Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira

Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira is a Brazilian racing driver who currently competes in the GT300 class of the Japanese Super GT Series with Aston Martin. He was a regular Super GT competitor in GT500 class from 2006 to 2018, scoring eight wins and finishing best as a vice-champion in 2015.

Parallel to his GT racing duties, De Oliveira competed in the Formula Nippon/Super Formula from 2006 to 2016, winning the championship in 2010 and finishing as a runner-up in 2014.

Before making a debut in Super GT and Formula Nippon, De Oliveira was the Japanese Formula 3 champion in 2005. Besides an impressive career in Japan, he won few more championship titles earlier in a career, the German F3 in 2003 and South American F3 Light in 1999.

Joao Paulo Lima De Oliveira

Three Formula 3 championship titles early in a career

Born in July 1981 in Sao Paulo, Joao Paulo Lima de Oliveira started his career in karting competitions and moved to formula racing in 1998, participating in the national Formula Ford and Formula Chevrolet. In 1999, he made a step up to Formula 3 Sudamericana, winning the championship title in B class. He stayed one more season in the South American Formula 3, finishing second in the main championship in 2000, behind Vitor Meira.

In 2001, De Oliveira went to Europe and raced in German Formula 3 with the Swiss Racing Team. He was a race winner once, finishing seventh in the points. The next great success came in 2003 when he became German F3 champion with JB Motorsport, winning thirteen of sixteen races.

In 2004, De Oliveira has chosen Japanese Formula 3 Championship as the next step in his career. Driving a Dome-Lola/Honda, he won six races to finish second in the points, behind Ronnie Quintarelli. In 2005, he joined Tom's team to drive Toyota, won seven races and took the championship title.

Joao Paulo de Oliveira, Masahiko Kondo and Seiji Ara

Starting with double GT & Formula programme in 2006

With F3 championship title, De Oliveira made a progress to Japanese premier competitions in 2006, debuting in the Formula Nippon and Super GT Series. He started in just one Formula Nippon race with Team 5Zigen's Honda and spent full-season in Super GT Series with Hasemi Motorsport's Nissan Fairlady Z. His GT racing co-driver was Naoki Yokomizo.

In 2007, he joined Kondo Racing in both championships, to drive the #4 Toyota in Formula Nippon and the #24 Nissan Fairlady Z in Super GT, sharing a car with Seiji Ara. After scoring one Formula Nippon podium in 2007, he clinched maiden victory in 2008 at Fuji, finishing sixth in the points. In Super GT, he won at Sepang both in 2007 with Nissan Fairlady Z and in 2008 with Nissan GT-R.

JP de Oliveira in the WTCC race at Okayama in 2009

A one-off attempt in the 2009 World Touring Car Championship

In 2009, De Oliveira reduced his racing programme to GT racing only, continuing to share the #24 Nissan GT-R with Seiji Ara. They won the season-opening race at Okayama International Circuit and added one more podium later in the season, finishing eighth in the points.

In November 2009, De Oliveira made a one-off appearance in the World Touring Car Championship, driving the #47 Seat Leon for SUNRED in the penultimate round at Okayama. He was 23rd in Race 1 and 19th in Race 2.

De Oliveira's championship-winning car in 2009

Formula Nippon champion in 2010

In 2010, De Oliveira returned to Formula Nippon, joining Team Impul to drive the #19 Toyota.  He won from the pole at Twin Ring Motegi and then one more time in the season's finale at Suzuka, taking the championship title ahead of Andre Lotterer.

In the 2010 Super GT season, he was sharing the #24 Kondo Racing Nissan GT-R with Hironobu Yasuda, winning the season-opening race at Suzuka and finishing just tenth in the points.

De Oliveira in the IndyCar race at Motegi in 2011

A one-off attempt in the 2011 IndyCar Series

In 2011, De Oliveria was driving for Team Impul both in Formula Nippon and Super GT Series. He won FN race at Motegi and finished third in the points. In the Super GT, he and Tsugio Matsuda won a race at Okayama in the #12 Nissan GT-R, finishing fifth in the points.

The season 2011 was also marked by De Oliveira's one-off attempt in the IndyCar Series. He was driving the #34 Honda for Conquest Racing in the Japanese round at Twin Ring Motegi, finishing 26th.

Joao Paulo de Oliveira and Team Impul's boss Kazuyoshi Hoshino

Racing in Super Formula with Team Impul until 2016

De Oliveira stayed with Team Impul in the Japanese premier single-seater series, which has been renamed to Super Formula in 2013, until 2016. In that period, his most successful season was 2015 when he scored three wins, the most of all drivers, but lost a title to Andre Lotterer.

At the end of 2016, De Oliveira left Super Formula and focused only on GT racing. In ten full seasons in Formula Nippon/Super Formula, he scored ten wins.

Joao Paulo de Oliveira was driving Calsonic Impul #12 Nissan until 2016

De Oliveira raced with #12 Nissan GT-R until 2016

After getting Tsugio Matsuda as a co-driver in the #12 Nissan GT-R in 2011, he stayed in that car until the end of 2016. Matsuda was his co-driver until 2013, then Hironobu Yasuda came in 2014.

De Oliveira won one race in almost every season with #12 Nissan, except 2015, but that season turned to be the most successful as he and Yasuda finished second in the points, behind Nissan teammates Tsugio Matsuda/Ronnie Quintarelli.

JP de Oliveria currently drives the #24 Nissan GT-R for Kondo Racing

Rejoining Kondo Racing in 2017

For the 2017 Super GT season, De Oliveira stayed with Nissan but moved to Kondo Racing's #24 Nissan GT-R, sharing a car Daiki Sasaki. They started from pole at Suzuka 1000 but finished fifth, what was their best result of the season and they were just 16th in the championship points.

In 2018, De Oliveira stays in the #24 Nissan. His new co-driver was Mitsunori Takaboshi. Scoring no wins or podiums, they finished 14th in the points. In 2018, De Oliveira also made a one-off return to Super Formula, replacing Kazuki Nakajima at Motegi due to Kazuki's other racing commitments.

Joao Paulo de Oliveira

A new challenge with Aston Martin

For the 2019 Super GT season, De Oliveira joined D'Station Racing, which becomes Aston Martin Racing customer team. He is sharing the #7 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 with Tomonobu Fujii.

Photos: Nismo, Getty Images, touringcarregister.com,