Bidding farewell to a motorsport survivor

Christian Fittipaldi has racked up starts in almost every discipline of motor racing during a 30-year career that came to an end at the Daytona 24 hours last month. He looks back at the wins and disappointments - and the many injuries

Author James Newbold

Published Feb 16, 2019, 12:38 PM

When the black-and-gold #5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R peeled off the banking and into the pits at 11.04am on Sunday in last month's Daytona 24 Hours, its 48-year-old driver hopped out of the cockpit and removed his familiar yellow Bell Racing helmet adorned with green drops for the final time.

After a quick debrief with engineer Iain Watt, the second-generation Brazilian racer headed to the media room to answer questions from the assembled press. When he had finished, he received a standing ovation from the floor in honour of a professional driving career spanning 30 years and traversing everything from Formula 1 to NASCAR, truck racing to touring cars. Along the way he took multiple championships in IMSA, 24-hour race wins at Daytona and Spa, and two victories in CART's late-1990s golden era.

comments

Author James Newbold

James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.