Sperafico is the surname of a family of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian racing drivers. Ten members of the family have competed in racing series both worldwide and in Brazil. The four most notable members of the family are listed below. Two are brothers and the other two are their cousins. The members are two brothers: *

Ricardo Sperafico Ricardo Sperafico (born 23 July 1979) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. Career Born in Toledo, he resides in a family of racers, twin brother of Rodrigo, and with two cousins, Alexandre and the late Rafael. He began his career in Europe ...

(born July 23, 1979 in

Toledo, Paraná Toledo is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Brazilian state of Paraná (state), Paraná. It is located in the western region of the state, near Cascavel. Its population is 142,645 inhabitants, as estimated by Brazilian Institute of ...

) — at least one season in the

Champ Car World Series Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ...

. Also raced in

Formula 3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines. Formula 3000 championships ...

, finishing as series runner-up in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

. *

Rodrigo Sperafico Rodrigo Sperafico (born 23 July 1979) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. He currently drives in the Stock Car Brasil series. He belongs to the Sperafico family of racing drivers, which includes twin brother Ricardo (with whom his career ...

(born July 23, 1979 in

) — raced in F3000 and F3 series. Also raced in the Brazilian stock car series, although not in the same category as cousin Rafael. and two cousins: *

Alexandre Sperafico Alexandre Sperafico (born January 21, 1974 in Toledo, Paraná) is a Brazilian racing driver. He is the oldest of the four racing Speraficos. From 2000 to 2001, and for one start in 2003, Alexandre competed in the Barber Pro Series, Barber Dodge Pr ...

(born January 21, 1974) from

— currently competing in the

Champ Car Atlantic Championship The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It has been called Champ Car Atlantics (after its former name), Toyota Atlantics (due to the series' previous history of using Toyota-powered engines) ...

. He is the oldest of the four racing Speraficos. *

Rafael Sperafico Rafael Sperafico (22 April 1981 – 9 December 2007) was a Brazilian racing driver. He was the cousin of fellow racing drivers Ricardo and Rodrigo, and also related to Alexandre. He was born in Toledo, Paraná. Career Barber Dodge Sperafico ...

(April 22, 1981 in

– December 9, 2007 in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

) — killed while racing at

Interlagos Interlagos is a neighborhood located in the district of Socorro in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Its name comes from the fact that the region is located between two large reservoirs, Guarapiranga and Billings, built in the early 20th century ...

in a junior league race to the

Stock Car Brasil Stock Car Pro Series, formerly known as Stock Car Brasil, is a touring car auto racing series based in Brazil organized by Vicar. It is considered the major Brazilian and South American motorsports series. Starting in 1979 with Chevrolet as the ...

series (Stock Car Light) when his car was t-boned by another driver. The four family members often competed against each other in Brazilian F3 racing during the late 1990s among other series. Rodrigo and Ricardo also competed against each other for competing teams during the

2000 Italian Formula 3000 season The 2000 Italian Formula 3000 Championship was contested over 8 rounds. 13 different teams, 40 different drivers competed. In this one-make formula all teams had to utilize Lola T96/50 chassis with Zytek engines. Entries Calendar Results ; ...

. The two were joined by Alexandre in the

2002 International Formula 3000 season The 2002 International Formula 3000 season was the thirty-sixth season of the second-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also eighteenth season under the International Formula 3000 Championship moniker. It featured the 2002 FIA Formula 3000 ...

References

{{Surname Surnames Brazilian families