Ernesto José "E. J." Viso Lossada (born March 19, 1985) is a

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n professional racing driver. He has raced in the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

GP2 Series The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Eccle ...

seasons, and has also driven the third car for

Spyker MF1 Racing Midland F1 Racing (also known as MF1 Racing, or simply "Midland") was a Formula One constructor and racing team which competed in the 2006 Formula One season with drivers Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro. The team was created by the renami ...

. In 2007 he competed in the GP2 Series for

Racing Engineering Racing Engineering is a Spanish racing team founded in 1999 by Alfonso de Orléans-Borbón that currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. The team's headquarters are located in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near Jerez, where all car prepar ...

. In 2014 he made his season debut for the

Stadium Super Trucks The Stadium Super Trucks (SST), formerly known as Speed Energy Formula Off-Road, is an American short course off-road racing series created by off-road racer and former IndyCar and NASCAR driver Robby Gordon in 2013. Sanctioned by the United State ...

in the Long Beach Grand Prix. He most recently drove for

Andretti Autosport Andretti Autosport is an auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series, Indy Lights, Indy Pro 2000, and Formula E. The team also has a 37.5% ownership stake in the Australian Supercars Championship touring car team, Walkinshaw Andretti ...

in the IndyCar Series.

Career

Early racing

Born in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

, Viso spent time in his early career in both Europe and America. He attended Rolling Hills Prep high school in California. Viso's career started in

karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...

back in 1993, where he stayed until 2001 when he moved to US Barber Formula Dodge East, becoming champion with confidence. He also raced in the

Italian Formula Renault Winter Series Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

at the end of that year, moving to

British Formula Renault British Formula Renault Championship referred to one of two Formula Renault championships that were held in the United Kingdom. The main series was Renault Sport UK's Formula Renault 2.0 UK championship which was held from 1989 to 2011 and was g ...

for 2002. In 2002 he also drove in one race of Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup, and at the end of the year in the

British Formula 3 Winter Series British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. 2003 saw a move to

British Formula 3 The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level feeder formula that used small single seate ...

, where he raced in the B-Class and became champion after a controversial collision with his main rival during the final race of the season. He then moved to the main class in 2004, racing part of the season for the P1 team, his performances attracting the attention of F3000 team Durango who lured him to the series for the remainder of the season.

GP2

In 2005, he raced in the inaugural season of the

for the

BCN Competicion Ocean Racing Technology (ORT) was a racing team that took part in both the GP2 Main Series and the GP2 Asia Series Championships. The team, owned by Tiago Monteiro and José Guedes, was formed at the end of the 2008 season after being purchased f ...

team, alongside

Hiroki Yoshimoto (born 2 September 1980 in Osaka) is a Japanese race car driver. He raced in the 2005 GP2 Series for the BCN Competicion team, alongside the Venezuelan E. J. Viso. For 2006 he was initially teamed with the more experienced Timo Glock of Germany ...

. In 2006, he again raced in the GP2 Series for the

iSport iSport International was a British motor racing team that competed in the GP2 Series. The team was founded by Paul Jackson, Gavin Bickerton-Jones and Richard Selwin, former members of the Petrobras Junior Team in 2004, ahead of the inaugural ...

team. He won the

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

Sunday race and the

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Sunday race. He also drove the third Spyker MF1 Team car in the Friday practice sessions of the

Brazilian Grand Prix The Brazilian Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prêmio do Brasil), currently held under the name São Paulo Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prêmio de São Paulo), is a Formula One championship race which is currently held at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace ...

. Before the

2007 French Grand Prix The 2007 French Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Grand Prix de France 2007) was a Formula One motor race held on 1 July 2007 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, Magny-Cours, France. It was the eighth race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Cha ...

, it was confirmed that Ernesto Viso would replace the underperforming

Sérgio Jimenez Sérgio Jimenez (born May 15, 1984, in Piedade, São Paulo State) is a Brazilian racecar driver. Career He started his career in 1994 with karting and in 2002 participated in the Formula Renault Formula Renault are classes of formula racing ...

at Racing Engineering. His race ended on the first lap in a spectacular collision with

Michael Ammermüller Michael Ammermüller (born 14 February 1986) is a racing driver from Germany. After competing in various junior formulae, he became a test and reserve driver for the Red Bull Racing Formula One team in the 2007 season. Following this, he repr ...

and

Kazuki Nakajima is a retired Japanese professional racing driver who drove in Formula One for the Williams-Toyota team from to . In 2012 and 2014, he won the Super Formula Championship driving for TOM'S. Racing for Toyota Gazoo Racing, he won the 2018, 2019 an ...

in which his car somersaulted over the barriers at tremendous speed, smashing through an advertising hoarding and narrowly missing a bridge (as luck would have it, hitting the board saved him from clouting the bridge and probably more severe injuries), leaving him only a severe concussion and painful arm. This crash was very similar to the one of

Marco Campos Marco Campos (24 February 1976 – 15 October 1995) was a Brazilian racing driver. He died in an accident in a Formula 3000 race at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, making him the only driver to be fatally injured in the International Formula ...

that happened on the same track in 1995, leading to Campos's death. Campos died of severe head trauma after hitting his head on the concrete barrier. Viso was only inches away from the same fate. For the British round, he was replaced by

Filipe Albuquerque Filipe Miguel Delgadinho Albuquerque (born 13 June 1985) is a Portuguese professional racing driver, currently driving a Acura ARX-05 in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Wayne Taylor Racing, and an Oreca 07 in the FIA World Endurance Cham ...

