Roberto Pupo Moreno (born 11 February 1959), usually known as Roberto Moreno and also as Pupo Moreno, is a Brazilian former auto racing. He participated in 75 Formula One Grands Prix, achieved one podium, and scored a total of fifteen championship points. He raced in Champ Car in 1986, and was Formula 3000 champion (in 1988) before joining Formula One full-time in 1989. He returned to CART in 1996 where he enjoyed an Indian summer in 2000 and 2001, and managed to extend his career in the series until 2008. He also raced in endurance events and GT's in Brazil, but now works as a driver coach and consultant, and although this takes up a lot of his time, he is not officially retired yet, as he appears in historic events. Away from the sport, he enjoys building light aeroplanes.
Moreno was known as the "Super Sub" late in his career as he was used to replace injured drivers several times.
Moreno's success alerted the attention of no lesser person than Colin Chapman, the successful owner and founder of Formula One's Team Lotus. Roberto only returned to Europe in 1981, because Chapman had given him a F1 testing contract with enough money to continue racing. With these funds, he raced Formula Three, but money was tight. Despite that, paired with Barron Racing, he managed to win two races, however he was more successful across the Atlantic the following season, racing in the CASC North American Formula Atlantic Championship, defeating Al Unser Jr. in a supporting race at the 1982 United States Grand Prix West in Long Beach. Later in 1982, he made another big impression by winning the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières. Prior to that victory, Moreno had found some money to do half a season in the British Formula 3 Championship with Ivens Lumar Racing, winning three races in the process, before he was given the opportunity to drive at the 1982 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort for Lotus, though he ultimately failed to qualify.
He was to get another chance, but that Dutch race handicapped him for a number of years. At the end of the season he was called up to replace Pascal Fabre for the AGS team at the Japanese Grand Prix. Five years after the Lotus fiasco, Moreno was set to make his debut, except he was the slowest of all and once again did not qualify. However, Williams driver Nigel Mansell injured himself during practice and the team subsequently withdrew his entry, thus letting Moreno in for his debut Grand Prix. In the following race, the Australian Grand Prix, he drove the ungainly JH22 between the walls of the Adelaide Street Circuit to finish a fine seventh, while others hit the walls and broke their cars. Following post-race scrutineering, Ayrton Senna's Lotus-Honda was disqualified from 2nd for oversized brake ducts and Moreno was promoted to sixth place, scoring his, and the team's, first-ever point in Formula One.
For 1984, Roberto decided to return to Europe to race F3. Whilst pre-season testing with West Surrey Racing, he got an invitation from Tauranac to join the works Ralt Formula Two team. Moreno finished runner-up to Mike Thackwell, the pair dominated the final European Formula Two Championship, in their Ralt-Hondas. He tasted victory at the Hockenheimring and Donington Park races. Tauranac wanted Moreno to stay for the inaugural International Formula 3000 season (1985), but Moreno had been testing the Toleman at the end of 1984, with Senna's car. He look set to get a drive with the team, only to be told that they did not have any tyres, and the deal fell through. A move to Indycars was next for Roberto with Rick Galles's Galles Racing, as he had seen Moreno impress frequently. The deal was for Roberto to drive in the road race. He was invited to do a full campaign in 1986, however they had problems with the car and did not have any good results. When he was unable to find a full-time Indycar drive, he decided to try to get into F3000 driving with Ralt. During that season, he won Gran Premio del Mediterraneo, together with some consistent finishing saw him finished 3rd overall, before receiving the call to join up with AGS.
Moreno almost joined the Brabham Formula One team in . On the suggestion of his friend, Brabham lead driver and defending World Champion Nelson Piquet, Brabham team owner Bernie Ecclestone almost signed the young Brazilian to drive the team's #2 car. However, this opportunity for Moreno came to nothing when Brabham's Italian based sponsor Parmalat insisted on having an Italian driver as Piquet's teammate. This led to the unique situation where Ecclestone signed brothers Teo Fabi and Corrado Fabi to share the drive in the car. Teo was the main driver, but as he was already contracted to race in the United States based Champ Car for Forsythe Racing, Corrado, who had driven for Osella in , substituted for him in 3 races where the respective F1 and CART schedules clashed.
