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Álvaro Parente (born 4 October 1984) is a Portuguese professional racing driver.

Quick Facts Nationality, Born ...
Álvaro Parente
Parente in 2012
NationalityPortugal Portuguese
Born (1984-10-04) 4 October 1984 (age 40)
Porto, Portugal
Pirelli World Challenge career
Debut season2016
Current teamK-PAX Racing
Racing licence FIA Platinum
Car number9
Starts14
Wins5
Poles2
Fastest laps5
Previous series
20082011
2008–09, 2009–10
200607
200405
2003
200102
GP2 Series
GP2 Asia Series
Formula Renault 3.5 Series
British Formula 3
Formula 3 Euro Series
Spanish Formula Three
Championship titles
2005
2007
British Formula 3
Formula Renault 3.5 Series
Close

Career

Early career

After winning the Karting European Junior Championship in 1998, Porto-born Parente made his debut in auto racing in 2001 at the age of 16, driving in the Spanish F3 Championship. In the following year, he was integrated into the Team Portugal project and scored a win on his way to 4th place in the series.

Formula Three

Parente than began a more international career in 2003, moving to the F3 Euroseries with Team Ghinzani, but the Mugen-Honda engine proved to be inferior to the Mercedes and he scored a single point. He did better with one-off entries in Italian Formula 3 and at Spa in a round of the British Formula 3 Championship, his first association with Carlin Motorsport, which was repeated that year in the Macau Grand Prix.

This brief contact paved the way for a contract with Carlin for the 2004 season, where he took part in the British series, scoring another win and finishing 7th in the championship standings. He also took part in the Marlboro Masters and at Macau, but in the former the Mugen-Honda could not take the fight to the Mercedes drivers and in the latter he was taken out in the first lap.

Parente stayed in the British Formula 3 for another season, and his experience helped him to win the championship with four races to go, scoring a total of 11 wins. This result made him the natural candidate to represent A1 Team Portugal for the new A1 Grand Prix series.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

For 2006, Parente joined the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with the Victory Engineering team, and achieved his first win at Istanbul in only his fifth race in the category. He took two further wins at the Nürburgring and Circuit de Catalunya to finish fifth in the final standings. He had hoped to progress onto the GP2 Series in 2007, but a lack of sponsorship scuppered his plans. He did, however, return to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with the French Tech 1 Racing team, having signed a contract on the eve of the first pre-season test.[1]

Thumb
Parente won the 2007 Formula Renault 3.5 Series championship with the Tech 1 Racing team.
Thumb
Parente driving for Ocean Racing Technology at the Nürburgring round of the 2009 GP2 Series season.

During the 2007 season Parente took five podium finishes, including two race victories at Monaco and Spa, and was crowned World Series by Renault champion at the final round in Barcelona on 27 October.[2]

As a prize for winning the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, Parente has tested for the Renault F1 team on 17 January 2008 at the Circuito de Jerez.[3]

GP2 Series

For 2008 Parente moved to the Super Nova Racing team in the GP2 Series,[4] widely regarded as the primary feeder series to Formula One.

Alvaro Parente made a stunning start to his GP2 career in the opening round of the season at the Circuit de Catalunya, Parente won the feature race making him the first Portuguese driver to win in GP2 Series.[5] Alvaro Parente led from start to finish, to claim victory ahead of Bruno Senna and Andreas Zuber. He eventually finished eighth in the drivers' championship.

Super Nova team nicknamed Parente as "Chachi", due to his likeness to the famous character in Happy Days.[6]

In 2009 Parente participated in the GP2 Asia Series with My Team Qi.Meritus, and competed in the GP2 Series with Ocean Racing Technology, finishing eighth once again.

Parente began the 2010 season without a drive, but replaced Alberto Valerio at the Coloni team from the Belgian round onwards.[7] On his return to the category, he scored a double podium finish, and ended the weekend as the highest scoring driver. He was replaced for the final round by James Jakes.

