Edoardo Alberto Gérard "Edo" Mortara (born 12 January 1987) is a Swiss-Italian-French professional racing driver currently competing in Formula E for Mahindra Racing and in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Automobili Lamborghini Squadra Corse. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, he holds triple nationality from all three countries. He is a former Formula Three Euroseries champion and he almost claimed the DTM title with Audi in 2016. In 2021 and 2022, he finished in second and then third overall in the FIA Formula E World Companionship.
Mortara is renowned as "Mr Macau" as he has amassed ten wins (with seven overall victories) in Macau from 2008 to 2017 in F3 and GT races. These wins include 2008 F3 Qualification Race, 2009 F3 Main Race, 2010 F3 Qualification Race and Main Race, 2011, 2012, 2013 Macau GT Races, 2013 Audi R8 LMS Race and 2017 Macau GT World Cup Qualification Race and Main Race. This is a record for any driver or rider in Macau up to date.
Mortara was also ranked 38th and 15th by the famous "Autosport" magazine as one of the top-50 drivers in the world in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
Early career
Karting and lower formulae Mortara began racing in karts, where he won the 2002 South Garda Winter Cup and 2005 Andrea Margutti Trophy. In 2006, Mortara stepped up to formula racing, driving for Prema Powerteam in both the Formula Renault Eurocup and Formula Renault 2.0 Italia series. He scored on two occasions in the former, finishing 22nd in the drivers' standings, and claimed three podiums in the latter to finish fourth overall.2006 Formula Renault 2.0 Italia – Driver Standings formula3.cc
Formula 3 Euro Series (2007–2008) In 2007, Mortara joined Signature-Plus in the Formula 3 Euro Series. After scoring his maiden car racing victory during round two at Brands Hatch, Mortara took three more podiums, including another win in a rain-affected race 1 at Barcelona. He ended up eighth in the standings and won the rookie classification. Mortara returned to Signature for his sophomore season in 2008. Despite a strong start to his campaign, which included a victory at Pau and a total of six podiums from the opening eight races, Mortara tailed off in the campaign's second half, allowing Nico Hülkenberg to take a dominant title. Mortara narrowly beat Jules Bianchi to second in the championship. He also took part in the 2008 Macau Grand Prix, where he won the qualification race after passing Keisuke Kunimoto, before losing out to Kunimoto in the main race and finishing second.
GP2 step-up and Macau victories (2009–2010) Having contested the latter four events of the GP2 Asia Series at the start of 2009, scoring a podium on his debut in Bahrain, Mortara joined Arden International in the 2009 GP2 Series. Despite winning the first sprint race of the year at Barcelona, Mortara only claimed a total of five points finishes across the season and finished 14th overall. At the end of 2009, Mortara returned to Formula Three to race at the Macau Grand Prix with Signature. Having qualified fourth, Mortara finished third in the qualification race. Mortara then won the main race, passing Jean-Karl Vernay in the closing laps.
Mortara returned to the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2010 with Signature. A dominant campaign followed, as Mortara won seven of the higher-points-awarding Saturday races and claimed the championship title. He capped off his junior single-seater career by winning the 2010 Macau Grand Prix, where he qualified first, dominated the qualification race, and claimed the main race win after overtaking Laurens Vanthoor. With that achievement, he became the first ever driver to win the Macau Grand Prix in successive years during the Formula Three era. DTM career Audi (2011–2016) For 2011, Mortara joined Audi Team Rosberg in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, driving the older Audi A4 DTM 2008 chassis. He scored his maiden points with a sixth place in round two at Zandvoort. After winning the exhibition qualifying race at the Munich Olympic Stadium, Mortara claimed his first podium in the championship by finishing third at Brands Hatch. He returned to the podium during the next race in Oschersleben, placing third again in a wet-affected race. Mortara finished ninth in the drivers' standings.
Mortara remained with Team Rosberg for the 2012 season. After scoring points from two of the opening three races, Mortara achieved pole position at the Red Bull Ring, before going on to achieve his first DTM victory after fighting off the Mercedes of Gary Paffett. Mortara took his next podium at the Nürburgring, finishing second to a dominant Bruno Spengler. At the following race, a wet-weather affair at Zandvoort, Mortara battled past marque colleague Mike Rockenfeller in the closing laps and scored his second win of the season. Mortara then retired from two of the final three races, which included a lap 1 crash with Ralf Schumacher at Oschersleben caused by Mortara, and finished fifth in the championship.
In 2013, Mortara returned for a third and final year with Team Rosberg. He experienced a challenging campaign, finishing 21st in the standings with just three points to his name.
