Richard Antinucci (born January 26, 1981) is an American
race car driver.
Career
In 1998 he competed in Italian Formula Ford, moving to the
British Formula Renault Winter Series in 1999 and to
Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup in 2000, where he stayed for one season (although he drove two fill-in races in 2001).
In a bad-tempered 2002 season, he moved to the Manor Motorsport team in
British Formula 3, leaving them in 2003 for the Carlin team in the same series. Mid-season he changed to the rival Promatecme team, although he did not stay there long as he moved to
Japanese Formula Three for the 2004 season.
Antinucci moved to the
Formula Three Euroseries
The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The ...
for 2005, and although finishing 19th overall in his first season, in 2006 he took several race wins on his way to 5th in the championship, and 2nd place at the end of season
Macau Grand Prix
The Macau Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prémio de Macau; ) is a motorsport road race for automobiles and motorcycles held annually in Macau. It is the only street circuit racing event in which both cars and motorcycles participate, and one of onl ...
, starting from 15th on the grid.
He drove in the
Indy Pro Series
Indy NXT, previously Indy Lights, is an American developmental automobile racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, currently known as Firestone Indy NXT Series for sponsorship reasons. Indy Lights is the highest step on the Road to Indy, a program ...
in 2007 for
Cheever Racing Cheever Racing was an auto racing team founded in 1996 by Eddie Cheever as Team Cheever in the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series. They fielded a car for Cheever for much of its existence, but occasionally ran two cars, almost always for the Indianap ...
, driving for his uncle
Eddie Cheever
Edward McKay "Eddie" Cheever Jr. (born January 10, 1958) is an American former racing driver who raced for almost 30 years in Formula One, sports cars, CART, and the Indy Racing League. Cheever participated in 143 Formula One World Championshi ...
. Antinucci captured two wins and finished 15th in points despite only racing in the road course events, which accounted for 9 of the 16 races on the schedule. He signed with defending championship-winning team
Sam Schmidt Motorsports
The IndyCar Series operation of McLaren (competing as Arrow McLaren due to sponsorship) is based in Indianapolis and was founded by former IndyCar driver Sam Schmidt in 2001 as Sam Schmidt Motorsports. After a series of partnerships and name ...
for 2008. Antinucci won two races and was the runner-up to champion
Raphael Matos
Raphael Matos (born August 28, 1981) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. He was the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights Series champion and the 2007 Champ Car Atlantic Series champion. He lives in Miami.
Career highlights
Early career
Born in B ...
at season end by 32 points.
Antinucci made his
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 o ...
debut on July 5, 2009 driving for
Team 3G at
Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track located in the town of Dix just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It was long known around the world as the hom ...
.
Antinucci to make IndyCar Series debut with Team 3G at The Glen
IndyCar.com, June 8, 2009
Racing record
Career summary
Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results
( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)
American open–wheel racing results
( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)
Indy Lights
IndyCar Series
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Antinucci, Richard
1981 births
Living people
Indy Lights drivers
IndyCar Series drivers
Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers
British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers
Formula Renault Eurocup drivers
Formula 3 Euro Series drivers
British Formula Three Championship drivers
Japanese Formula 3 Championship drivers
Italian emigrants to the United States
World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers
Racing drivers from Rome
American racing drivers
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers
Carlin racing drivers
Manor Motorsport drivers
GT World Challenge America drivers
Arrow McLaren SP drivers
Cheever Racing drivers
Victory Engineering drivers
JD Motorsport drivers
US RaceTronics drivers
OAK Racing drivers
Hitech Grand Prix drivers
TOM'S drivers
ART Grand Prix drivers