Christiano "Tuka" Chiaradia Alcoba Rocha (December 13, 1982 – November 17, 2019) was a Brazilian race car driver. He won numerous

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 ...

championships in Brazil from 1996 to 2000. Then moved up to South American Formula 3 Lights. In 2002 he moved to Europe to compete in the

World Series by Nissan The World Series Formula V8 3.5, formerly the World Series by Nissan from 1998 to 2004, the Formula Renault 3.5 Series from 2005 to 2015 and the Formula V8 3.5 in 2016 and 2017, was a motor racing series promoted by RPM Racing (1998–2004) and R ...

where he was

Ricardo Zonta Ricardo Luiz Zonta (born March 23, 1976) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 10 Toyota Corolla E210 for RCM Motorsport. Early career Born in Curitiba, ...

's teammate. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

he competed in Superfund Euro 3000. In 2005 he was a test driver for

A1 Team Brazil A1 Team Brazil is the Brazilian team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. Management The seat holder for ''A1 Team Brazil'' is the former Formula One World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi. Since 2005, Brazilian footballer Ronaldo has b ...

in the

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 ...

Series and was named one of the team's race drivers for the 2006-2007 season. In 2008 Tuka was chosen to drive the

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

's car in Formula Superleague. Rocha died on November 17, 2019, three days after being involved in a small airplane crash near

Bahia, Brazil Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest by ...

. On a private flight from

Jundiaí Airport Comte. Rolim Adolfo Amaro State Airport is the airport serving Jundiaí, Brazil. It is named after Rolim Adolfo Amaro (1942–2001), founder and former president of LATAM Brasil formerly known as TAM Airlines. It is operated by Rede Voa. H ...

to Maraú-Barra Grande Airport near

Maraú Maraú is a municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil. . The municipality is located in a peninsula called "Península de Maraú", physiographic area called "Região Cacaueira" (cocoa region). The city is rich in minera ...

the aircraft crashed on landing. The

Cessna Citation II The Cessna Citation II are light corporate jets built by Cessna as part of the Citation family. Stretched from the Citation I, the Model 550 was announced in September 1976, first flew on January 31, 1977, and was certified in March 1978. The ...

burst into flames fatally injuring Tuka Rocha and two others.

Racing career

Superleague Formula record

Complete Stock Car Brasil results

References

External links

Rocha's personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rocha, Tuka 1982 births 2019 deaths Brazilian racing drivers A1 Team Brazil drivers Auto GP drivers Formula 3 Sudamericana drivers Superleague Formula drivers Stock Car Brasil drivers Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Brazil Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2019 Racing drivers from São Paulo Piquet GP drivers Team Astromega drivers Euronova Racing drivers Durango drivers A1 Grand Prix drivers Charouz Racing System drivers