Hélio Castroneves biography
Hélio Castroneves, (born May 10, 1975, São Paulo, Brazil), Brazilian race-car driver who gained the Indianapolis 500 thrice (2001, 2002, and 2009).
Castroneves was concerned in motor sports activities from a younger age with the assist of his father, an auto seller in São Paulo who owned a stock-car racing workforce. As an adolescent, Castroneves gained a nationwide go-kart racing title in Brazil earlier than advancing in 1994 to Formula Three auto racing in Europe. He attracted the eye of Brazilian racing nice Emerson Fittipaldi, who helped him to get began on the Championship Auto Racing Teams IndyAutomobile circuit in 1998. After signing in 2000 with Penske Racing, one of many powerhouse groups within the IndyAutomobile Series, Castroneves rapidly grew to become one of many workforce’s dominant drivers. In 2001 he collected his first Indianapolis 500 title, edging Penske teammate Gil de Ferran by 1.74 seconds for the win.
Castroneves repeated as Indianapolis 500 champion in 2002, changing into the primary driver since racing legend Al Unser in 1970–71 to win the race in consecutive years. He was additionally the youngest driver ever to perform the back-to-back feat and the primary to win the basic race in every of his two preliminary makes an attempt. Castroneves took second place within the Indianapolis 500 in 2003 and completed third in 2007. By this time the immensely affable Brazilian had turn into one of many Indy Racing League’s hottest drivers.
In 2008 a U.S. federal indictment alleged that Castroneves had helped to create a Panama-based shell firm with the intention of avoiding paying taxes on some $5 million revenue. Castroneves, nonetheless, steadfastly maintained his innocence, and he was acquitted on six counts of income-tax evasion—fees that might have netted him six years in jail—in April 2009. Five weeks after his acquittal, he raced within the Indianapolis 500, the place, beginning on the pole, he surrendered the lead after seven laps however rallied late to beat the second-place finisher, Englishman Dan Wheldon, by 1.98 seconds. His victory made him the ninth driver in Indianapolis 500 historical past to take the checkered flag thrice.