Hugo Valente (born 17 June 1992) is a French former

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

driver. He raced in the

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sin ...

for SUNRED Engineering,

Campos Racing Campos Racing is a Spanish motor racing team, founded by former Formula One driver Adrián Campos. The team has been successful in Formula Three and the GP2 Series. History After retiring from racing, Campos formed his own team at the end of 19 ...

and the Lada factory team having made his debut in the series at the 2012 FIA WTCC Race of China. For 2017, he made the switch to the

TCR International Series The TCR International Series was an international touring car championship. The championship was promoted by World Sporting Consulting (WSC), founded by former World Touring Car Championship manager Marcello Lotti. It was marketed as a cost-eff ...

, where part way through the season he announced his retirement from motorsport. He was born in

Choisy-le-Roi Choisy-le-Roi () is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department, in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. Geography Choisy-le-Roi is located southeast from the center of Paris, on both banks of the river Seine. The neighbouring commu ...

Racing career

Formula Renault Eurocup

For 2009 Valente moved into car racing and into the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series with

SG Formula SG Formula is a French auto racing team which participated in the junior categories of open wheel racing: Formula Renault and Formula Three. The team was founded in 2004 by Frenchman Stephane Guerin. History After its foundation in 2004, SG Form ...

. He finished the season 24th in the standings with a best result of 8th at the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

. He stayed in the series for 2010, moving to the new

Tech 1 Racing Tech 1 Racing is a racing team based in Toulouse, France. They currently compete in the World Series by Renault and Eurocup Mégane Trophy. Tech 1 also operate the Panis Racing LMP2 entry to the European Le Mans Series and the Ultimate LMP2 Pro ...

team alongside

Arthur Pic Arthur Pic (born October 5, 1991) is a French retired racing driver. He competed in the GP2 Series between 2014 and 2016. Career Karting Like most top-line drivers, Pic began his racing career in karting, contesting the 2005 French Junior Champ ...

and

Aaro Vainio Aaro Vainio (born 2 October 1993 in Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, ...

. He scored a single podium finish, of second place, on the first weekend at

Motorland Aragón MotorLand Aragón (alternative Spanish name: Circuito de Alcañiz) is a race track used for motorsports located in Alcañiz, Spain. The circuit was designed by German architect Hermann Tilke in conjunction with the British architectural bus ...

and he went on to finish the season 12th on 28 points.

French SEAT León Supercopa

After taking a sabbatical in 2011, Valente returned to racing for 2012 in the French SEAT León Supercopa. He led the championship going into the final round at the

Circuit Paul Ricard The Circuit Paul Ricard () is a French motorsport race track built in 1969 at Le Castellet, Var, near Marseille, with finance from pastis magnate Paul Ricard. Ricard wanted to experience the challenge of building a racetrack. The circuit has ho ...

but ultimately lost out to Jimmy Antunes in the final race.

World Touring Car Championship

SUNRED Engineering (2012)

Valente made his debut in the WTCC at the 2012 FIA WTCC Race of China, driving the SUNRED SR León 1.6T previously driven in the 2012 season by

Tiago Monteiro Tiago Vagaroso da Costa Monteiro (; born 24 July 1976) is a Portuguese professional racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup, driving a Honda Civic TCR for Engstler Motorsport. He competed in Formula One between 2005 an ...

and

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 Germa ...

. He qualified 23rd for the race with the only SR León on the grid. His car was found to be over-boosting later on in Q1 but his best time was set prior to the change being made so his grid slot was unaffected. His best result of the weekend was fifteenth in race one, but he was later dropped to sixteenth in the classification when he was one of five drivers issued with a 30-second penalty for cutting a chicane to avoid a separate incident. Hugo Valente 2014 WTCC Race of Japan (Race 1)

Hugo Valente 2014 WTCC Race of Japan (Race 1)

Campos Racing (2013–2015)

Valente would stay the WTCC full-time in 2013 season, joining

alongside

Fernando Monje Fernando Monje Vicario (born 7 March 1993) is a former Spanish racing driver who competed in the World Touring Car Championship. Career Early career Monje was born in Barcelona. He began his career in karting in 2005 at the age of twelve and ...

