Alvaro Parente

Alvaro Parente, born October 4, 1984, is a Portuguese GP2 driver. After winning the Karting European Junior Championship in 1998, Parente made his debut in auto racing in 2001 at the age of 16, driving in the Spanish F3 Championship. In the following year, he was integrated into the Team Portugal project and scored a win on his way to 4th place in the series. Parente then began a more international career in 2003, moving to the F3 Euroseries with Team Ghinzani, then to the Italian Formula 3. In 2004 he took part in the British series, scoring another win and finishing 7th in the championship standings. Parente stayed in the British Formula 3 for another season, and his experience helped him twin the championship with four races to go, scoring a total of 11 wins. This result made him the natural candidate to represent A1 Team Portugal for the new A1 Grand Prix series.For 2006, Parente joined the World Series by Renault with the Victory Engineering team, and achieved his first win at Istanbul in only his fifth race in the category. With two further wins at the Nürburgring and Circuit de Catalunya, he finished fifth in the final standings. Parente won the 2007 World Series by Renault championship with the Tech 1 Racing team. During the 2007 season, Parente took five podium finishes, including two race victories at Monaco and Spa, and was crowned World Series by Renault champion at the final round in Barcelona on October 27. As a prize for winning the World Series, Parente has tested for the Renault F1 team on January 17, 2008 at the Circuito de Jerez. For 2008, Parente moved to the Super Nova Racing team in the GP2 Series, widely regarded as the primary feeder series to Formula One.

Parente made a stunning start to his GP2 career in the opening round of the season at the Circuit de Catalunya by winning the feature race, making him the first Portuguese driver to win in a GP2 Series. In 2009, Parente participated in the GP2 with Portuguese team Ocean Racing. Despite some setbacks, he managed to show his skills and performed well, for instance winning in Spa. 2010 is expected to see Alvaro showing his skills on new levels.