Raphael Matos

Raphael "Rafa" Matos (born August 28, 1981) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. He was the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights Series champion and the 2007 Champ Car Atlantic Series champion. In sports car racing, Matos is a three-time champion of the Trans-Am Series, winning the title in the 2018 , 2021 and 2024 seasons, all in the TA2 class. He lives in Miami.

Career highlights

Early career

Born in Belo Horizonte, Matos came to the United States in 2002 after karting in Brazil and began competing in Skip Barber Formula Dodge, winning the championship in 2003. In 2004, he moved up to the Star Mazda Series and in 2005 he won the Star Mazda championship. In 2006, he moved up the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Series where he drove for the Sierra Sierra team and captured one victory on his way to fourth place in the points standings.

Matos also competed in four Indy Pro Series races for Guthrie Racing and swept the two races held in March at St. Petersburg, Florida. During the fall he was named a driver for A1 Team Brazil in the A1 Grand Prix series and made his debut at the series' race in Beijing in the 2006–2007 season. He raced a Lola B07/40-Mazda in the 2007 12 Hours of Sebring and the 2007 Petit Le Mans.

Atlantics championship and Indy Lights Matos continued with the Sierra Sierra team in Atlantics in 2007 and clinched the championship with several races remaining in the season, securing for himself the $2 million "scholarship" for a ride in Champ Car for the 2008 season.

However, Matos decided to pass on the scholarship and sign with Andretti Green Racing to drive in the Indy Racing League's Firestone Indy Lights Series in 2008, where he won the series championship.

Prior to the 2008 Indy Lights season, Matos drove a Mazda RX-8 for the SpeedSource team in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, taking first in the GT class and a ninth place overall finish, sharing the car with Nick Ham, David Haskell and Sylvain Tremblay. After the season, he drove for Michael Shank Racing on the winning team in the DP class (with Ian James and John Pew) at the SunRichGourmet.com 1000 at Miller Motorsports Park.

IndyCar Series

Matos competed in the full 2009 IndyCar Series season for Luczo-Dragon Racing. He qualified third in his second race, the Long Beach Grand Prix and finished eight. He was the fastest rookie qualifier in his first Indy 500 and ran in the lead pack, but had a crash with Vítor Meira in which Meira was injured. Matos finished 22nd. Matos captured seasonal Rookie of the Year honors by a wide margin over former F1 driver Robert Doornbos. Matos' best finish was sixth at the Milwaukee Mile. He was running at the finish of each of the last ten races of the season, consistency that led to thirteenth in the championship despite few top ten finishes. Matos qualified twelfth in both the 2009 and 2010 Indy 500 and he also crashed in both races in roughly the same location at the exit of turn 1. He failed to qualify the AFS entry for the 2011 Indianapolis 500. He was also the fastest Rookie during the 2009 Indy 500 qualifying.

After IndyCar Matos raced full-time in Stock Car Brasil between 2013 and 2015, claiming a race win in 2014, and a best of thirteenth overall in 2015. At the end of 2015, he failed a drug test, and was suspended for two years. Matos claimed that he used the undisclosed substance in question in order to treat several tumors he had since he was eighteen.

In 2018, Matos started racing in the Trans-Am Series, and won the TA2 class championship at his first attempt. He won the class championship again in 2021, after finishing in first place in six out of twelve races. He won the TA2 championship again in 2024.

On August 30, 2024, it was announced that Matos would attempt to make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Watkins Glen International, driving the No. 87 Chevrolet for Jordan Anderson Racing in collaboration with Peterson Racing Group, but several days later, it was revealed that Matos would not make his debut due to being unable to come to a mutual agreement with the team. He would be replaced by Mike Skeen.

Motorsports career results American open–wheel racing (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Atlantic Championship

Indy Lights

IndyCar Series

Indianapolis 500

American Le Mans Series

A1 Grand Prix (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) A1 Grand Prix results Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 DC Points Ref 2006–07 Brazil NEDSPR NEDFEA CZESPR CZEFEA BEISPR BEIFEA MYSSPR MYSFEA IDNSPR IDNFEA NZLSPR NZLFEA AUSSPR AUSFEA RSASPR RSAFEA MEXSPR MEXFEA SHASPR SHAFEA GBRSPR GBRSPR 18th 9

Stock Car Brasil 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 2012 RC3 Bassani Peugeot 408 INT CTB VEL RBP LON RIO SAL CAS TAR CTB BSB INT NC† 0† 2013 Bardahl Hot Car Chevrolet Sonic INT CUR TAR SAL BRA CAS RBP CAS VEL CUR BRA INT 13th 84 2014 Bardahl Hot Car Chevrolet Sonic INT1 SCZ1 SCZ2 BRA1 BRA2 GOI1 GOI2 GOI1 CAS1 CAS2 CUR1 CUR2 VEL1 VEL2 SCZ1 SCZ2 TAR1 TAR2 SAL1 SAL2 BRA1 16th 104 † Ineligible for championship points. Season still in progress