Parente again went into the 2011 GP2 Series season without a drive, but was called up by Racing Engineering for the second round of the championship at Catalunya. He replaced Christian Vietoris, who had complained of recurring headaches following a heavy crash at the first round in Turkey.[8] Vietoris returned after two rounds, but Parente remained in the series by switching to the Carlin team, where he took the seat previously occupied by Oliver Turvey. After a further six races, he relinquished the seat to Mikhail Aleshin.[9] He then returned for the season finale at Monza, ending up in 16th place in the drivers' championship.[10]

Superleague Formula

Parente agreed to race at the 2009 Estoril round of the 2009 Superleague Formula season for his football squad team, F.C. Porto, and went on to win the second race, on his series debut.

Formula One

Parente was a leading contender for a seat at Campos Meta, other contenders were Vitaly Petrov and Pastor Maldonado. On 15 December 2009, it was officially announced that Parente would join the new Virgin Racing team as a test driver.[11] However, he was not present at the launch of the VR-01 chassis in February 2010, and it was reported that he had left the team due to sponsorship problems.[12] Andy Soucek replaced Parente as the reserve driver.

GT

Since 2012, Parente has regularly been a factory GT3 driver for McLaren customer teams. His highlight was winning the 2016 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour for Tekno Autosports alongside Shane van Gisbergen and Jonathon Webb as well as taking the 2016 Pirelli World Challenge Championship title.[13][14] He has also competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2012 for Ram Racing in a Ferrari 458 Italia GT2.

