🇧🇷 Felipe Giaffone

Felipe Giaffone is an established professional who raced single-seater open-wheel championships across the United States and Brazil. He spent his principal career in IndyCar between 2001 and 2006 with A.J. Foyt Enterprises and Hollywood Mo Nunn Racing, competing almost entirely on oval circuits. He returned to racing in 2015 with brief stock car starts in Brazil's Stock Car Pro Series.[1]

Giaffone took 61 IndyCar starts and scored one win, at Kentucky, in the 2002 season when he finished fourth in the championship. He added eight podiums across his time in the series, his best finishes coming in the early 2000s. A decade later he made two starts in the Stock Car Pro Series in 2015 and 2016, finishing thirty-third in the 2015 championship standings from a single round.[2]

His IndyCar record placed him among drivers who regularly faced established professionals and champions. He was closely matched with Scott Sharp, a Platinum-graded professional, and finished ahead of Scott Dixon, a six-time IndyCar champion, on five occasions; he also outfinished Dario Franchitti, a four-time champion, nine times. Sam Hornish Jr., a three-time IndyCar champion, was a regular opponent to whom Giaffone typically finished behind. The grid mixed amateurs and semi-professionals with graded professionals in the same races, and Giaffone's single win came in that company.