Cristiano Morgado (born 27 August 1979, in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

) is a South African racing driver of

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

descent. A five-time

Rotax Max Challenge The Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals (RMC) is a kart racing series owned and organized worldwide by BRP-Powertrain and its distributors, approved and in compliance with CIK-FIA. Competition takes place on a club, national and international ...

World Champion, he is the first and only driver to ever hold five

Rotax Rotax is the brand name for a range of internal combustion engines developed and manufactured by the Austrian company BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG (until 2016 BRP-Powertrain GmbH & Co. KG), in turn owned by the Canadian Bombardier Recreational Product ...

world titles. He won his first

World Championship in 2004 and followed this up with the European Championship the following year in the RM1 class. He was also on pole position for the 2004

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

Festival in his first year of car racing. In 2006 he achieved 4 wins on his way to the runner up spot in the British

Formula Three Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One driv ...

National Class Championship. These achievements led him to receive the honor of Protea Colours. In 2008 he entered the new Formula Volkswagen Series launched in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

scoring 8 wins during the championship season. These results earned him his first

A1 Grand Prix A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) was a "single-make" open-wheel auto racing series that ran from 2005 until 2009. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most for ...

berth for

A1 Team South Africa A1 Team South Africa was the South African team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Management A1 Team South Africa's owner was Tokyo Sexwale. The Chief Executive Officer of the team was Dana Cooper and the technical and sporting ...

as the test driver in Taupo,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Following a good performance he was also selected for the final two races of the season in

Portimão Portimão () is a city and a municipality in the district of Faro, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 55,614, in an area of 182.06 km2. It was formerly known as Vila Nova de Portimão (). In 1924, it was ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

and

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In a return to karting for the 2011 season, he won the

World Championship in the DD2 Masters class. He repeated this feat in 2012, 2013 and again in 2018, in so doing clinching his record fifth title.

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgado, Cristiano Living people 1979 births South African racing drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers A1 Grand Prix Rookie drivers World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers Fluid Motorsport Development drivers Comtec Racing drivers