Ana Beatriz

This article is about the Brazilian racing driver. For the Brazilian model, see Ana Beatriz Barros. For the Brazilian volleyball player, see Ana Beatriz Silva.

Ana "Bia" Beatriz Caselato Gomes de Figueiredo, or Bia Figueiredo (born March 18, 1985) is a Brazilian racing driver. She won her first Indy Lights race at Nashville Superspeedway on 12 July 2008, becoming the first woman to win a race in the Indy Lights series.^[1] On June 20, 2009, Bia won her second Indy Lights race and became the first woman to win a race car event at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa.^[2]

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Gomes and the second or paternal family name is de Figueiredo.

Ana Beatriz de Figueiredo
De Figueiredo in 2023
Nationality	Brazilian
Born	Ana Beatriz Caselato Gomes de Figueiredo (1985-03-18) March 18, 1985 (age 39) São Paulo, Brazil
Awards	2008 Firestone Indy Lights Rookie of the Year 2003 Formula Renault 2.0 Brazil Rookie of the Year
IndyCar Series career
29 races run over 4 years
2013 position	29th
Best finish	21st (2011)
First race	2010 São Paulo Indy 300 (São Paulo)
Last race	2013 Iowa Corn Indy 250 (Iowa)
Wins Podiums Poles 0 0 0
Statistics current as of March 31, 2014.

Career

Early career

Ana started her career in karting races. Initially funded by her family, "Bianinha" ("Little Bia") began kart racing at age eight.^[3]

At the age of 12, racing coach Nailor Campos, former coach of racers Tony Kanaan, Rubens Barrichello, Enrique Bernoldi and Andre Ribeiro, became her coach and chief mechanic. When Bia's family could no longer fund her racing endeavors at the age of 15, Campos helped her attain sponsorship from the Medley pharmaceutical company, owned by former racer Xandy (Pollini) Negrão, father of racer Alexandre Sarnes Negrão.^[3]

With formal sponsorship, Bia finished as runner-up in a variety of karting championships and won the Sorriso Petrobrás Kart Cup championship in 2003.

After three seasons in the Brazilian Formula Renault championship, Ana started competing in Formula Three Sudamericana in 2006, driving for the well-established Cesario Formula team. In 2006, she also drove a Red Bull Volkswagen Touareg for PPD Sports, owned by Pedro Diniz.

Ana driving in the Firestone Freedom 100 in 2008

2008

In 2008, Bia began racing in the American Firestone Indy Lights Series for defending championship-winning team Sam Schmidt Motorsports under the name Ana Beatriz.^[4] Prior to racing in the United States, she was referred to as "Bia", not "Ana", and many people, including Bia herself, continue to call her "Bia". Several American reporters have begun to use the name Ana "Bia" Beatriz in their written articles.

Bia placed fifth in the Firestone Freedom 100 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on 23 May 2008, the highest finishing position by a female driver in that race.^[5] On 12 July 2008, she led the most laps and won her first Indy Lights race at Nashville Superspeedway.^[1]

With the excitement surrounding Bia's victory a reporter asked if she was the next Danica Patrick. She responded "Everybody is making that comparison... But I always say that I'm always going to be Bia. I'm never going to be Danica... I hope there is a place for a Bia now."^[6]

2008 Awards

The results she demonstrated on and off the track gained the attention of many, and as a result, she was awarded the Tony Renna Rising Star Award. Named after the late driver, the award was given to Beatriz for demonstrating qualities as Renna—teamwork, physical fitness, and resourcefulness.

Also, her third-place result in the final championship standings earned her "Rookie of the Year" honors and places her in a position to be a championship contender in 2009.

2009

Bia returned to the #20 Sam Schmidt car for 2009. She was forced to miss the Milwaukee Mile race due to a lack of funding caused by a hard crash in the Freedom 100 the prior week. However, a week later she won the race at the Iowa Speedway, her second series win.^[7] She also skipped the final race of the season due to funding issues. She finished 8th in points despite missing the two races.

