Ricardo Teixeira

Ricardo Teixeira is a former racing driver with Portuguese and Angolan nationality and the first ever Angolan racer to drive a Formula One car. He did that in 2011 as a test driver for Team Lotus. He never raced in Formula 1, a peak of his career was the GP2 Series in which he spent three seasons.

Ricardo Teixeira

Early career in the Formula 3

Born in August 1984 in Lisboa, Portugal, Ricardo Teixeira started his career in car racing in 2001, entering the Iberian Formula BMW Junior Cup.

He spent the next six seasons in different Formula 3 competition, mostly in the UK. He scored his first in the 2003 BRSCC ARP F3 Championship. He competed in British F3 Championship National Class in 2005 and 2006, then moved to the International class in 2007 but without any success.

Ricardo Teixeira in Formula Two

GP2 Series and Formula Two on a way to F1

Between seasons 2008 and 2009, he joined Trident Racing in the GP2 Asia Series and then stayed with the team in the 2009 GP2 Series season. Driving the #18 car, he scored no points during the season so he left the series at the end of the season to try his luck in the FIA Formula Two Championship.

Driving the #5 Williams-Audi, Teixeira managed to score points five times, finishing best in the fifth place at Marrakech. He was 16th in the points.

Ricardo Teixeira as a driver of Team Lotus

Test and reserve driver for Team Lotus in 2011

After two seasons in high-graded single-seater competitions, Teixeira made a history in 2011 by becoming the first ever Angolan Formula 1 driver. After driving for Team Lotus in the pre-season test, he was confirmed as team's official test and reserve driver for the 2011 Formula 1 season.

Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli were driving for Lotus that year while Karun Chandhok, Luiz Razia and Davide Valsecchi participated in Friday's practice rides. Besides testing cars, Teixeira had no opportunity to drive in Grand Prix events.

Ricardo Teixeira raced with Trident in 2009 and 2013

Slowing down with racing after one more GP2 season

Teixeira returned to GP2 Series in 2012, joining Rapax to drive the #20 car. He missed one round due to illness. In twenty-two races he participated, Teixeira scored no points. In 2013, Teixeira was without a full-time job but he rejoined Trident Racing in two GP2 Series rounds as a replacement for Kevin Ceccon. Ricardo scored no points in those two rounds.

In 2014, he joined Super Nova International in the Auto GP Series but withdrew from competition before making a start in the race. After that, Teixeira was out of racing until 2017 when he joined Jackie Chan DC Racing to drive a Ligier JS P3 (Nissan) in one round of the FRD LMP3 Series (Chinese LMP3 Championship).

Teixeira currently works as driving instructor and he' s planning a racing return in the inaugural season of the Electric Production Car Series.

Ricardo Teixeira next to Tesla race car

Photos: Ricardo Teixeira,