André Couto (; born 14 December 1976) is a Macanese'This was the one race he wanted'
John Carney. ''The Standard''. 20 November 2000.

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of tw ...

driver who is best known for winning his home F3 Grand Prix in 2000 and Japan's Super GT GT300 Championship in 2015.

Career

Early years

André Couto was born in Lisbon but moved to

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

with his family when he was four. He started his career in Karting in

influenced by the popular Macau Grand Prix and friends who competed in the local Karting championship. He rapidly enjoyed success and started competing and winning in international level. He moved to racing cars in 1995 where he competed in European Formula Opel Lotus (Winning a round in the Estoril Circuit). 1995 was also the debut year in the

Formula Three Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One dr ...

event of the Macau Grand Prix where he briefly led after a duel with race winner Ralf Schumacher.

Formula Three

Couto competed in German

in 1996 before moving to the Italian series in 1997, where he finished the season as runner-up in the championship.

2000 Macau Grand Prix

He competed in the F3 Macau Grand Prix six times, eventually winning it in 2000, after India's Narain Karthikeyan, 24, and Japan's Takuma Sato, 23, crashed out of contention in leg one. Couto, driving for Opel Team BSR and starting second on the grid for the decider, took the lead immediately and fought off the intentions of Paolo Montin, 24, and Japan's Ryo Fukuda, 21. When

Robert Lechner Robert Lechner (born 22 January 1967) is a retired track cyclist who competed for West Germany at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South ...

crashed with two laps to go, the safety car was called out and the drivers drove in formation behind it to the chequered flag. It marked the first time a Macanese driver has won the Formula 3 race title. Couto's win was a surreal experience for many but for Couto's father, Carlos, it was the proudest moment of his life. "This was the one race Andre always wanted to win," he said. "He was born in Lisbon but we moved back to Macau when he was four. My wife Isabel and I have now lived in Macau for many years. Isabel was born here and all her family is from here. This will always be Andre's home. He speaks fluent Cantonese like most Portuguese people living here. He is a Macau citizen; it is what he wanted. We've lived here happily for many years. Today is a special day for everyone in Macau."

Formula 3000

Couto graduated to Formula 3000 in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

and stayed there for

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...

and

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. Although he scored points on several occasions, he never achieved any great success. His best result was third place at the

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

in 2000.

An assortment of drives

After leaving F3000 and winning the Macau Grand Prix

event in 2000, Couto competed in the Formula Nippon Championship in 2001 and competed in some races of the All-Japan GT Championship. For 2002 he moved to the World Series by Nissan, and finished seventh in the championship.

Touring car racing and sports car racing

Since 2003, Couto has competed frequently in the Guia Race of Macau as part of the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) and later the World Touring Car Championship. He has competed at the race on different cars and teams:

Alfa Romeo 156 The Alfa Romeo 156 (Type 932) is a compact executive car produced by the Italian automobile manufacturer Alfa Romeo. It was introduced at the 1997 Frankfurt Motor Show as the replacement for the Alfa Romeo 155. The 156 received a positive rec ...

and Honda Accord (for N.Technology), and

SEAT León The SEAT León (), also spelled Leon in some other languages (named after the city of León, Spain, León, which also means "Lion" in Spanish), is a hatchback compact car built by the Spanish car manufacturer SEAT since October 1999.ETKA The fi ...

(for SEAT Sport and Sunred), Since 2005, Couto has competed in the

Super GT Super GT (stylized as SUPER GT) is a sports car racing, grand touring car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the , generally referred to as either the JGTC or the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, the series was renamed to Super ...

Championship in the GT500-class Lexus SC430, initially for SARD and in 2011 for Kraft. In November 2015, racing alongside his teammate Katsumasa Chiyo, André Couto was crowned the GT 300 champion with one round to go into the Super GT championship. He dedicated the victory to a “special one”, his late son Afonso, who succumbed to leukemia in 2010. Couto's GT300 title victory in 2015 made him the first foreign driver to win the GT300 drivers championship title and the only one to do so until João Paulo de Oliveira achieved a similar feat in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

. Since Chiyo missed two rounds due to other obligations, Couto is also the first driver to win a

driver's title on their own since both

Ryo Michigami is a Japanese racing driver. Currently he is driving a Honda NSX GT3 Evo for Modulo Drago Corse in Super GT. He won the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship in 2000. He competed in the GT500 category of the Super GT series in 1995 and the ...

and Hideo Fukuyama in

. On 8 July 2017, André Couto was seriously hurt after crashing his Nissan GT-R GT3 in the

China GT Championship China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

race at Zhuhai International Circuit. He was taken to Sun Yat-sen University No.5 Hospital in Zhuhai for a CT scan that revealed a fracture to his L1 vertebra. He was then air lifted to

Canossa Hospital Canossa Hospital (Caritas) () is a private Catholic Community hospital in Hong Kong. Overview and history Canossa Hospital was founded by the Canossian Daughters of Charity in 1929. The original building with 16 beds was destroyed during ...

in Hong Kong for an operation. Couto's father, Carlos, said that his son was not in a life-threatening situation.

Personal life

Couto had a son, Afonso, who was diagnosed with

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

in November 2009. Several of his fellow WTCC drivers have carried stickers on their cars in the

2010 WTCC season The 2010 World Touring Car Championship season was the seventh season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the sixth since its 2005 return. It began with the Race of Brazil at Curitiba on 7 March and ended with the Guia Race of Macau ...

to promote a website which is trying to find a suitable

bone marrow Bone marrow is a semi-solid tissue found within the spongy (also known as cancellous) portions of bones. In birds and mammals, bone marrow is the primary site of new blood cell production (or haematopoiesis). It is composed of hematopoieti ...

donor. The GT Association and all teams of

also launched a campaign towards bone marrow donation. A suitable bone marrow for Afonso was found on 9 May 2010 in Germany and his operation was successfully completed on 20 May 2010. Afonso died on 3 November 2010 from

treatment complications. He had been in the hospital for two weeks.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

Complete Formula Nippon results

( key)

Complete JGTC/Super GT results

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

Complete European Touring Car Championship results

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

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

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

Complete World Touring Car Cup results

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

References

*André Couto career statistics a
driverdb.com
retrieved 11 November 2006.

External links

Official website (under construction)
2009-10-25)
Save Afonso
(Couto's son)

(News of Afonso's death) {{DEFAULTSORT:Couto, Andre Living people 1976 births Portuguese racing drivers Macau racing drivers Macau people of Portuguese descent International Formula 3000 drivers Formula Nippon drivers German Formula Three Championship drivers Italian Formula Three Championship drivers World Touring Car Championship drivers Super GT drivers Karting World Championship drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers European Touring Car Championship drivers Opel Team BSR drivers Prema Powerteam drivers Phoenix Racing drivers