Miguel Ramos

Miguel Ramos
Miguel Ramos
Nationality	Portuguese
Born	26 September 1971 (age 53); Porto (Portugal)
FIA GT1 World Championship career
Debut season	2010
Current team	Vitaphone Racing
Racing licence	FIA Bronze
Car number	2
Starts	18
Wins	0
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	21st in 2010
Previous series
1994–1996; 1995; 1997; 1998; 1999–2000; 2001–2002; 2002; 2003–04, 06–09; 2004–2005; 2005–2006	BMW Trophy Portugal; Portuguese Touring Car; Portuguese Racing; Italian Superturismo; Toyota Super Formula; Spanish Formula Three; Spanish GT; FIA GT; Le Mans Endurance Series; Italian GT
Championship titles
1996; 2002; 2005	BMW Trophy Portugal; Spanish GT w/(Chaves); Italian GT w/(Malucelli)

Miguel Pedro Caetano Ramos (born 26 September 1971 in Porto) is a Portuguese racing driver. He is a former Spanish and Italian GT champion, and has raced in the FIA GT1 World Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2012 he races for V8 Racing, driving a Chevrolet Corvette C6.R in the International GT Open. In 2015 and 2016 he races for Teo Martín Motorsport in the International GT Open.

Early career

Ramos began his career in 1991, when he was only 18 years old, racing in the Autocross National Championship. During three years, he won several races and two national titles in Division II (2WD Touring Cars), in 1992 and in 1993, respectively.^[1]

In 1994 he switched to touring car racing and took part in the Troféu BMW M3/Mobil spec series, which at the time was the most powerful car in one-make series in Portugal. Ramos drove in the series for three years, finally taking the title in 1996 with six race wins. He then switched to the Portuguese Touring Car Championship in 1997, driving a BMW 320is with backing from the Portuguese BMW importer, taking third place overall.^[2] Winning one win in the final round of the series at the Ota Airport, he finished the championship in third position. He also took part in the Guia race of the Macau Grand Prix.

Career in Italy and Spain

In 1998, Ramos became the first Portuguese driver to take part in the Italian Superturismo Championship. With a lack of familiarity of the tracks and the competition, he ended the Privateer drivers classification in sixth position, with five podiums.

In 1999, at 27 years old, Ramos entered the Toyota Super Formula, his debut with single seater racing, his best result a third place in 2000. In 2001, Ramos moved up to the new Spanish Formula Three Championship, ending the season in 10th place overall.^[3]

The year of 2002 was of consecration! In the difficult but spectacular and competitive world of Grand Tourism cars, Miguel Ramos won the Spanish GT Championship with a Saleen, having as team colleague Pedro Chaves. Also in the year 2002 he made his first participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. With the team Ray Mallock Ltd. team he achieved the 5th position on the GTS class.

The following seasons, in the years 2003 and 2004, was full of challenges. Having as adversaries some of the World's best drivers – some of them ex-Formula 1 drivers — Miguel Ramos participated in the prestigious and media-covered FIA GT Championship. Various impediments prevented well-deserved ascensions to the podium, but seven classifications in the first best ten positions, prove his unequivocal value.

Also in 2004 he participated on the Le Mans Endurance Series in a prototype with RML team driving a MG Lola prototype, getting for his team the 5th position on the championship.

2005 was and extremely competitive year for Miguel Ramos. The Italian GT Championship conflates the best of the Italian manufactures of GT, demonstrating a high level of the competitive pace. To traduce these, Miguel Ramos dispute until the last race the first position on the championship. With the same Ferrari 550 Maranello, the Portuguese driver defended the National Flag on the Le Mans Series in the category of GT1, he participated at 4 of the 5 races achieving one first place in 1000km of Spa and two second places at Nürburgring and Istanbul.

In the 2006 season Miguel Ramos returned to the most competitive GT world championship, the FIA GT Championship, with the Aston Martin DBR9 in the GT1 class. The Portuguese driver achieved the 12th classification helping the team BMS Scuderia Italia to achieve the 2nd position in the GT1 Championship Teams. Also compete in a few races of the Italian GT Championship with the Maserati MC12 achieving two victories and one second place accumulating 38 points.

Racing record

Complete GT1 World Championship results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos	Points
2010	Vitaphone Racing Team	Maserati	ABU QR Ret	ABU CR 6	SIL QR 9	SIL CR 15	BRN QR 7	BRN CR 6	PRI QR 5	PRI CR Ret	SPA QR 11	SPA CR 4	NÜR QR 7	NÜR CR 12	ALG QR 13	ALG CR Ret	NAV QR Ret	NAV CR 12	INT QR	INT CR	SAN QR 16	SAN CR 4	21st	28

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2002	GTS	68	D	Saleen S7-R Ford 7.0L V8	Ray Mallock Ltd. (RML)	Pedro Chaves Gavin Pickering	312	23rd	5th
2005	GT1	51	P	Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello Ferrari F133 5.9L V12	BMS Scuderia Italia	Fabrizio Gollin Christian Pescatori	67	DNF	DNF

Complete GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup results

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

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pos.	Points
2021	Barwell Motorsport	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	Pro-Am	MAG 1 23	MAG 2 16	ZAN 1 18	ZAN 2 DNS	MIS 1 18	MIS 2 23	BRH 1 21	BRH 2 21	VAL 1 20	VAL 2 22	1st	125
2022	Garage 59	McLaren 720S GT3	Pro-Am	BRH 1 19	BRH 2 22	MAG 1 18	MAG 2 21	ZAN 1 Ret	ZAN 2 15	MIS 1 17	MIS 2 15	VAL 1 20	VAL 2 21	1st	119
2023	Garage 59	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	Bronze	BRH 1	BRH 2	MIS 1 13	MIS 2 20	HOC 1 29	HOC 2 23	VAL 1 22	VAL 2 25	ZAN 1	ZAN 2	2nd	60.5
2024	Garage 59	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	Bronze	BRH 1	BRH 2	MIS 1	MIS 2	HOC 1 Ret	HOC 2 27	MAG 1 30†	MAG 2 20	CAT 1 18	CAT 2 Ret	8th	34.5

^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

References

^ "Campeões Nacionais de Automobilismo (1955–2011)" (PDF). Retrieved 28 August 2012.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Classificações de 1997". Archived from the original on 3 May 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
^ "Resultados Nacionales 2001" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.

External links

Official website
Miguel Ramos career summary at DriverDB.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Alberto Castello Carlos Palau	Spanish GT Championship Champion 2002 With: Pedro Chaves	Succeeded by Gines Vivancos
Preceded by Gabriele Matteuzzi Piergiuseppe Perazzini	Italian GT Championship Champion 2005 With: Matteo Malucelli	Succeeded by Toni Vilander
Preceded by Daniel Zampieri Roman Mavlanov	International GT Open Champion 2015 With: Alvaro Parente	Succeeded by Thomas Biagi Fabrizio Crestani
Preceded by Giacomo Altoè Albert Costa	International GT Open Champion 2020 With: Henrique Chaves	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Eddie Cheever III Chris Froggatt	GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup Pro-Am Champion 2021-2022 With: Henrique Chaves (2021) & Dean Macdonald (2022)	Succeeded by None (Class disbanded)

[1] "Campeões Nacionais de Automobilismo (1955–2011)" (PDF). Retrieved 28 August 2012.^{[permanent dead link]}

[2] "Classificações de 1997". Archived from the original on 3 May 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2012.

[3] "Resultados Nacionales 2001" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.

[1]

[2]

[3]