indianapolis was only my second oval and I managed to finish second.”

For the next six seasons, Fittipaldi drove in CART for Newman-Haas Racing, winning two races and scoring 20 podium results in 135 races. He finished fifth in the championship in 1996 and 2002. He then turned his focus to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving for Richard Petty Motorsports in 2003.

Fittipaldi next raced sports cars, winning the 2004 Rolex 24 At Daytona for Bell Motorsports. He raced with Krohn/TRG (winning at Phoenix in 2005) and Cheever Racing in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and for Andretti Green Racing in the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón. He also ran the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times and saw action in Stock Car Brazil.

In 2010, Fittipaldi received an email from Action Express team manager Gary Nelson discussing his participation in the following year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona.

“At the bottom of the page there were three little important words: ‘EXPECT TO WIN.’ My first reaction was, ‘What a cocky guy,’” Fittipaldi recalled. “Four years have gone by, and now I understand exactly what he meant.”

After a pair of one-off races in the Rolex 24, Fittipaldi joined Action Express full-time in 2013, finishing fourth in the DP standings with two victories.

For 2014, Action Express completed every possible lap of competition, winning at Road America in addition to the Rolex 24 and Brickyard Grand Prix. After a 23-year wait, Fittipaldi could again call himself a champion, not only of the inaugural TUDOR Championship season, but also the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup.

“All in all, it was a fantastic season,” Fittipaldi said. “Winning the TUDOR Championship, the Patrón Endurance Cup and the Rolex 24 At Daytona – all in one season – that’s pretty stout.”