09/04/2007
NEWS STORY
There will be two new faces in the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport paddock as IndyCar star Vitor Meira and 22-year-old female sensation Bia Figueiredo (right) take on driving duties for A1 Team Brasil for the penultimate round of the 2006/07 championship at the Shanghai International Circuit in China.
Leading the charge for the team in Shanghai, 30-year-old Vitor Meira started in karts at the age of 12, became Brazilian Karting Champion in 1994 and graduated to formula car racing in 1995, making the move to England and winning the British Formula Ford Winter series. After success in Formula Ford and British Formula Renault, Meira returned to Brazil in 1999 to compete in the South American Formula 3 Championship, where he was Rookie of the Year and won two races in 1999. In the following season, eight wins brought him the Championship title. Meira made his IndyCar debut at an end-of-season test with Panther Racing in 2000, then returned two years later, after finishing fifth in the European Formula 3000 Championship, to run the final four races of the season for Team Menard. Vitor has raced in IndyCars ever since, first with Team Menard, before a successful two-year stint with the Rahal Letterman Team. He switched to the Panther outfit in 2006.
Joining A1 Team Brasil as a rookie driver in Shanghai is Bia Figueiredo, a 22-year-old female racing driver from São Paulo. Bia has proven herself in the traditional men's world of motor racing, beginning her racing career in karts at the age of just nine. Bia competed ten years of karting, racing in no less than 21 championships during that time. Her talents have been recognised, and Bia picked up the Gold Helmet Award accolade two years running in 2001 and 2002 for the Best Brazilian Driver. In 2004 Bia switched to formula racing and made an instant impact. She finished in fifth place in the Formula Renault Brazil after scoring eight podiums. She competed in Formula Renault Brazil in 2005 and finished the season in third place after winning three races, scoring seven further podiums and recording four pole positions. It was this year she picked up her third Gold Helmet Award. Continuing her impressive form, Bia scored five podiums and a pole position in her most recent campaign in the 2006 South American Formula 3 Championship, and scooped the São Paulo Citizen Driver award.
Emerson Fittipaldi, Team Principal: "First of all, I'm very happy with the team. In terms of engineering, the improvement we made in Mexico was fantastic. I think we are reaching the level of excellence that we had in the first races of last season, with Nelson [Piquet Jr] behind the wheel. Bruno Junqueira did a great job for us, but unfortunately he won't be with us in Shanghai. However, we do have Vitor Meira, who is a talented and experienced driver, and I'm sure he will keep the driving level very high. These last two races are very important for Team Brasil as we want to start the next season with confidence. We're also going to welcome Bia to the team in Shanghai. She is a huge promise and a driver that can compete at the same level as the best of her generation."
Vitor Meira: "It was an unexpected invitation to run with Team Brasil in Shanghai, but I accepted with pleasure. I've been following A1GP as much as I can. The series has quite a bit of interest in the USA as IRL drivers such as Tomas Enge, Graham Rahal and Thomas Scheckter have been racing in the series, and everybody likes the concept. It will be an honor to represent my country."
Bia Figueiredo: "I've been following A1GP since the first season, and I am very proud that I will be participating as a rookie driver. This is an important opportunity for me to learn and understand about international competition, and I want to make the most of the opportunity to show what I can do and to grow as a professional driver. I think it is a very competitive championship and has a good mix of young and experienced drivers. It will be the most powerful car I have driven - it has double the horsepower of an F3 car. I'm looking forward to driving on the Shanghai circuit, I have watched the F1 race there on TV and it is a beautiful track, I can't wait to drive on it. As for being female, the drivers in Brazil are used to me now and they respect me. Let's see what happens in China, but I'm used to racing against men and I really enjoy it. It's good to beat them!"