Eduardo Ventura

Sao Paulo, Brazil

**Eduardo 'Duarte' Ventura** was a Brazilian racing driver, who won the 1987 Formula One World Championship.

He was killed in an accident at the end of the 1999 US 500 at Michigan Speedway.

## Early Life

Born to Gabriel and Matilde Ventura on the 11th of November 1962 in their family home near Sao Paulo, he spent his early years surrounded by cars due to his father's semi professional sports car racing career.

## Racing Career

#### **Karting and Early Sports Car Racing**

Ventura began his racing career in local karting at the age of 5, and was quickly spotted as a future talent, winning races and quickly moving up through the junior categories. In 1980, at the age of 18, Ventura was entered into the Brazilian Copa Júnior Sports Car Championship. He drove under his Father's own racing team, Ventura Corrida Competición, in a 1500cc Volkswagon 1500, and showed immediate pace, scoring two podiums in his first five races. The car was plagued by reliability issues, however, and a combination of inexperienced mechanics and and poor fabrication mean that the car retired from more races than it finished. Ventura ended the season with four more podiums including one win.

In 1981, Ventura moved up to Súper TC 2000, the premier South American Sports Car Championship, again racing for Ventura Automobilismo Competición. Ventura was able to hire a far more experienced Chief Mechanic, Abel Cotta, who was able to iron out many of the team's reliability issues. Paired with the previous year's experience, Ventura was able to mount a strong title challenge in his debut season, impressing many talent scouts and finishing second to Argentinian Jorge Omar del Río by only five points. 1982 was Ventura's breakthrough year, comfortably winning the championship and cementing his status as a rising star in the South American racing division.

#### **World Endurance Championship**

1983 saw Ventura enter the the world stage, signing for Porsche to drive the new Group C Porsche 956 in the World Endurance Championship. Ventura performed well against world class competition, paired with Sid Donnelly during the English driver's hiatus from Formula One. Despite showing his inexperience with several mistakes during the opening rounds, Ventura quickly found his footing and was often seem trading times with Donnelly, who was much more experienced and proven at the highest level of Motorsport. This raw pace impressed much of the racing world, and the pairing scored strong results during the rest of the season, winning the Sebring 24 Hours race and scoring several other podiums.

1984 was a year of success for Ventura, finishing strongly in many races and placing third in the final standings.

1985 saw Ventura win the World Endurance Championship in stunning fashion, taking the battle to the final laps of the last round of the season. Fighting back after a mechanical issue early in the race Ventura passed many cars en route to a brilliant victory in which he overtook his main title rival just 15 minutes from the end of the race, securing the championship at just 23 years old.

#### **Formula One**

Following Ventura's victory in the World Endurance Championship, he was approached by several Formula One teams with offers to take part in testing for the upcoming 1986 season. Williams, following the death of their star driver Vivaldo Margheriti at the final round of the season, were particularly interested in the young Brazilian's prospects in the single seater category. Despite his lack of experience in open wheel racing, Ventura accepted an offer to participate in pre-season testing at the Jerez circuit alongside Danilo Koren.

Ventura was immediately impressive, handling the car with his customary skill and control despite the incredible horsepower output of the Honda V6 engine. Despite being a driver known more for his consistency in endurance racing, Ventura was able to post laptimes similar to those of Danilo Koren. Present at this test was Honda's chief technical officer Nobuhiko Kawamoto, who was photographed deep in conversation with the Brazilian several times. This was the start of a long and fruitful relationship between Honda and Ventura, which lasted long into the Brazilian's racing career.

Following the conclusion of the test, it was announced that Ventura would drive full time for Williams Formula One Team in 1986.

#### **1986**

Ventura's debut season in open wheel racing began with a retirement due to a gearbox failure, although he was running ahead of his experienced team mate Danilo Koren at the time. San Marino saw him finish in 6th, earning five points in the first time he saw the chequered flag. The following rounds saw a consistent run of minor points positions, the Williams seeming not to have the raw pace of the previous year. For a debut season, many were impressed as he went into the halfway point almost level with Koren on points. A major breakthrough came for Ventura in Italy, seeing him secure a stunning second place behind Fabiano Margheriti after a major car upgrade. However, during the final three round of the season a combination of factors such as mistakes in qualifying and poor strategy decisions saw Ventura underperform while Koren took victory in Spa, and two second places in South Africa and Mexico. Ventura ended the season in 6th, a credible effort which was enough to secure his Williams seat for the 1987 season.

#### **1987**

Williams showed strong pace in pre-season testing, with Ventura and Koren finishing top of the unofficial timesheets on most days. Arriving at Jacarepaguá for the first round, the Williams duo finished 1-2, with Koren narrowly beating Ventura to the line after a tense race. San Marino became a historic day as Ventura achieved his first ever victory in Formula One as his team mate struggled. A series of mediocre results followed as rival teams brought upgrades to their cars. Defending world champion Fabiano Margheriti had a run of excellent form with several podiums and a race win. Ventura and Margheriti traded the top place in the championship almost every weekend, with the Italian coming out on top at an epic race in Austria. Another win in Belgium saw Ventura take an eight point lead in the championship going into the final round, but contact with rival Margheriti caused terminal damage to Ventura's Williams. This meant he could only watch as the Italian limped back to the pits for repairs. Despite a heroic comeback drive, the best he could finish was 9th, thereby handing the championship to Ventura in only his second season in Formula One.

Following the conclusion of the 1987 championship, Ventura was approached by Ron Dennis of McLaren with the offer of a seat for the 1988 season. However, Ventura was still under contract to drive at Williams for another year, who were in excellent form after producing their first championship winning car. Further complicating the issue was the relationship between Ventura and Nobuhiko Kawamoto of Honda, who went on record saying that whichever team Ventura drove for in 1988 would be powered by Honda. As the most powerful engine on the grid, this was no small factor in creating the bidding war that occurred during the early winter of 1987.

After several months of negotiations, Williams eventually settled on McLaren paying the buyout clause in Ventura's contract. Although leaving Williams without an engine supplier for 1988, this also deprived McLaren of much needed development time for their new Honda V6 challenger for the upcoming season. This shortened development did not deter McLaren designer Steve Nichols, who with assistance from technical director Gordon Murray were able to create a radical concept for 1988. A lower, reclined driving position improved aerodynamics, and the new Honda V6 was reliable and powerful. These factors combined with their two new drivers Fabiano Margheriti and Eduardo Ventura meant that they were clear title favorites heading into the 1988 season.

#### **1988**

Initial testing of the new McLaren MP4/4 went well. Ventura, as reigning champion, was quick to establish his place at the top of the timesheets. However, American Chuck Dingley, now moved to Ferrari, showed that the Scuderia had built a genuine title challenger once again.