His performance at AGS did not get him a seat in F1. He went to Bromley Motorsport in F3000. The team, owned by Ron Salt, had Gary Anderson as its Technical Director, with whom Roberto had worked with at Galles. With help from Reynard Motorsport, they began the season with virtually no money. Revenge was sweet, when Moreno took a sponsorless Reynard-Cosworth 88D to the title by winning three early-season races, at Pau, Silverstone and Monza in a row. A fourth win came in the Birmingham Superprix.
Also in 1988, Moreno made an appearance at Snetterton in the Celebrity Car in the inaugural Honda CR-X Challenge.
Initially, 1990 seemed to be even less promising, with Moreno signing for the nosediving EuroBrun outfit, qualifying for just two out of the first fourteen races of the season. However, shortly after being informed the team would not be competing in the last two rounds of the season, he was contacted by Benetton Formula to drive their second car, with Alessandro Nannini having almost lost a hand in a helicopter crash following the Spanish Grand Prix. After qualifying eighth, he then shadowed his teammate, Piquet, coming home an excellent second on his Benetton debut in the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit, although this result was helped by most other top cars dropping out, with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna famously colliding at the first corner while their teammates Nigel Mansell (Ferrari) and Gerhard Berger (McLaren) would both retire. After then again qualifying 8th in the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide before going on to finish 7th (Piquet again won), Moreno got a full contract with Benetton for 1991 season.
However, the Benetton B191, on Pirelli tyres, was not as competitive as anticipated, and Moreno's best results were fourth place at the Monaco Grand Prix and the Belgian Grand Prix. In the latter race, Moreno made the fastest lap, but this was overshadowed by F1 debutant Michael Schumacher (driving for the Jordan team); this would be Moreno's last race for Benetton before he was controversially paid off and dropped in favour of Schumacher. Schumacher had qualified seventh, and was up to fifth after the start when his clutch failed. The Benetton management, led by Tom Walkinshaw and team manager Flavio Briatore, were after a driver to rebuild the team around, convinced that neither the aging Piquet or Moreno were that driver. Briatore and Walkinshaw engaged in some high-level dealing behind the scenes and managed to steal Schumacher from Jordan and Moreno was promptly fired. There are rumours to this day that Moreno was purposely driving within himself for the whole season in order to not show Piquet up (Piquet later admitted on Brazilian television in 2012 that after his qualifying accident at Imola in in which he lost around 80% of his depth perception, he only stayed in Formula One "for the money"). As it was, Moreno was offered the vacant Jordan drive for the 1991 Italian Grand Prix, where he qualified a very respectable ninth (ahead of teammate Andrea de Cesaris). Unfortunately he spun off on the second lap and retired. He would race the next race in Portugal, and then replaced Gianni Morbidelli in the Minardi, at the last race of the year in Adelaide, but Formula One seemed to have passed him by.
For the 1992 season, he found himself back with the minnows, signing for Andrea Moda. The outfit had risen from the ashes of Scuderia Coloni, and after two non-starting races with Alex Caffi and Enrico Bertaggia, decided to start over with Moreno and Perry McCarthy (who would later claim fame as the original The Stig on the BBC motoring show Top Gear). Moreno and McCarthy faced an uphill struggle, with the uncompetitive team scrambling to even get to most races. Moreno would only qualify the under-tested, under-funded car once, for the Monaco Grand Prix, before the team collapsed following team owner Andrea Sassetti's arrest at the Belgian Grand Prix.
After the Andrea Moda disaster, he spent the next two seasons racing Italian and French Touring Cars, and also attempted to qualify for the 1994 Indianapolis 500. 1995 saw Moreno making a brief Formula One comeback, with the ambitious Forti team. Moreno's Brazilian heritage helped him land the drive. Sadly, their car was comparatively slow, and Moreno's best result was fourteenth in the Belgian Grand Prix. He would exit Formula One crashing into the pitlane wall at the Australian Grand Prix.