2010

Bia at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 2010.

Bia's official Portuguese language site revealed on 23 February 2010 that she will drive a third car for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in the São Paulo Indy 300 in March 2010.^[8] Further participation in the 2010 IndyCar Series season was confirmed and announced on May 12, 2010.^[9] Bia qualified for the 2010 Indianapolis 500 on the outside of row seven with a four–lap average of 224.243 MPH and finished in 21st position after retiring on the final lap of the race, as she was involved in an accident with Ryan Hunter-Reay and teammate Mike Conway.

In December, she won the second race of the Brazilian karting event, Desafio Internacional das Estrelas. Bia became a fan favorite in the event as she went from her starting position of 11th to 1st, overtaking experienced drivers such as Tony Kanaan, Felipe Massa and Rubens Barrichello in the process. She ended 4th in the final standings despite scoring the same number of points as the winner, Lucas di Grassi (it was a four-way tie).^{[citation needed]}

2011

For the 2011 IndyCar Series season she competed full-time for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in the #24 car.^[10] Bia broke her wrist in the opening laps of the first race at St. Petersburg causing her to miss the next race and requiring her to compete with a brace for the large part of the season.

2012

On March 8, 2012, Bia tested for Andretti Autosport, driving James Hinchcliffe's car #27 during a session of the open test at Sebring, with an eye to her running that team's fourth car at April's IndyCar Series event in her home town of São Paulo.^[11] On April 5 it was announced that she would compete in the 2012 São Paulo and Indianapolis races for Andretti Autosport with assistance from Conquest Racing.

2014–present

In 2014, De Figueiredo began competing in Stock Car Brasil.^[12] Competing in around 120 races, she scored two top-five race finishes and a best championship result of 24th in 2018 before taking maternal leave. De Figueiredo returned to racing full-time in 2023 via the Copa Truck series.^[13]

In June 2020, De Figuereido's husband and father-in-law were charged with embezzling BR$9 million from the Lagos Rio Health Institute, around a sixth of which was alleged to have funded her career in Stock Car Brasil.^[14]

Motorsports career results

Year	Category	Result		Awards
		Win, PP, FL	Overall
Karting
2000	São Paulo Championship (Category B)	Runner-up		Price Racing of 2000 - Kart
2001	Brazilian Championship (Category A)	3rd place		Capacete de Ouro - Kart
	São Paulo Championship (Category A)	Runner-up
	Brazil Kart Cup	Runner-up
2002	Brazilian Championship (Category A)	Runner-up		Capacete de Ouro - Kart
	São Paulo Championship (Category A)	3rd place
2003	Sorriso Petrobrás Kart Cup	Champion
	Petrobrás Karting Selective	Runner-up
Open–wheel
2003	Brazilian Formula Renault	2 FL		Rookie of the year - Brazilian Formula Renault
2004	Brazilian Formula Renault		5th place
2005	Brazilian Formula Renault	3 win, 3 PP	3rd place	Capacete de Ouro - Fórmula
2006	Formula Three Sudamericana		5th place	Capacete de Ouro - São Paulo Citizen Driver
2008	Firestone Indy Lights Series	1 win	3rd place	Rookie of the Year, Tony Renna rising star award
2009	Firestone Indy Lights Series	1 win	8th place
2010	IndyCar Series		30th place

American open–wheel results

(key)

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Rank	Points
2008	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	HMS 7	STP1 3	STP2 16	KAN 14	INDY 5	MIL 19	IOW 3	WGL1 4	WGL2 3	NSH 1	MDO1 14	MDO2 5	KTY 16	SNM1 6	SNM2 3	CHI 2	3rd	449
2009	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	STP1 4	STP2 23	LBH 5	KAN 4	INDY 17	MIL	IOW 1	WGL 9	TOR 13	EDM 12	KTY 3	MDO 12	SNM 5	CHI 14	HMS		8th	320