. Viso took part in the following race meeting, but was then replaced by Marcos Martinez.

IndyCar Series

Ernesto José Viso at 2008 Indianapolis 500 practice

Viso competed in the newly united

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

for

HVM Racing HVM Racing was an auto racing team owned by Keith Wiggins that competed in the IndyCar Series. It competed in the Champ Car World Series in 2007 as Minardi Team USA when it was co-owned by Paul Stoddart. It has a long history of changes of ownersh ...

. He made his first series start in the first oval race of his career on March 29. His next start, at St. Petersburg, was a superb performance ending with a fourth-place finish. At Milwaukee he ended with an eighth place. Shortly after the Watkins Glen race (in which he finished 10th but forced

Vítor Meira Vítor Meira (born March 27, 1977) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He formerly competed in the IndyCar Series and has twice finished second in the Indianapolis 500. IndyCar Series 2002 After participating in an open test for Panther Racing ...

off the track, causing Meira to run back onto the track to confront Viso on the next lap) he was diagnosed with the

Mumps MUMPS ("Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System"), or M, is an imperative, high-level programming language with an integrated transaction processing key–value database. It was originally developed at Massachusetts Gener ...

and was forced to withdraw from the next race. Viso finished 18th overall in the 2008 series and has signed a contract to drive for HVM in 2009. On February 21, 2010

KV Racing KV Racing Technology was an auto racing team that last competed in the IndyCar Series. The team was originally formed as PK Racing before the 2003 season by Australian businessman Kevin Kalkhoven and former Formula One team manager Craig Poll ...

confirmed that Viso would drive the No. 8 car for the team for the entire

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

season. For the 2011 IndyCar campaign, Viso remained with KV Racing. He showed flashes of speed, particularly in Brazil where he was in contention for a win. He remained one of the more accident-prone drivers in the series, which led to questions about his seat for 2012 . Viso finished 18th in the IZOD IndyCar Series championship on the strength of four top-10 finishes with a season best seventh place showing in Texas Race No. 2. For 2013 Viso remained in the IndyCar Series with

, in the No. 5 with sponsorship from oil company

PDVSA Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA, ) (English: Petroleum of Venezuela) is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as exploration and production ...

, recording a best finish of 4th at Milwaukee and finishing 15th in the final points standings. In 2014, Viso no longer had an IndyCar Series drive.

Stadium Super Trucks

Long Beach Grand Prix 2014 - Day 3 (13900079186)

In 2014, Viso made his

series debut in Long Beach, California where he finished 2nd after a last lap battle with series founder

Robby Gordon Robert Wesley Gordon (born January 2, 1969) is an American auto racing driver. He has raced in NASCAR, CART, the IndyCar Series, the Trans-Am Series, IMSA, IROC and the Dakar Rally. He is active in top-tier off road motorsports such as BITD, NO ...

. On May 30, Viso got his first ever win in an SST on only his second ever series appearance at the

Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix The Detroit Grand Prix (currently branded as the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear Corporation for sponsorship reasons) is an IndyCar Series race weekend held on a temporary circuit in Detroit, Michigan. The race has been held from ...

, where he finished 1st ahead of Robby Gordon in an eventful last lap finish. Viso also captured his second win a day later beating 16-year-old Scotty Steele. Viso swept all three Detroit events on June 1, and won race 1 at Coronado. The Venezuelan finished fifth in the season standings.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

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

Complete GP2 Series results

(

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

Complete Formula One participations

(

)

American open–wheel racing results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

IndyCar Series

: ''¹ Run on same day.'' : ''² Non-points-paying, exhibition race.'' : ''³ Pulled out of race after contracting

mumps MUMPS ("Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System"), or M, is an imperative, high-level programming language with an integrated transaction processing key–value database. It was originally developed at Massachusetts Gener ...

'' : ''⁴ The Las Vegas Indy 300 was abandoned after

Dan Wheldon Daniel Clive Wheldon (22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011) was a British motor racing driver who won the 2005 IndyCar Series season, 2005 IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship for Andretti Autosport, Andretti Green Racing (AGR). He won the Indiana ...

died from injuries sustained in a 15-car crash on lap 11.'' : ''⁵ Missed race after falling ill due to eating bad oysters. Replaced by Carlos Muñoz.''

Indianapolis 500

Complete American Le Mans Series results

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

Stadium Super Trucks

(

) (Bold – Pole position. ''Italics'' – Fastest qualifier. * – Most laps led.) The race was abandoned after

Matt Mingay Matt Mingay (born 20 March 1977) is an Australian stunt performer and racing driver. A veteran of the Stadium Super Trucks since 2015, he competes in the series' Australian counterpart Boost Mobile Super Trucks. In 2016, he suffered serious inj ...

suffered serious injuries in a crash on lap three.

References

External links

Official websiteIndyCar Driver Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Viso, Ernesto 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Caracas Venezuelan racing drivers IndyCar Series drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers International Formula 3000 drivers GP2 Series drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Karting World Championship drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers X Games athletes Stadium Super Trucks drivers Manor Motorsport drivers ISport International drivers Starworks Motorsport drivers HVM Racing drivers Andretti Autosport drivers KV Racing Technology drivers Racing Engineering drivers Durango drivers P1 Motorsport drivers OAK Racing drivers Fortec Motorsport drivers