1998 was more barren, with just three drives. The following season again saw him take two different cars (Newman/Haas and PacWest Racing), with two fourth places his best. In 1999, he also made his first Indy Racing League start at Phoenix International Raceway finishing 6th and returned to the Indianapolis 500 after a thirteen year absence finishing 20th for Truscelli Team Racing. Only in 2000, having subbed for Patrick Racing in the previous season, Roberto was granted a full-time seat in one of their Reynard Motorsport-Fords, and he led the series for much of the distance, before hitting a low patch, and losing out to Gil de Ferran, eventually ranking 3rd overall.
Moreno won his first Champ Car race at Cleveland, and in a scene scarcely seen in motor racing, the emotional Moreno wept openly. It had been his first race victory since his Formula 3000 victory twelve years earlier. He won again for Patrick Racing at Vancouver the following year, but was less consistent and dropped to 13th in the standings.
In 2003, Moreno drove for Herdez Competition, taking his Lola Cars-Cosworth to 2nd at Miami, and announced his retirement from motorsport at the end of the year.
In April 2006, after just one outing in a Brazilian Stock Car at Jacarepaguá, Moreno substituted for Ed Carpenter at Vision Racing, in the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
In August of the same year, Moreno became the first driver to test the new Panoz-built Champ Car. According to former series champion Paul Tracy, " Moreno's a guy who's not going to go out there and make mistakes and go off the road. They need to put miles on the car and run it fairly quickly, and he's the perfect guy for the job."Kirby, Gordon, Gordon Kirby's Inside Track , ChampCarWorldSeries.com, August 1, 2006
After running thousands of miles of testing in the Panoz DP01, Moreno got a chance to race it at the 2007 Grand Prix of Houston, substituting for the injured Alex Figge at Pacific Coast Motorsports. Moreno to Replace Figge in Houston , SpeedTV.com, April 21, 2007
Moreno drove as a replacement for an injured Stéphan Grégoire at the 2007 Indianapolis 500 for Chastain Motorsports. He crashed the car early in the race and finished in last place.
P&O Ferries Formula Ford 1600 Championship | 10 | 1 | ? | ? | ? | 26 | 6th | |
Euroseries Formula Ford 1600 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 104 | 2nd | |
RAC Formula Ford 1600 Championship | 6 | 1 | ? | ? | ? | 47 | 4th | |
Formula Ford Festival | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | N/A | 1st | |
European Formula Three | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 10th | |
Formula Pacific | Goold Motorsport | 8 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 7 | N/A | 1st |
Formula Atlantic | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 61 | 9th | |
Macau Grand Prix | 1 | 1 | ? | 0 | 1 | N/A | 1st | |
European Formula Three | Ivens Lumar Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 16th |
IMSA GTU Championship | All American Racers | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 41st |
IMSA Camel GTO Championship | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 43rd | |
European Endurance Championship | Charles Ivey Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
Japanese Formula Two | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 12th | |
24 Hours of Le Mans | Skoal Bandit Porsche Team | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | DNF |
Japanese Formula Two | Advan Sports Nova | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 11th |
International Formula 3000 | Barron Racing | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 14th |