IndyCar Series

Year	Team	Chassis	No.	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points	Ref
2010	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Dallara IR-05	23	Honda	SAO 13	STP	ALA	LBH	KAN															30th	55	[15]
			25							INDY 21	TXS	IOW	WGL	TOR	EDM	MDO	SNM
			24															CHI 24	KTY	MOT	HMS 26
2011					STP 14	ALA	LBH 19	SAO 24	INDY 21	TXS1 22	TXS2 22	MIL 17	IOW 23	TOR 11	EDM 13	MDO 17	NHM 14	SNM 13	BAL 16	MOT 19	KTY 24	LVS C		21st	212	[16]
2012	Andretti Autosport	Dallara DW12	25	Chevrolet	STP	ALA	LBH	SAO 20	INDY 23	DET	TXS	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM	MDO	SNM	BAL	FON					29th	28	[17]
2013	Dale Coyne Racing		18	Honda	STP 22	ALA 24	LBH 14	SAO 25	INDY 15	DET1	DET2	TXS	MIL 19	IOW 22	POC	TOR1	TOR2	MDO	SNM	BAL	HOU1	HOU2	FON	29th	72	[18]

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)	Top 10s (Non-podium)	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
4	3	29	0	0	0	0	0	0

Indianapolis 500

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team
2010	Dallara IR-05	Honda HI7R V8	21	21	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2011	Dallara IR-05	Honda HI7R V8	32	21	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
2012	Dallara DW12	Chevrolet IndyCar V6t	13	23	Andretti Autosport/Conquest Racing
2013	Dallara DW12	Honda HI13TT V6t	29	15	Dale Coyne Racing

Complete Stock Car Brasil results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	Rank	Points
2014	ProGP	Chevrolet Sonic	INT 1 15	SCZ 1 22	SCZ 2 18	BRA 1 21	BRA 2 16	GOI 1 11	GOI 2 23	GOI 1 20	CAS 1 Ret	CAS 2 DNS	CUR 1 30	CUR 2 DNS	VEL 1 18	VEL 2 15	SCZ 1 21	SCZ 2 17	TAR 1 27	TAR 2 14	SAL 1 21	SAL 2 19	CUR 1 Ret		32nd	15
2015	União Química Bassani	Peugeot 408	GOI 1 19	RBP 1 20	RBP 2 DNS	VEL 1 23	VEL 2 17	CUR 1 20	CUR 2 10	SCZ 1 24	SCZ 2 DNS	CUR 1 Ret	CUR 2 DNS	GOI 1 Ret	CAS 1 24	CAS 2 22	MOU 1 Ret	MOU 2 DNS	CUR 1 Ret	CUR 2 Ret	TAR 1 23	TAR 2 Ret	INT 1 18		32nd	13
2016	União Química Bassani	Peugeot 408	CUR 1 Ret	VEL 1 17	VEL 2 24	GOI 1 18	GOI 2 14	SCZ 1 23†	SCZ 2 DNS	TAR 1 16	TAR 2 6	CAS 1 23	CAS 2 Ret	INT 1 13	LON 1 21	LON 2 17	CUR 1 Ret	CUR 2 19†	GOI 1 15	GOI 2 21†	CRI 1 19	CRI 2 11	INT 1 Ret		26th	57
2017	Full Time Academy	Chevrolet Cruze	GOI 1 Ret	GOI 2 Ret	VEL 1 Ret	VEL 2 DNS	SCZ 1 Ret	SCZ 2 6	CAS 1 Ret	CAS 2 11	CUR 1 16	CRI 1 23	CRI 2 20	VCA 1 23	VCA 2 21	LON 1 28	LON 2 Ret	ARG 1 Ret	ARG 2 DNS	TAR 1 Ret	TAR 2 16	GOI 1 17	GOI 2 16	INT 1 24	29th	28
2018	Ipiranga Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	INT 1 Ret	CUR 1 Ret	CUR 2 Ret	VEL 1 22	VEL 2 16	LON 1 Ret	LON 2 14	SCZ 1 21	SCZ 2 Ret	GOI 1 10	MOU 1 17	MOU 2 5	CAS 1 Ret	CAS 2 Ret	VCA 1 17	VCA 2 Ret	TAR 1 16	TAR 2 11	GOI 1 Ret	GOI 2 15	INT 1 17		24th	21
2019	Ipiranga Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	VEL 1 19	VCA 1 22	VCA 2 16	GOI 1 Ret	GOI 2 22	LON 1 Ret	LON 2 4	SCZ 1 23	SCZ 2 Ret	MOU 1 13	MOU 2 21	INT 1 Ret	VEL 1 19	VEL 2 20	CAS 1 15	CAS 2 10	VCA 1 15	VCA 2 18	GOI 1 Ret	GOI 2 19	INT 1 16		25th	73