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Racing record

Career summary

More information Season, Series ...
Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2001 Spanish Formula 3 Championship G-Tec 2 0 0 0 0 50 12th
E. V. Racing 7 0 0 0 0
2002 Spanish Formula 3 Championship Racing Engineering 13 1 1 1 1 133 5th
2003 Formula 3 Euro Series Team Ghinzani 19 0 0 0 0 1 25th
Italian Formula 3 Championship 2 1 1 1 2 34 9th
Masters of Formula 3 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 22nd
British Formula 3 International Series Carlin Motorsport 2 0 0 0 0 7 22nd
Macau Grand Prix 1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF
F3 Korea Super Prix[15] 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 10th
2004 British Formula 3 International Series Carlin Motorsport 23 1 2 0 4 137 7th
Masters of Formula 3 1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF
F3 European Cup[16] 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 8th
Macau Grand Prix 2 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF
2005 British Formula 3 International Series Carlin Motorsport 16 11 9 7 13 289 1st
Masters of Formula 3 1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF
2005–06 A1 Grand Prix A1 Team Portugal 20 0 0 0 3 66‡ 9th‡
2006 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Victory Engineering 15 3 0 0 5 94 5th
2006–07 A1 Grand Prix A1 Team Portugal 6 0 0 0 0 10‡ 17th‡
2007 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Tech 1 Racing 17 2 2 1 5 129 1st
2008 GP2 Series Super Nova Racing 20 1 0 0 4 34 8th
Formula One ING Renault F1 Team Test driver
2008–09 GP2 Asia Series My Team Qi-Meritus Mahara 6 0 0 2 0 1 21st
2009 GP2 Series Ocean Racing Technology 20 1 1 1 2 30 8th
Spanish GT Championship - GTA Aurora Racing Team 2 0 1 1 0 10 25th
Spanish GT Championship - Super GT 2 0 1 0 0 4 8th
Superleague Formula F.C. Porto 2 1 0 0 1 302‡ 5th‡
2009–10 GP2 Asia Series Scuderia Coloni 4 0 0 0 1 12 8th
2010 GP2 Series Scuderia Coloni 4 0 0 0 2 13 15th
Superleague Formula F.C. Porto 20 2 0 2 3 495‡ 7th‡
Le Mans Series - GT2 AF Corse 1 0 0 0 0 9 21st
International GT Open Aurora Racing Team 2 1 1 0 1 0 NC†
Spanish GT Championship - Super GT 10 2 2 3 10 78 3rd
2011 GP2 Series Racing Engineering 4 0 0 0 1 8 16th
Carlin 8 0 0 0 0
2012 FIA GT1 World Championship Hexis Racing 18 0 1 1 4 65 11th
Blancpain Endurance Series - Pro United Autosports 4 1 0 0 1 31 13th
British GT Championship - GT3 1 1 0 1 1 0 NC†
Blancpain Endurance Series - Pro-Am Von Ryan Racing 1 0 1 0 0 17 22nd
2013 FIA GT Series Sébastien Loeb Racing 12 4 1 3 5 82 4th
Blancpain Endurance Series - Pro Hexis Racing 5 0 0 0 1 24 10th
British GT Championship - GT3 United Autosports 5 0 0 0 0 1 35th
International GT Open - GTS Bhai Tech Racing 2 0 0 0 1 0 NC†
2014 FIA World Endurance Championship - GTE Pro Ram Racing 2 0 0 0 0 8 27th
24 Hours of Le Mans - GTE Pro 1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF
ADAC GT Masters MRS-GT Racing 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC
Blancpain Endurance Series - Pro ART Grand Prix 5 1 2 1 2 49 7th
Blancpain GT Sprint Series Bhaitech 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC
Stock Car Brasil Voxx Racing 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9 Dörr Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 N/A DNF
2015 Blancpain Endurance Series - Pro Von Ryan Racing 5 0 0 0 0 10 20th
International GT Open - Pro-Am Teo Martín Motorsport 14 3 6 6 11 94 1st
GT Asia Series FFF Racing Team 4 0 0 0 1 41 23rd
FIA GT World Cup 2 0 0 0 0 N/A 7th
Stock Car Brasil Voxx Racing 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC†
2016 Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup Garage 59 10 1 1 1 2 56 6th
International GT Open - Pro-Am 2 0 0 0 1 9 19th
Pirelli World Challenge - GT K-Pax Racing 20 7 5 4 9 1657 1st
Intercontinental GT Challenge Tekno Autosports 1 1 1 1 1 40 4th
K-Pax Racing 1 0 1 0 1
2017 FIA World Endurance Championship - GTE Am Clearwater Racing 1 0 0 0 0 16 10th
24 Hours of Le Mans - GTE Am 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 6th
Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup Strakka Racing 1 0 0 0 0 4 41st
Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup 8 0 0 1 0 2 30th
Australian Endurance Championship Tekno Autosports 2 0 0 0 0 135 25th
Pirelli World Challenge - GT K-Pax Racing 21 4 3 2 8 315 3rd
Intercontinental GT Challenge Tekno Autosports/McLaren GT 1 0 0 0 0 27 5th
K-Pax Racing 1 0 0 0 1
2018 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup Strakka Racing 4 0 0 0 1 20 23rd
Pirelli World Challenge - GT K-Pax Racing 17 2 4 5 6 246 5th
IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian 9 1 1 0 5 264 6th
Intercontinental GT Challenge Strakka Racing 3 0 0 0 1 28 11th
K-Pax Racing 1 0 0 0 0
2019 Blancpain GT World Challenge America K-Pax Racing 14 4 7 4 12 237 2nd
2020 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup Bentley K-PAX Racing 4 0 0 0 0 0 NC
Intercontinental GT Challenge 1 0 0 0 0 1 21st
IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTD Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian 9 0 0 1 1 225 12th
2021 24 Hours of Le Mans - GTE Pro HubAuto Racing 1 0 1 0 0 N/A DNF
2023 GT World Challenge Asia - GT3 HubAuto Racing 12 0 1 0 0 14 31st
Indian Racing League Hyderabad Blackbirds 0 0 0 0 0 56‡ 6th‡
2024 24H Series - GT3 E2P Racing
Indian Racing League Speed Demons Delhi 4 1 1 1 4 82‡ 6th‡
Close

† Guest driver ineligible to score points

‡ Team standings.