International Formula 3000 | Bromley Motorsport | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31st |
Formula One | Team El Charro AGS | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19th |
World Touring Car Championship | Schnitzer Motorsport | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
Benetton Formula | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||
Team 7UP Jordan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Minardi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Formula One | Andrea Moda Formula | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
HVM Racing | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Payton/Coyne Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Newman/Haas Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Newman/Haas Racing | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||
Indy Racing League | Truscelli Team Racing | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 29th |
Stock Car Brasil | Katalogo Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
IndyCar Series | Vision Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 30th |
Champ Car World Series | Pacific Coast Motorsports | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 22nd |
IndyCar Series | Chastain Motorsports | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 36th |
Rolex Sports Car Series | Brumos Porsche | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 58th |
GT3 Brasil Championship | Tigueis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
IndyCar Series | HVM Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46th |
Champ Car World Series | HVM Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
Rolex Sports Car Series | Krohn Racing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
! nowrap Ralt ! nowrap | Ralt ! nowrap | Honda | SIL | Hockenheimring | Thruxton Circuit | VAL | Mugello Circuit | PAU | Hockenheimring | MIS | PER | Donington Park | Brands Hatch | 2nd | 44 |
1985 ! nowrap | Barron Racing | SIL | Thruxton Circuit | EST | NÜR | VAL | PAU | SPA | Dijon-Prenois | PER | ÖST | ZAN | Donington Park ! 15th ! 3 | ||
1986 ! nowrap | Bromley Motorsport | SIL | VAL | PAU | SPA | IMO | Mugello Circuit | PER | ÖST | BIR | Bugatti Circuit | JAR | ! NC ! 0 | ||
1987 ! nowrap | Ralt | SIL | VAL | SPA | PAU | Donington Park | PER | Brands Hatch | BIR | IMO | Bugatti Circuit | JAR | 3rd | 30 | |
1988 ! nowrap | Bromley Motorsport | JER | VAL | PAU | SIL | MNZ | PER | Brands Hatch | BIR | Bugatti Circuit | Zolder | Dijon-Prenois | 1st | 43 | |
! nowrap Team Lotus ! nowrap | Team Lotus 91 ! nowrap | Cosworth V8 | RSA | BRA | USW | SMR | BEL | MON | DET | CAN | NED | GBR | FRA | GER | AUT | SUI | ITA | CPL | ! NC ! 0 |
! nowrap Team AGS ! nowrap | AGS JH22 ! nowrap | Cosworth V8 | BRA | SMR | BEL | MON | DET | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | AUT | ITA | POR | ESP | MEX | JPN | AUS | ! 19th ! 1 |
!rowspan=2 nowrap Coloni SpA ! nowrap | Coloni FC188B !rowspan=2 nowrap | Cosworth V8 | BRA | SMR | MON | MEX | USA | !rowspan=2 NC !rowspan=2 | 0 | ||||||||||
!rowspan=2 nowrap EuroBrun ! nowrap | EuroBrun ER189 !rowspan=2 nowrap | Judd V8 | USA | BRA | SMR | MON | CAN | !rowspan=3 10th !rowspan=3 | 6 | ||||||||||
!rowspan=2 nowrap Benetton Formula ! nowrap | Benetton Formula B190B !rowspan=3 nowrap | Ford V8 | USA | BRA | !rowspan=4 10th !rowspan=4 | 8 | |||||||||||||
! nowrap Andrea Moda Formula ! nowrap | Andrea Moda S921 ! nowrap | Judd V10 | RSA | MEX | BRA | ESP | SMR | MON | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | JPN | AUS | ! NC ! 0 |
! nowrap Forti ! nowrap | Forti FG01 ! nowrap | Ford V8 | BRA | ARG | SMR | ESP | MON | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | EUR | PAC | JPN | AUS ! NC ! 0 |