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

Complete IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

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

Year	Entrant	Class	Make	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
2019	Heinricher Racing w/ Meyer Shank Racing	GTD	Acura NSX GT3	Acura 3.5 L Turbo V6	DAY 12	SEB 8	MDO	DET	WGL 4	MOS 6	LIM	ELK 13	VIR	LGA	PET 7		16th	137
2021	Team Hardpoint EBM	GTD	Porsche 911 GT3 R	Porsche 4.0 L Flat-6	DAY	SEB 5	MDO	DET	WGL	WGL	LIM	ELK	LGA	LBH	VIR	PET	51st	280
Source:[19]

References

1. IndyCar.com. (12 July 2008) History -- Again^{[permanent dead link]} IndyCar. Accessed 12 July 2008.
2. DesMoinesRegister.com. (20 June 2009) ^{[permanent dead link]} Des Moines Register. Accessed 20 June 2009.
3. Wagner, Phillip. (30 July 2008) Is Bia Brazil's Danica Patrick (Part 1) Archived September 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine Motorsport.com. Accessed 31 July 2008.
4. Knapp Schilke, Nancy. (1 January 2008) Schmidt gives opportunity to Beatriz-Figueiredo Archived July 22, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Motorsport.com. Accessed 1 January 2008.
5. Lewandowski, Dave. (1 January 2008) Battistini holds off Antinucci at the Yard of Bricks^{[permanent dead link]} IndyCar. Accessed 24 May 2008.
6. Braun, Travis. (16 July 2008) Beatriz looks to carve out own image among women racers USA Today. Accessed 3 August 2008.
7. Lewandowski, Dave. (June 20, 2009) SSM Sweep^{[permanent dead link]}, IndyCar. Accessed 16 October 2009.
8. BiaFigueiredo.com (23 February 2010) Fórmula Indy: Ana Beatriz fecha com a equipe Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Archived February 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine BiaFigueiredo.com. Accessed 23 February 2010.
9. GPUpdate.net (12th May 2010) Beatriz to compete in 500 with Dreyer & Reinbold GPUpdate.net. Accessed 30 January 2011.
10. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing names Ana Beatriz as driver Archived March 9, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, AutoWeek, March 3, 2011, Retrieved 2011-03-03
11. The Indianapolis Star, March 9, 2012, edition
12. "Ana Beatriz".
13. "Bia Figueiredo to race in Brazilian Copa Truck". Racers: Behind the Helmet. 19 January 2023.
14. "Bia Figueiredo linked with embezzlement case in Brazil". Motorsport.com. 28 June 2020.
15. "Ana Beatriz – 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
16. "Ana Beatriz – 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
17. "Ana Beatriz – 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
18. "Ana Beatriz – 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
19. "Ana Beatriz Results". motorsportstats.com. Retrieved November 11, 2023.

External links

• Official website
• Ana Beatriz driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Ana Beatriz at IndyCar.com
• Torcida Bia Figueiredo fan site
• New York Times feature on Bia, October 2006
• IndyCar 11 in '11 video