Álvaro Barba López (born 17 February 1984 in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

) is a former Spanish

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

and brother to fellow racer

Marco Barba Marco Antonio Barba López (born 10 November 1985 in Seville) is a former Spanish Auto racing, racing driver and brother to Álvaro Barba. Career Formula Junior 1600 Barba began his racing career in 2003 in the Spain, Spanish Formula Junior, Fo ...

Career

Formula Junior and Spanish Formula Three

Barba began his

single seater An open-wheel car is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have their wheels below the body or inside fend ...

career in 2002 driving in the Spanish Formula Junior 1600 series, where he finished runner up to fellow countryman

Adrián Vallés Adrián Vallés Escortell (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish race car driver. Career Vallés was born in Teulada, Alicante. After a strong karting career, he drove in Spanish Formula Three, before moving to the World Series by Nissan in 2004. T ...

. In 2003 he moved up to the

Spanish Formula Three Championship The Euroformula Open Championship (formerly the Spanish Formula Three Championship, European F3 Open Championship) is a junior formula racing series based in Spain. It was one of six national and international Formula Three championships in Europe ...

, the first of three seasons in the category. During his time in the series he accumulated nine podium positions, including three race wins, with his best season coming in 2005 when he finished 5th in the championship. He also raced in that year's Marlboro Masters event at

Zandvoort Zandvoort () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands; it has a long sandy beach. It is bordered by coastal dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park and the Amsterdam ...

, finishing in 24th place.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

In 2003 Barba raced a full season in the World Series Lights championship, which acted as a support event to the World Series by Nissan. Barba took two podium positions during the year to finish 10th overall. In

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

he stepped up to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

team Jenzer Motorsport, taking nine points to finish his debut season 26th overall. He joined top

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

team International DracoRacing for the 2007 season, taking two podium positions, including his first race win at

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport Race track, circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, sti ...

. He finished the season 8th overall. For

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, Barba continued in the World Series, this time switching to the Italian squad

Prema Powerteam Prema Racing, previously known as Prema Powerteam, is an Italian motorsport team, owned and operated through the ''DC Racing Solutions'' parent company. Founded in 1983, the team is based in Grisignano di Zocco and currently operates out of Ita ...

, with his brother Marco taking over his seat at Draco Racing. After taking a podium in the opening event of the season, he took a further three podium places and a

fastest lap In motorsports, the fastest lap is the quickest lap run during a race. In some racing series, like NASCAR, the fastest lap award championship points for a driver or team. In Formula One and MotoGP no point is awarded for the fastest lap. Formula O ...

to be classified 10th in the championship.

International GT Open

In July 2008, he teamed up with his brother to race a

Mosler MT900R The Mosler MT900 is a high performance sports car built by now-defunct American automotive manufacturer Mosler Automotive. Three submodels were produced. The MT900R was a racing version of the MT900. The basic car was updated as the MT900S for ...

in the

International GT Open The International GT Open is a grand tourer-style sports car racing series founded in 2006 by the Spanish GT Sport Organización. It was a spin-off of the now-defunct Spanish GT Championship, but is now a distinct series featuring FIA GT3-spec ...

event held at the brand new

Valencia Street Circuit The Valencia Street Circuit (, ) was a street circuit in Valencia, Spain which hosted the Formula One European Grand Prix for five years (2008–2012). The first Formula One race meeting on the circuit was held over the 23–24 August 2008 wee ...

, and in December 2008, it was announced that Barba will race for the Advanced Engineering team in the 2009 season.

Career results

Career summary

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

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

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barba, Alvaro 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Seville Spanish racing drivers Euroformula Open Championship drivers FIA GT Championship drivers World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers Eurocup Mégane Trophy drivers International GT Open drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Prema Powerteam drivers Drivex drivers Campos Racing drivers Jenzer Motorsport drivers Draco Racing drivers Ombra Racing drivers Hitech Grand Prix drivers AF Corse drivers