1985 ! nowrap | Galles Racing ! 6 ! nowrap | March 85C ! nowrap | Cosworth DFX V8Turbocharger | LBH | INDY | MIL | POR | MEA | CLE | MIS1 | ROA | POC | MDO | SAN | MIS2 | LS | PHX | MIA | 28th | 10 ! | |||||||
1986 ! nowrap | Galles Racing ! 9 ! nowrap | Lola T86/00 ! nowrap | Cosworth DFX V8Turbocharger | PHX1 | LBH | INDY | MIL | POR | MEA | CLE | TOR | MIS1 | POC | MDO | SAN | MIS2 | ROA | LS | PHX2 | MIA | 16th | 30 ! | |||||
1994 ! nowrap | Arizona Motorsport ! 44 ! nowrap | Lola T94/00 ! nowrap | Ford XB V8Turbocharger | SRF | PHX | LBH | INDY | MIL | DET | POR | CLE | TOR | MIS | MDO | NHM | VAN | ROA | NZR | LS | ! NC ! 0 ! | |||||||
1996 ! nowrap | Payton/Coyne Racing ! rowspan=2 | 34 ! nowrap | Lola T96/00 ! nowrap | Ford XB V8Turbocharger | MIA | RIO | SRF | LBH | NZR | 500 | MIL | DET | POR | CLE | TOR | MIS | MDO | ROA | VAN | LS | 21st | 25 ! | |||||
1997 ! nowrap | Payton/Coyne Racing ! nowrap | Lola T97/00 !rowspan=2 nowrap | Ford XD V8Turbocharger | MIA | SRF | 19th | 16 ! rowspan=3 | ||||||||||||||||||||
1998 ! nowrap | Project Indy ! 15 ! nowrap | Reynard 97i ! nowrap | Mercedes-Benz IC108D V8Turbocharger | MIA | MOT | LBH | NZR | RIO | GAT | 31st | 0 !rowspan=2 | ||||||||||||||||
1999 ! nowrap | PacWest Racing ! 18 ! nowrap | Reynard 99i ! nowrap | Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8Turbocharger | MIA | MOT | LBH | NZR | RIO | STL | MIL | POR | CLE | ROA | TOR | MIS | 14th | 58 !rowspan=2 | ||||||||||
2000 ! nowrap | Patrick Racing ! rowspan=2 | 20 ! nowrap | Reynard 2Ki ! nowrap | Ford XF V8Turbocharger | MIA | LBH | RIO | MOT | NZR | MIL | DET | POR | CLE | TOR | MIS | CHI | MDO | ROA | VAN | LS | STL | HOU | SRF | FON | 3rd | 147 ! | |
2001 ! nowrap | Patrick Racing ! nowrap | Reynard 01i ! nowrap | Toyota RV8F V8Turbocharger | MTY | LBH | TXS NH | NZR | MOT | MIL | DET | POR | CLE | TOR | MIS | CHI | MDO | ROA | VAN | LAU | ROC | HOU | LS | SRF 22* | FON | 13th | 76 ! | |
2003 ! nowrap | HVM Racing ! 4 ! nowrap | Lola B02/00 ! nowrap | Ford XFE V8Turbocharger | STP | MTY | LBH | BRH | LAU | MIL | LS | POR | CLE | TOR | VAN | ROA | MDO | MTL | DEN | MIA | MXC | SRF | 13th | 67 ! | ||||
2007 ! nowrap | Pacific Coast Motorsports ! 29 ! nowrap | Panoz DP01 ! nowrap | Cosworth XFE V8Turbocharger | LVG | LBH | HOU | POR | CLE | MTT | TOR | EDM | SJO | ROA | ZOL | ASN | SRF | MXC | 22nd | 9 ! |
1999 ! nowrap | Truscelli Team Racing ! nowrap | G-Force GF01C ! 33 ! nowrap | Oldsmobile Aurora V8 | WDW | PHX | CLT | INDY | TXS | PPIR | ATL | DOV | PPI2 | LVS | TX2 | 29th | 38 ! | ||||||||
2006 ! nowrap | Vision Racing ! nowrap | Dallara IR-05 ! 20 ! nowrap | Honda HI6R V8 | HMS | STP | MOT | INDY | WGL | TXS | RIR | KAN | NSH | MIL | MIS | KTY | SNM | CHI | !style="background:#CFCFFF;" 30th !style="background:#CFCFFF;" | 12 ! | |||||
2007 ! nowrap | Chastain Motorsports ! nowrap | Panoz GF09C ! 7 ! nowrap | Honda HI7R V8 | HMS | STP | MOT | KAN | INDY | MIL | TXS | IOW | RIR | WGL | NSH | MDO | MIS | KTY | SNM | DET | CHI | !style="background:#CFCFFF;"36th !style="background:#CFCFFF;" | 10 ! | ||
2008 ! nowrap | Minardi Team USA HVM Racing ! nowrap | Panoz DP01 ! 14 ! nowrap | Cosworth XFE V8Turbocharger | HMS | STP | MOT1 | LBH1 | KAN | INDY | MIL | TXS | IOW | RIR | WGL | NSH | MDO | EDM | KTY | SNM | DET | CHI | SRF2 !style="background:#CFCFFF;" | 46th !style="background:#CFCFFF;" | 0 ! |
1986 | Lola T86/00 | Cosworth DFX V8Turbocharger | 32 | 19 | Galles Racing |
1994 | Lola T94/00 | Ford XB V8Turbocharger | DNQ | Arizona Motorsport | |
1999 | G-Force GF01C | Oldsmobile Aurora V8 | 23 | 20 | Truscelli Racing |
2007 | Panoz GF09C | Honda HI7R V8 | 31 | 33 | Chastain Motorsports |
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