Tarso Marques

Tarso Anibal Santanna Marques (born 19 January 1976) is a Brazilian racing driver. He previously participated in 24 Formula One Grands Prix, all driving for the Minardi team, but scored no championship points in three separate seasons and never completed a full year in the sport.

Tarso Marques

Marques in 2007, as a Stock Car Brasil driver
Born	(1976-01-19) 19 January 1976 Curitiba, Brazil
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Brazilian
Active years	1996–1997, 2001
Teams	Minardi
Entries	26 (24 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1996 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last entry	2001 Belgian Grand Prix

Racing career

Open wheel racing

After five years of karting, Marques raced in Formula Chevrolet in his home country aged only 16, and he won the title at his first attempt. In 1993 he moved up to Formula Three Sudamericana and subsequently European Formula 3000, and became the youngest driver to win races at both levels. In 1996, he started racing for Minardi in Formula One, competing with various drivers for the seat over the following two years, including Giancarlo Fisichella, Jarno Trulli and Pedro Lamy. Minardi's financial situation demanded that drivers with strong sponsorship were generally favoured, and there were several driver changes in the team at that time.

In 1999, he moved stateside to drive in the American Champ Car ranks, and caught the eye of legendary team-owner Roger Penske. When two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. was injured, Penske asked him to fill in. His best finish was 9th. In 2000, 2004, and 2005, he drove sporadically in that series for perennial minnows Dale Coyne Racing, with a best result of 11th.

Marques returned to Formula One in 2001 to race alongside future double World Champion Fernando Alonso in the Minardi team, newly purchased by Paul Stoddart. He finished the season ahead of the Spaniard but it was a difficult season for Marques, with the team's financial difficulties not always allowing equal equipment for both drivers. Marques brought no money to the team and was employed under the provision that another driver with more sponsorship money could replace him at any point in the season, and that prospect was realised towards the end of the year, when Minardi replaced Marques with Alex Yoong with three races remaining. Marques welcomed the driver change as the extra finance would enable the team to progress, adding, "Yoong brought the sponsor for the team already two or three races ago so he should be in the car." His two ninth-place finishes remained Minardi's best results of the season, but he was nearly always outpaced by Alonso. Marques would however remain at Minardi for 2002 as the test and reserve driver. Despite this, he did not replace Yoong later in the season when the Malaysian was dropped, with the seat instead going to Anthony Davidson, and Justin Wilson also being offered the drive ahead of Marques.

Since his last Champ Car outing in 2005, Marques has returned to South America to drive in the TC2000 and Stock Car Brasil touring car championships.

Stock car racing

In March 2022, it was announced that Marques would compete in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 79 Ford Mustang for Team Stange Racing on a part-time basis. His Cup Series debut, which was going to be in the race at Road America, had to be delayed as NASCAR would not approve him to make a Cup Series start without any prior experience in a stock car. As a result, TSR announced that they would field an entry for Marques in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Indianapolis Road Course in order for him to be approved to race in the Cup Series, and his first Cup Series start would now be in the race at Watkins Glen. The team and Marques did not show up for the race weekend. Nothing has been heard from the team since then, and they ended up not running at all in 2022.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	DC	Points
1994	Vortex Motorsport	SIL 13	PAU Ret	CAT DNS	PER 12	HOC 10	SPA 8	EST 12	MAG 4	12th	3
1995	DAMS	SIL 12	CAT 3	PAU Ret	PER Ret	HOC Ret	SPA 5	EST 1	MAG Ret	5th	15
Sources:

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1996	Minardi Team	Minardi M195B	Ford V8	AUS	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	EUR	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	JPN		NC	0
1997	Minardi Team	Minardi M197	Hart V8	AUS	BRA	ARG	SMR	MON	ESP	CAN	FRA Ret	GBR 10	GER Ret	HUN 12	BEL Ret	ITA 14	AUT EX	LUX Ret	JPN Ret	EUR 15	NC	0
2001	European Minardi F1	Minardi PS01	European V10	AUS Ret	MAL 14	BRA 9	SMR Ret	ESP 16	AUT Ret	MON Ret	CAN 9	EUR Ret	FRA 15	GBR DNQ	GER Ret						22nd	0
		Minardi PS01B														HUN Ret	BEL 13	ITA	USA	JPN
Sources:

