Johnny Cecotto, Jr

Johnny Amadeus Cecotto (born 9 September 1989), more commonly known as Johnny Cecotto Jr., is a Venezuelan and German former racing driver. He competed in nine seasons of the GP2 Series and won four races, and also tested in Formula One for Force India and Toro Rosso. He is the son of former F1 driver and motorcycle world champion Johnny Cecotto.

Career

Early career

Cecotto began his racing career in kart racing, then progressing to open wheel single seater racing. He competed in Formula BMW ADAC in 2005. In 2006, he raced in the German Formula Three Championship, taking one victory, and also in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup. In 2007, he raced in the International Formula Master series, finishing eighth with three podiums. He returned to the German F3 Championship, finishing in third with two victories.

In 2009, Cecotto raced in the Formula Three Euroseries for the HBR Motorsport team, before the team missed races at Brands Hatch. He then signed a deal to compete in the GP2 Series, partnering Michael Herck at David Price Racing. but was replaced by Dani Clos after the first round. He returned to Trident for the 2010 Main Series and scored his first championship points at Monaco, but was replaced by Edoardo Piscopo after sixteen races.

Cecotto moved to Super Nova Racing for the 2011 GP2 Asia Series season alongside Fairuz Fauzy, and finished fifteenth in the drivers' championship. For the main series season, he switched to the Ocean Racing Technology team and was partnered with Kevin Mirocha and later Brendon Hartley, finishing 24th in the championship.

Cecotto switched to the Addax team for the 2012 season, alongside Josef Král. After a difficult start to the season, he suddenly hit form at Monaco, taking his first pole position and race victory in the category. He also won the feature race at Hockenheim after his decision to start with dry tyres on a wet but drying track paid off. Despite also posting seven retirements, the season was comfortably Cecotto's best in the series, finishing ninth in the championship as a result.

In 2013, Cecotto lacked the pace he had shown in the previous year and struggled with no podiums. However, he was once again quick in Monaco, taking pole for the feature race, but he caused a first corner multi-car pile-up leaving him out of the race and banned from the following day's sprint race for causing the collision. Despite this, he had his most consistent GP2 season with ten points finishes ending with 41 points. He returned to Trident for 2014, he scored two victories and three further podium finishes but struggled in the latter stages, he would go on to finish a career-best fifth in the championship.

Formula One Cecotto was confirmed as one of the Force India team drivers to participate in the young driver test held in Yas Marina Circuit, after the 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

In 2012, Cecotto took part in the young driver test again, this time with Toro Rosso.

Formula V8 3.5 Series In 2016, Cecotto moved to the Formula V8 3.5 Series with RP Motorsport. He won his first race of the season at the Hungaroring. However, after the round at Spa-Francorchamps, he split with his team and was left without a ride.

Racing record

Career summary Season Series Team name Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position 2005 Formula BMW ADAC Lauderbach Motorsport 12 0 0 0 0 3 22nd Mamerow Racing 6 0 0 0 0 Formula Junior 1600 Italia Kiwi ESP 4 0 0 0 1 40 12th Formula Renault 2.0 Italia Winter Series 4 0 0 1 1 18 7th 2006 German Formula 3 Championship Ombra Racing 4 1 0 0 1 20 11th Target Racing 4 0 0 0 0 Euroseries 3000 Coloni Rookies Team 2 0 0 0 0 2 17th Italian Formula 3000 16th Formula Renault 2.0 Italia Kiwi ESP 4 0 0 0 0 0 NC Formula Renault 2.0 NEC Koiranen bros. Motorsport 8 0 0 0 1 92 17th 2007 International Formula Master Ombra Racing 16 0 0 0 3 30 8th Euroseries 3000 ELK Motorsport 2 0 0 0 0 4 20th Italian Formula 3000 13th British Formula 3 Championship Räikkönen Robertson Racing 0† 0 0 0 0 0† NC† 2008 German Formula 3 Championship HS Technik 16 2 3 4 10 99 3rd 2009 Formula 3 Euro Series HBR Motorsport 12 0 0 0 0 0 26th GP2 Series DPR 3 0 0 0 0 0 30th 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series Trident Racing 2 0 0 0 0 3 17th 2010 GP2 Series Trident Racing 16 0 0 0 0 3 23rd 2011 GP2 Series Ocean Racing Technology 18 0 0 0 0 0 24th GP2 Asia Series Super Nova Racing 4 0 0 0 0 0 15thFormula OneForce India F1 TeamTest driver 2012 GP2 Series Barwa Addax Team 24 2 1 1 4 104 9thFormula OneScuderia Toro RossoTest driver 2013 GP2 Series Arden International 21 0 1 1 0 41 16thFormula OneScuderia Toro RossoTest driver 2014 GP2 Series Trident 22 2 1 0 5 140 5th 2015 Auto GP Virtuosi UK 2 0 0 0 1 22 8th‡ GP2 Series Hilmer Motorsport 4 0 0 0 0 0 28th Carlin 2 0 0 0 0 Trident 4 0 0 0 0 2016 Formula V8 3.5 Series RP Motorsport 6 1 0 0 1 43 14th GP2 Series Rapax 4 0 0 0 1 18 18th 2017 FIA Formula 2 Championship Rapax 8 0 0 0 1 16 16th As Cecotto was a guest driver at Brands Hatch and was thus ineligible for points, but he did not start in both races. Position when season was cancelled. Season still in progress.

Complete Formula Renault 2.0 NEC results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2009 HBR Motorsport Dallara F308/052 Mercedes HOC1 HOC2 LAU1 LAU2 NOR1 NOR2 ZAN1 ZAN2 OSC1 OSC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 BRH1 BRH2 CAT1 CAT2 DIJ1 DIJ2 HOC1 HOC2 26th 0

Complete GP2 Series/FIA Formula 2 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) † Driver did not finish, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete GP2 Asia Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Auto GP results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 Pos Points 2015 Virtuosi UK HUN1 HUN2 SIL1 SIL2 8th‡ 22‡ ‡ Position when season was cancelled.

Complete Formula V8 3.5 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Points 2016 RP Motorsport ALC1 ALC2 HUN1 HUN2 SPA1 SPA2 LEC1 LEC2 SIL1 SIL2 RBR1 RBR2 MNZ1 MNZ2 JER1 JER2 CAT1 CAT2 14th 42 † Driver did not finish, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.