Comunicati Stampa - Last Race for Portuguese Legend

Last Race for Portuguese Legend

7 seasons have gone by since a 26 years old driver started his career.

"I was never expecting this success"

The same driver that finished his first season 2nd in the F3 Portuguese Series is now considered the 12th best driver in the world.

"I was only after a bit of fun"

Now the best driver in Portugal by more than double the points and 3 times nominated for the Trophy of Champions.

"I guess that's all you need to succeed, you just need to have fun"

And it's all history from today forward, because the Portuguese legend Francisco Pires has officially announced his retirement at the end of this season. After a brief interview with him we managed to get some explanations on his retirement. "I've achieved every driver's dream by getting so far out with a car, I'm being overtook by very young and really talented drivers. It's about time I let a youngster try his luck the same way I did some years ago".

Francisco has now been "stuck" between 12th and 8th place on the world's rating for about 3 seasons. According to our knowledge "it's not about frustration, it's about people remembering me for who I really was, what I achieved, me at the peak of my career, not who I turned out to be at the end of it".

Unfortunately this means we won't see the most promising Portuguese driver drive a F1 car. "It's a shame really, I wanted to driver there but I don't think that'd be the right choice. Everything has their time, and mine has come, no point denying it...".

But who's replacing him on Blazefp's team? Who could follow his steps? We go back to an article published a couple of seasons ago where Francisco Pires himself states a "promising driver" that was on Blazefp's target. After some digging we could finally find that driver's identity. His name's Pedro Lamy, is currently 17 years about to do 18 within a week and quite famous for his intelligence. "All I wish him is god speed. I know he'll succeed as long as he's having fun in the car"

And so have we seen the last of this great driver. 7 season after his first race, the 32 years old driver puts a stop at his career with 3 shelves worth of cups. And what a career it was...

Official Seasons: 7
Qualifies: 723
Pole Positions: 280
Top5 In Qualifies: 589
Top10 In Qualifies: 666
Races: 887
Victories: 237
Podiums: 507
Top5 In Races: 602
Top10 In Races: 692
Trophies: 25

Driver rating: 71.740
Overall rating: 3193.587
Best overall rating: 3532.263


Qualifying Quick Analysis:
Pole Position Percentage = 38.73%
TOP5 Percentage = 81.47%
TOP10 Percentage = 92.11%

Race Quick Analysis:
Victory Percentage = 26.72%
Podium Percentage = 57.16%
TOP5 Percentage = 67.87%
TOP10 Percentage = 78.02%

Season series:
1st Formula 2 Europe Series - season 3
2nd Formula 3 Portuguese Series - season 1
2nd Formula 3 Europe Series - season 2
3rd Formula 2 World Series - season 6
5th Formula 2 World Series - season 5
6th Indy series - season 4


Custom series:
1st Tour de France XIII
1st Far-Far-East Cup XIII
1st Arskap Cup XIII
1st Support World Peace Tour XVII
1st Marathon Cup VI
1st North EURO Cup XXI
1st European Tour XVIII
1st Flipers Cup XVI
1st Happy Racing XX
1st Herkules Trophy I
1st Beach Cup XX
1st Hungarian Trophy XLII
1st Lucky Racing XXV
2nd US Trophy VIII
2nd Friendship Cup X
2nd F3 Grand Prix X
2nd World Oval Series XVII
3rd Premiere Oval Series XIX
3rd La Coppa Italia XXIV
participated in 5 other custom series

Trophy of Champions:
9th - 274 points - season 4 (1st edition)
11th - 207 points - season 5 (2nd edition)
11th - 221 points- season 6 (3rd edition)

Campeonato Luso-Brasileiro:
1st season 6 (1ª edition)
1st season 7 (2ª edition)


Track Records In Qualify:
- Vodochody - P1 - 02:28.420 - PGT-26/P 2.0L V4/YOKO
- Alastaro - Formula 3 - 01:06.851 - MYG/VOL/CPR
- Dijon-Prenois - Sport - 01:18.523 - MCL-MP4/M 3.8L V8/YOKO
- Croft - P1 - 02:04.905 - PGT-26/P 2.0L V4/BRIDGE
- Le Mans - Formula 3 - 03:35.577 - DAL/HON/CPR

Track Records In Race:
- Vodochody - P1 - 02:25.140 - PGT-26/P 2.0L V4/YOKO
- Slovakiaring - Sport - 02:10.616 - MCL-MP4/M 3.8L V8/YOKO
- Londrina - Sport - 01:08.494 - MCL-MP4/M 3.8L V8/YOKO