Ahead of the 2014 season, Mortara moved to Audi Sport Team Abt. Having retired from the season opener at the Hockenheimring due to a late puncture, Mortara returned to the podium in round two at Oschersleben with a third place. He finished fourth in the next two races, before taking ninth in Moscow after lap 1 contact with Jamie Green and 16th at Spielberg. Mortara then qualified second at the Nürburgring before finishing third. A 16th place at the Lausitzring was followed by fourth in Zandvoort, where Mortara recovered from being disqualified from qualifying for a technical infringement. Mortara's slim chances of finishing second in the drivers' championship were ended at the Hockenheim finale, where a bad start and subsequent collision damage caused him to retire. He ended up fifth in the standings.Mortara's 2015 season started with a fourth and second place at the Hockenheimring. He then took second again at race 1 at the Lausitzring before finishing fifth in race 2. Two scoreless races at the Norisring followed; meanwhile at Zandvoort, Mortara retired from both races, with a collision in race 2 drawing the ire of Daniel Juncadella. Mortara qualified on pole for race 1 at the Red Bull Ring, which he went on to win despite losing the lead at the start. He finished third in race 2 and moved up to second in the standings. Two points finishes in Moscow kept his title bid going, but a pair of retirements at Oschersleben set Mortara back. Mortara scored a second place in race 1 at the Nürburgring after fighting off Pascal Wehrlein, but retired from race 2 after a collision with Timo Glock. He again retired due to contact in race 1 at Hockenheim, before going from 13th on the grid to second in race 2. With six podiums, Mortara finished fourth in the standings.
In 2016, Mortara returned for his third season with Team Abt. He started the year by winning the opening race at Hockenheim, overcoming an illness that affected him during the weekend. Mortara scored another podium with third at Spielberg, before finishing eighth in race 1 at the Lausitzring. At the Norisring, Mortara held off Jamie Green in the closing laps and claimed his second victory of the season, one that lifted him to the top of the standings. His next podium came in race 2 at Zandvoort, where Mortara benefited from punctures for two Mercedes ahead of him to finish third. Three finishes inside the top ten later, Mortara won race 2 at the Nürburgring by passing leader Lucas Auer during the second stint. He then took pole for race 1 at the Hungaroring and cruised to a dominant victory. In race 2, a collision between Mortara and title rival Marco Wittmann resulted in a non-score, meaning that Mortara entered the season finale with a 14-point gap to points leader Wittmann. Mortara started eighth for race 1 in Hockenheim and, thanks to several overtakes in the second stint, finished third, one place behind Wittmann. He then won race 2, though a fourth place for Wittmann meant that Mortara would finish second overall.
At the end of 2016, it was announced that Mortara would leave Audi to become a factory driver for Mercedes.
Mercedes-Benz (2017–2018) For his first DTM season at Mercedes in 2017, Mortara joined the HWA-run Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT team. He finished 14th in the championship, scoring a lone podium with third at the Norisring.
Mortara remained at the HWA-run team in 2018. At the second round, held on the Lausitzring, Mortara took his first DTM victory for Mercedes in race 1. His next win came in race 1 at the Norisring, where Mortara qualified on pole and controlled the race. He finished second in race 2 of the weekend. Mortara then had two weekends where he failed to score a podium, before finishing third and second in Misano. With just two more points from the final three events, Mortara finished sixth in the standings.
During his DTM career, Mortara won ten races, scored 26 podiums, five poles, and six fastest laps.
Sportscar career
Macau GT dominance (2011–2013) In 2011, Mortara drove a Volkswagen Golf24 at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, but retired from the race. At the end of the year, he took part in the Macau GT Cup in an Audi R8 LMS GT3. He ended up winning in controlling fashion, continuing the success from his Formula Three days. Mortara returned to the Macau GT Cup in 2012 and won again, having impressively passed Lucas di Grassi on lap 4 of the main race. In 2013, Mortara passed Alexandre Imperatori on the penultimate lap to claim another win on the Guia Circuit.
Macau podiums and fourth GT victory (2014–2017) At the 2014 edition of the Macau GT race, Mortara claimed pole position in qualifying. However, a bad start caused Mortara to be overtaken by Maro Engel and Renger van der Zande, leaving him third at the checkered flag. In 2015, the race was rebranded as the FIA GT World Cup, with Mortara contesting the event as part of Audi Sport Team Phoenix. He qualified second but was overtaken by Engel in the qualifying race, though he would be classified second following a penalty for Stefan Mücke. In the main race, Mortara finished second on the road, but was demoted to sixth because of a penalty given for a jump start. At the 2016 GT World Cup, Mortara drove for Team WRT. He set the track record in a GT3 car during qualifying on his way to pole position. In the qualification race though, a bad start allowed teammate Laurens Vanthoor to jump ahead at the start, just before Mortara crashed into a wall. Mortara pitted to repair his car but was able to catch up to the pack thanks to a safety car, and ended up finishing 13th. He remained 13th in the shortened main race.
During the 2017 season, Mortara raced in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup for AKKA ASP. Partnering Raffaele Marciello and Michael Meadows, Mortara qualified on pole for the 24 Hours of Spa alongside them and finished the race in third. With another podium at Silverstone, the trio ended the campaign fifth in the drivers' standings. He also drove for Mercedes-AMG Team HTP Motorsport at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, but retired. The 2017 FIA GT World Cup meanwhile saw Mortara's first attempt at the race behind the wheel of a Mercedes-AMG GT3. Mortara took pole again before winning a chaotic qualification race; he had lost the lead to Maro Engel at the start but, after a red flag, was able to restart from first place due to a battery failure on Engel's car. Despite lightly hitting the wall on lap 1 of the main race, Mortara went unchallenged on his way to a sixth Macau victory.
Final years with Mercedes and Audi (2018–2023)