André Couto
| André Couto | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | |
| Date of birth | 14 December 1976 |
| Place of birth | Lisbon, Portugal |
| 2010 Super GT | |
| Debut season | 2005 |
| Current team | Denso SARD |
| Car no. | 39 |
| Best finish | 15th in 2007 |
| Previous series | |
| 1995 1996 1996–1997 1998–2000 2001 2001 2002 2003 2004 |
Formula Opel Euroseries German F3 Italian F3 International F3000 Formula Nippon JGTC (GT500) World Series by Nissan European Touring Car Championship JGTC (GT500) |
André Couto (born December 14, 1976 in Lisbon) is a Portuguese racing driver who races with a Macau license.
Contents |
[edit] Career
[edit] Early years
André Couto started his career in Karting in Macau influenced by the popular Macau Grand Prix and friends who competed in the local Karting championship. He rapidly enjoyed success and started competing and winning in international level. He moved to racing cars in 1995 where he competed in European Formula Opel Lotus (Winning a round in the Estoril Circuit). 1995 was also the debut year in the Formula Three event of the Macau Grand Prix where he briefly led after a duel with race winner Ralf Schumacher.
[edit] Formula Three
Couto competed in German Formula Three in 1996 before moving to the Italian series in 1997, where he finished the season as runner-up in the championship. He competed in the F3 Macau Grand Prix six times, eventually winning it in 2000.
[edit] Formula 3000
Couto graduated to Formula 3000 in 1998 and stayed there for 1999 and 2000. Although he scored points on several occasions, he never achieved any great success. His best result was third place at the Nürburgring in 2000.
[edit] An assortment of drives
After leaving F3000 and winning the Macau Grand Prix Formula Three event in 2000, Couto competed in the Formula Nippon Championship in 2001 and competed in some races of the All-Japan GT Championship. For 2002 he moved to the Nissan World Series, and finished seventh in the championship. In 2003 he has competed in the Guia Race as part of the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) and World Touring Car Championship (WTCC).
[edit] Current activities
Since 2005, Couto has competed in the Super GT Championship in the GT500 category.
In 2008, he drove a Honda Accord for N.Technology at the World Touring Car Championship race in Macau.
[edit] Personal life
Couto has a son, Afonso, who was diagnosed with leukaemia in November 2009. Several of his fellow WTCC drivers have carried stickers on their cars in the 2010 WTCC season to promote a website which is trying to find a suitable bone marrow donor.[1], the GT Association and all teams of Super GT also launches a campaign towards bone marrow donation. A suitable bone marrow for Afonso was found in 9th, May, 2010 in Germany and his operation was successfully completed in 20th, May, 2010.[2]
[edit] References
- André Couto career statistics at driverdb.com, retrieved 11 November 2006.
- ^ English, Steven (2010-03-08). "WTCC drivers help Couto's son". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. http://www.autosport.com/news/grapevine.php/id/81922. Retrieved 2010-03-08.
- ^ Japanese (2010-05-22). "Couto's son, Afonso's bone marrow transplant successfully completed.". as-web.jp. Austosport web. http://as-web.jp/news/info.php?c_id=2&no=27040. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
[edit] External links
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: André Couto |
- Fan Site (Japanese) (Archived 2009-10-25)
- Save Afonso (Couto's son)
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Darren Manning |
Macau Grand Prix Winner 2000 |
Succeeded by Takuma Sato |