American open-wheel racing

(key)

CART/Champ Car

Year	Team	No.	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Rank	Points	Ref
1999	Team Penske	2	Penske PC-27	Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8t	MIA	MOT 14	LBH 25	NAZ																	27th	4
		3							RIO 9	GAT 26	MIL	POR 18
			Lola B99/00										CLE 24	ROA	TOR	MIC	DET	MDO	CHI	VAN	LAG	HOU	SRF	FON
2000	Dale Coyne Racing	34	Swift 011.c	Ford XF V8t	MIA	LBH	RIO	MOT 17	NAZ 12	MIL 20	DET 10	POR 15	CLE 24	TOR 21	MIC 12	CHI 18	MDO 18	ROA 23	VAN 22	LS 18	GAT 15	HOU 17	SRF 13	FON 7	25th	11
2004	Dale Coyne Racing	19	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8t	LBH 18	MTY 18	MIL	POR	CLE	TOR	VAN	ROA	DEN	MTL	LS	LVS	SRF	MXC 18							22nd	9^
2005	Dale Coyne Racing	19	Lola B02/00	Ford XFE V8t	LBH	MTY	MIL	POR	CLE 11	TOR	EDM	SJO	DEN	MTL	LVS	SRF	MXC								24th	10
Sources:

^{^} New points system implemented in 2004.

Complete Stock Car Brasil results

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	Rank	Points
2006	Terra-Avallone Motorsport	Mitsubishi Lancer	INT Ret	CUR	MOU	INT	LON	CUR Ret	SCZ DNS	BRA Ret	TAR Ret	ARG 11	RIO 1	INT Ret										21st	30
2007	Terra-Avallone Motorsport	Mitsubishi Lancer	INT Ret	CUR Ret	MOU 1	INT Ret	LON Ret	SCZ Ret	CUR DNQ	BRA 21	ARG 26	TAR 19	RIO 13	INT 21										24th	28
2008	Sky Action Power	Peugeot 307	INT Ret	BRA Ret	CUR Ret	SCZ 10	MOU Ret	INT 29	RIO 24	LON Ret	CUR 11	BRA Ret	TAR 23	INT 7										27th	20
2009	Action Power	Chevrolet Vectra	INT	CUR	BRA Ret	SCZ 18	INT	SAL	RIO	MOU	CUR 18	BRA Ret	TAR DSQ	INT Ret										31st	0
2010	Gramacho Competições	Chevrolet Vectra	INT	CUR Ret	VEL Ret	RIO 17	RBP 24	SAL	INT	MOU	LON	SCZ	BRA	CUR										36th	0
2011	Amir Nasr Racing	Peugeot 408	CUR	INT	RBP	VEL	MOU	RIO	INT Ret	SAL	SCZ	LON	BRA	VEL										NC†	0†
2016	Mico's Racing	Peugeot 408	CUR 1 19	VEL 1	VEL 2	GOI 1	GOI 2	SCZ 1	SCZ 2	TAR 1	TAR 2	CAS 1	CAS 2	INT 1	LON 1	LON 2	CUR 1	CUR 2	GOI 1	GOI 2	CRI 1	CRI 2	INT 1	NC†	0†
2018	Mico's Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	INT 1 22	CUR 1	CUR 2	VEL 1	VEL 2	LON 1	LON 2	SCZ 1	SCZ 2	GOI 1	MOU 1	MOU 2	CAS 1	CAS 2	VCA 1	VCA 2	TAR 1	TAR 2	GOI 1	GOI 2	INT 1	NC	0

^† As Marques was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points.

References

• 'Professor' de Alonso na F1, Marques vê automobilismo acabado no Brasil (in Portuguese)

External links

• Official website
• Tarso Marques driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Profile on F1 Rejects
• Profile - by FIA GT Championship official website