in a SEAT León WTCC. The start of his season was delayed until the Race of Hungary when Campos introduced their second car. He skipped the Russian and Portuguese rounds of the championship and his car was taken over by

European Touring Car Cup The FIA European Touring Car Cup was an annual touring car racing event, which had been held at various locations across Europe from 2005 to 2017. Unlike in previous years where it was a one-off event, in 2010 the series was a three round event. ...

driver

Nikolay Karamyshev Nikolay Karamyshev (born 19 January 1989 in Kursk) is a Russian auto racing driver. He has competed in the European Touring Car Cup and will make his debut in the World Touring Car Championship at the 2013 FIA WTCC Race of Russia. Racing career ...

Lada Sport (2016)

Valtente secured a factory drive with the Lada Sport Rosneft team for

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

. It was a tough season as Valente was unable to make the podium, unlike his teammates

Gabriele Tarquini Gabriele Tarquini (born 2 March 1962) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 78 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on May 3, 1987. He scored a single championship point, and holds the record for the most failed attempts to qualify. He ...

and

Nick Catsburg Nicky Catsburg (born 15 February 1988 in Amersfoort) is a Dutch professional racing driver, for BMW and General Motors works driver for Corvette Racing Corvette Racing is an American auto racing team established in 1999 by General Motors and ...

who both took victories. Valente's best results were two fourth place finishes in Morocco and Russia. After scoring points consistently for the first half of the season, Valente would only finish once more in the points across the final four rounds including five retirements. This left him in 12th place overall, three places behind Tarquini and five behind Catsburg. At the end of the season it was announced that Lada would be pulling out of the

, leaving Valente without a drive for

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

TCR International Series

Campos Racing (2015)

Valente made his debut in the new for 2015,

, at the penultimate round in Thailand. Driving with

in their

Opel Astra The Opel Astra is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) developed and produced by the German automaker Opel since 1991, currently at its sixth generation. It was first launched in September 1991 as a direct replacement to the Opel Kadet ...

, Valente did not finish the first race of the weekend, although he was still classified. Valente started the second race from pole position as a result of it being a reversed grid race. However Valente would retire from this race as well.

Craft-Bamboo Racing (2017)

Having been unable to secure a seat in the

, Valente rejoined the

with the

Craft-Bamboo Racing Craft-Bamboo Racing is an auto racing team. It was founded in 2014 after the merger of Craft Racing from Hong Kong and Bamboo Engineering from the United Kingdom. Craft Racing was established by Frank Yu in 2009 and was a front running team in ...

team alongside TCR frontrunners and former World Touring Car rivals,

Pepe Oriola Josep "Pepe" Oriola Vila (born 9 July 1994) is a Spanish racing driver. He became the youngest driver to race in the World Touring Car Championship when he competed in the 2011 season. Oriola is not only the youngest driver to start a WTCC race ...

and James Nash. At the first round in Georgia, Valente retired from the first race of the season, but finished in ninth place in the second and scoring his first TCR points. Valente took his first podium of the season in the second round at Bahrain, with a second place finish. He followed this up with a third place in the second race of the weekend. However a non-points scoring weekend at

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), frequently referred to as ''Spa'', is a motor-racing circuit located in Stavelot, Belgium. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, and has he ...

dealt a blow to his championship hopes. Although Valente finished sixth in the first race at

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

, a further retirement in the second, having started the race from pole left Valente in tenth place in the championship, 67 points adrift from the championship leader at that point in time. Shortly before the round at the

Salzburgring The Salzburgring is a motorsport race track located in Plainfeld, east of Salzburg. Key Facts Track Length Bends 15 Straights ...

, it was announced that Valente would retire from motorsport with immediate effect, citing the need to be closer to his family, in particular his young daughter. His seat at the team was taken over by former British Touring Car driver, Dan Lloyd.

Racing record

Complete World Touring Car Championship 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 TCR International Series results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Valente, Hugo 1992 births Living people People from Choisy-le-Roi French people of Italian descent French racing drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Formula Renault 2.0 WEC drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers French F4 Championship drivers World Touring Car Championship drivers Auto Sport Academy drivers Campos Racing drivers SG Formula drivers Tech 1 Racing drivers