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

More information Year, Entrant ...
Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points
2003 Team Ghinzani Dallara F302/003 Mugen HOC
1

9
HOC
2

13
ADR
1

11
ADR
2

14
PAU
1

11
PAU
2

Ret
NOR
1

Ret
NOR
2

Ret
LMS
1

16
LMS
2

10
NÜR
1

DSQ
NÜR
2

EX
A1R
1

29†
A1R
2

DSQ
ZAN
1

8
ZAN
2

11
HOC
1

18
HOC
2

15
MAG
1

12
MAG
2

12
25th 1
Close

Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete A1 Grand Prix results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

More information Year, Entrant ...
Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 DC Points
2005–06 Portugal GBR
SPR

8
GBR
FEA

Ret
GER
SPR

Ret
GER
FEA

11
POR
SPR

6
POR
FEA

5
AUS
SPR

2
AUS
FEA

7
MYS
SPR

9
MYS
FEA

18
UAE
SPR

8
UAE
FEA

4
RSA
SPR

8
RSA
FEA

3
IDN
SPR

19
IDN
FEA

Ret
MEX
SPR

Ret
MEX
FEA

10
USA
SPR

3
USA
FEA

4
CHN
SPR
CHN
FEA
9th 66
2006–07 NED
SPR
NED
FEA
CZE
SPR
CZE
FEA
BEI
SPR
BEI
FEA
MYS
SPR
MYS
FEA
IDN
SPR
IDN
FEA
NZL
SPR
NZL
FEA
AUS
SPR
AUS
FEA
RSA
SPR

8
RSA
FEA

5
MEX
SPR

14
MEX
FEA

7
SHA
SPR
SHA
FEA
GBR
SPR

11
GBR
SPR

11
17th 10
Close

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

More information Year, Entrant ...
Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 DC Points
2006 Victory Engineering ZOL
1

DNS
ZOL
2

DNQ
MON
1

6
IST
1

3
IST
2

1
MIS
1

3
MIS
2

4
SPA
1

Ret
SPA
2

4
NÜR
1

1
NÜR
2

Ret
DON
1

17
DON
2

Ret
LMS
1

12
LMS
2

11
CAT
1

3
CAT
2

1
5th 94
2007 Tech 1 Racing MNZ
1

2
MNZ
2

4
NÜR
1

3
NÜR
2

10
MON
1

1
HUN
1

Ret
HUN
2

Ret
SPA
1

1
SPA
2

6
DON
1

4
DON
2

Ret
MAG
1

6
MAG
2

4
EST
1

6
EST
2

7
CAT
1

3
CAT
2

6
1st 129
Close

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

More information Year, Entrant ...
Close

FIA GT competition results

GT1 World Championship results

More information Year, Team ...
Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Points
2012 Hexis Racing McLaren NOG
QR

4
NOG
CR

Ret
ZOL
QR

10
ZOL
CR

7
NAV
QR

2
NAV
QR

4
SVK
QR

Ret
SVK
CR

Ret
ALG
QR

8
ALG
CR

Ret
SVK
QR

9
SVK
CR

9
MOS
QR

6
MOS
CR

2
NÜR
QR

5
NÜR
CR

Ret
DON
QR

3
DON
CR

3
11th 65
Close

FIA GT Series results

More information Year, Team ...
Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos. Points
2013 Sébastien Loeb Racing McLaren MP4-12C GT3 Pro NOG
QR

