page_title: João Paulo de Oliveira
section_title: Racing career
hierarchical_section_title: João Paulo de Oliveira / Racing career
caption_attribution_description: Formula Nippon 2010 Rd.2 Motegi: João Paulo de Oliveira (Team Impul) during the Sunday free practice session.
context_page_description: João Paulo Lima de Oliveira is a Brazilian professional racing driver currently competing in the Japanese Super GT series. He is regarded as one of the most successful racing drivers to race in Japan in the last decade. JP, as he is known, has won in every category he competed in. After becoming German F3 champion in 2003 in convincing form winning 13 out of 16 races, he arrived in Japan in 2004 and took the Japanese F3 title in 2005 with another impressive 7 wins. From there, JP joined Nissan as their official factory driver for the next 13 years in Super GT and also Super Formula, where he became champion in 2010. Constantly winning and battling for titles in both Japan’s top categories, he is known for his speed and very in-depth ability for car development.
context_section_description: Born in São Paulo, de Oliveira competed kart racing for only one year in 1997, then he moved to Formula Ford and Formula Chevrolet Brazilian national championships in 1998.
  After 1999, he competed in several Formula Three championships, and won the 1999 South American Formula Three (Class B), 2003 German Formula Three, and 2005 Japanese Formula Three championships.
  In 2006, De Oliveira debuted in the Super GT with a Hasemi Nissan Z GT500. He also entered the last round of the Formula Nippon with 5Zigen.
  The Brazilian continued as a Nissan Super GT driver with Kondo (2007-2010, 2017) and Impul (2011-2016). He claimed nine wins and 19 podiums, finishing runner-up in the 2015 season and fourth in 2012.
  He also drove in Formula Nippon for Kondo in 2007 and 2008. After skipping 2009, he returned in 2010 with Impul, which also used Toyota engines. He won ten races and earned 23 podiums, winning one title in 2010 and finishing runner-up in 2014. He retired from formula racing after the 2016 season.
  He made his World Touring Car Championship debut at the 2009 FIA WTCC Race of Japan for SUNRED Engineering.
  Paulo de Oliveira drove as a wildcard entry in the finale round of the 2019 World Touring Car Cup at Sepang International Circuit in a Honda Civic Type R TCR run by KCMG. He qualified 13th with a time of 2:14.746. In race one, de Oliveira's experience of the track allowed him to fire his way through the field and eventually into 5th overall, eventually setting the fastest lap while even assisting championship contender Esteban Guerrieri. He dropped to 18th in race two which was followed by a retirement in race 3 on lap 10, from 25th on the grid. His fifth place is the best position a wildcard driver had finished in 2019.
caption: De Oliveira during practice for the first Motegi round of the 2010 Formula Nippon season, where he won from pole position with fastest lap.
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