Brumos Racing #59 - Joao Barbosa

Joao Barbosa has competed actively in Grand-Am racing since 2001 and will return to the Rolex Series in 2008 for a full season with Brumos Racing, on board the #59 Daytona Prototype. Joao is no stranger to Brumos Racing, having also driven for them in the previous two Rolex 24 events. He will join co-driver J.C. France for the full season, as Brumos veteran driver Hurley Haywood steps down from full-time driving duties to assume a new role in formulating strategy for the team.

Joao is an extremely versatile and experienced driver. A resident of Porto, Portugal, he began racing go-karts as early as age 11. He is fluent in four languages, and can claim championships in many different series and in many different cars. As early as 1988 he began collecting titles, when he was named Portuguese Junior Go-Kart Champion. He continued to win championships as he moved into other series - he accumulated championship titles in Go-Kart Formula A, Formula Super A, Portuguese Formula Ford, and was the Italian Formula Europa Boxer Champion in 1995. Joao also tested for F1 team Minardi and finished in 2nd place with Rookie of the Year in the Italian Formula 3 Championship in 1996. He also won the Rising Star Award in the Kool Toyota Atlantic Championship in 1997.

His level of experience in many different international events makes Joao a valuable asset to Brumos Racing. In addition to the Grand-Am series, he has also competed in the 24 Hours of LeMans, LeMans Series, ALMS, International Sport Racing Series, Italian formula 3, and he has even driven in testing for teams in the Japanese Super GT, in addition to his early years with Portuguese Formula and Go-Kart series. This level of diversity translates into a wealth of on-track expertise which is sure to prove beneficial for Joao and for Brumos in the season ahead.

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Career Achievements
  • 2007 Competed in the Le Mans Series achieving a best result of 3rd in the 1000km of Silverstone. Achieved the 4th place overall in the 24H of Le Mans and 4th place in the 24H of Daytona with Brumos Racing
  • 2006 Competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona with Brumos Racing. Competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans achieving the 5th place in LMP2 class and competed in the Le Mans Series Championship.
  • 2005 Competed in the 12 Hours of Sebring in LMP1 class