1
NOG
CR

12
ZOL
QR

17
ZOL
CR

13
ZAN
QR

Ret
ZAN
CR

14
SVK
QR

1
SVK
CR

Ret
NAV
QR

1
NAV
CR

1
BAK
QR

14
BAK
CR

2
4th 82
Close

Complete Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup results

More information Year, Team ...
Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos. Points
2014 Bhaitech McLaren MP4-12C GT3 Pro NOG
QR
NOG
CR
BRH
QR
BRH
CR
ZAN
QR
ZAN
CR
SVK
QR
SVK
CR
ALG
QR
ALG
CR
ZOL
QR
ZOL
CR
BAK
QR

20
BAK
CR

16
56th 0
2016 Garage 59 McLaren 650S GT3 Pro MIS
QR

9
MIS
CR

4
BRH
QR

8
BRH
CR

4
NÜR
QR

2
NÜR
CR

1
HUN
QR

17
HUN
CR

17
CAT
QR

16
CAT
CR

13
6th 56
2017 Strakka Racing McLaren 650S GT3 Pro MIS
QR

22
MIS
CR

18
BRH
QR

6
BRH
CR

10
ZOL
QR

10
ZOL
CR

28
HUN
QR

20
HUN
CR

24
NÜR
QR
NÜR
CR
30th 2
Close

Complete Stock Car Brasil results

More information Year, Team ...
Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Rank Points
2014 Voxx Racing Peugeot 408 INT
1

Ret
SCZ
1
SCZ
2
BRA
1
BRA
2
GOI
1
GOI
2
GOI
1
CAS
1
CAS
2
CUR
1
CUR
2
VEL
1
VEL
2
SCZ
1
SCZ
2
TAR
1
TAR
2
SAL
1
SAL
2
CUR
1
NC† 0†
2015 Voxx Racing Peugeot 408 GOI
1

7
RBP
1
RBP
2
VEL
1
VEL
2
CUR
1
CUR
2
SCZ
1
SCZ
2
CUR
1
CUR
2
GOI
1
CAS
1
CAS
2
BRA
1
BRA
2
CUR
1
CUR
2
TAR
1
TAR
2
INT
1
NC† 0†
Close

Ineligible for championship points.

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

More information Year, Entrant ...
Year Entrant Class Car Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rank Points
2014 Ram Racing LMGTE Pro Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 Ferrari 4.5 L V8 SIL
6
SPA LMS
Ret
COA FUJ SHA BHR SÃO 27th 8
2017 Clearwater Racing LMGTE Am Ferrari 488 GTE Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8 SIL SPA LMS
6
NÜR MEX COA FUJ SHA BHR 10th 16
Close

24 Hours of Le Mans results

More information Year, Team ...
Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2014 United Kingdom Ram Racing Republic of Ireland Matt Griffin
Italy Federico Leo
Ferrari 458 Italia GTC GTE
Pro
140 DNF DNF
2017 Singapore Clearwater Racing Singapore Richard Wee
Japan Hiroki Katoh
Ferrari 488 GTE GTE
Am
327 40th 11th
2021 Chinese Taipei Hub Auto Racing Belgium Maxime Martin
Belgium Dries Vanthoor
Porsche 911 RSR-19 GTE
Pro
227 DNF DNF
Close

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results

More information Year, Team ...
Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2016 Australia Tekno Autosports New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen
Australia Jonathon Webb
McLaren 650S GT3 AP 297 1st 1st
2017 Australia Tekno Autosports United Kingdom Rob Bell
France Côme Ledogar
McLaren 650S GT3 AP 289 5th 3rd
Close

Indian Racing League results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

More information Year, Franchise ...
Year Franchise 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pos. Pts
2023 Hyderabad Blackbirds IRU1
1

WD
IRU1
2

IRU2
1

IRU2
2

IRU3
1

IRU3
2

6th 56
2024 Hyderabad Blackbirds IRU1
1

2
IRU1
2

IGR
1

IGR
2

1
IRU2
1
IRU2
2
KAR1
1

KAR1
2

3
KAR2
1

3
KAR2
2

6th 85
Close

‡ Standings based on entry points, not individual drivers.

* Season in progress.

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References

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