Mario Domínguez (born December 1, 1975, in Mexico City) is a Mexican racing driver. He has competed in the CART and CCWS Champ Car series and later the IndyCar Series.

Early career Domínguez first began racing in 1987 driving go-karts. He won three go-karting championships and represented Mexico in the World Karting Championships in Spain (1989), Italy (1990) and France (1991). He then raced in numerous developmental series in Mexico, eventually winning the Mexican Formula Three Championship in 1998 and moving to the American Indy Lights series full-time in 1999, finishing eighth in the championship in 2000 and fourth in the series' final year, 2001. He was slated to make his Champ Car debut in the first race of the 2001 season in his home county's race in Monterrey for the new Millennium Motorsports team, but the car never appeared.

CART/Champ Car

Domínguez made his CART/Champ Car debut the following year in 2002 and became Rookie of the Year, with his first Champ Car victory in 2002 at the Honda Indy 300, although this was in a rain-shortened race largely dictated by the safety car. He was more competitive in 2003, winning the Grand Prix Americas in Miami. In 2004, Domínguez had his best season to date by finishing fifth in the final standings. This success with Herdez Competition allowed him to sign with the Forsythe team for 2005. However, Domínguez saw limited success at Forsythe. After the first four races of the 2006 season where he crashed into his teammate Paul Tracy on the first lap twice, Domínguez and Forsythe parted ways. Before the next Champ Car race in Portland, Domínguez signed on to Dale Coyne Racing to drive the Sonny's BBQ Ford Lola-Cosworth. For the final three races of the season, Domínguez secured sponsorship from Mexican state-owned petroleum company Pemex to race for the slightly more competitive Rocketsports team. Along with Champ Car racing, Mario tested a Jordan Grand Prix Formula One racing car at the Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire, England, in 2005.

In 2007, Domínguez signed with Forsythe for the first three races of the season after obtaining sponsorship from Telmex, but was dropped after just a few rounds in favour of Oriol Servià. He remained out of a Champ Car ride until he replaced an injured Tristan Gommendy at PKV Racing at the Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton. The following week at the San Jose Grand Prix, he signed on with Pacific Coast Motorsports to fill in for Ryan Dalziel, who was injured in a bicycling accident. Dalziel recovered enough to return to racing two weeks later at Generac Grand Prix at Road America, returning Domínguez to the sidelines. But at the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, Mario was again called on as a substitute after Dan Clarke of Minardi Team USA was suspended for the weekend after causing a multi-car crash in a practice session.

IndyCar Series

In 2008, Domínguez announced that he would enter the remainder of the 2008 IndyCar Series season with Pacific Coast Motorsports, after placing third in the final Champ Car race at Long Beach.Lewandowski, Dave. PCM on board, IndyCar.com, April 24, 2008 He was bumped from the field at the 2008 Indianapolis 500 and made his first true start in the series in the following race at the Milwaukee Mile. Since his 21st place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in June, Domínguez's team skipped the next events to re-evaluate their program to be more competitive when they return. They returned on a road course only schedule and participated in the Watkins Glen, Mid-Ohio, Edmonton, and Infineon races to close out the season. His best finish of the season came at Watkins Glen in thirteenth place. He finished 27th in points.

FIA GT

In 2009, Domínguez was offered a drive for the K Plus K Motorsport team without needing to bring sponsorship. This was not his first sportscar event, since he raced for Risi Competizione in the American Le Mans Series team in 2006.

Motorsports career results

American open–wheel racing results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Indy Lights Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Rank Points Ref 1992 Landford RacingPHXLBHDETPORMILNHATORCLEVANMDONAZLS17 NC 0 1998 Herdez Competition TeamMIALBHNAZSTLMILDETPORCLETORMISTROVAN14LS7FON25th6 1999 Team Mexico Quaker HerdezMIA1LBH6NAZ17MIL16POR15CLE9TOR20MIS4DET17CHI5LS16FON511th66 2000 Team Mexico Quaker HerdezLBH10MIL3DET5POR6MIS7CHI11MDO11VAN5LS10STL6HOU12FON16 8th 67 2001 PacWest LightsMTY4LBH4TXS6MIL2POR11KAN10TOR2MDO6STL2ATL4LS10FON5 4th 120

CART/Champ Car Year Team No. Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Rank Points Ref 2002 Herdez Competition 16 Lola B02/00 Ford XFMTY17LBH14MOT11MIL17 18th 37 55LS15POR10CHI11TOR18CLE17VAN10MDO16ROA8MTL17DEN14ROC13MIA11SRF1FON16MXC18 2003 Herdez Competition Lola B02/00 Ford XFESTP14MTY13LBH5BRH3LAU2MIL8LS10POR10CLE5TOR12VAN10ROA14MDO16MTL5DEN7MIA1MXC3SRF10 6th 118 2004 Herdez Competition Lola B02/00 Ford XFELBH5MTY3MIL8POR17CLE8TOR17VAN6ROA5DEN4MTL3LS11LVS7SRF3MXC8 5th 244^ 2005 Forsythe Racing 7 Lola B02/00 Ford XFELBH5MTY13MIL7POR4CLE17TOR13EDM5SJO5DEN2MTL10LVS4SRF18MXC12 9th 1982006 Forsythe Racing Lola B02/00 Ford XFELBH4HOU3MTY6MIL14 9th 202 Dale Coyne Racing 19POR14CLE6TOR11EDM8SJO5DEN13MTL10 Rocketsports Racing 8ROA12SRF2MXC17 2007 Forsythe Racing 7 Panoz DP01 Cosworth XFELVS9LBH17HOU6PORCLEMTTTOR 18th 78 PKV Racing 22EDM17 Pacific Coast Motorsports 28SJO12ROASRF12MXC8 Minardi Team USA 4ZOL17ASN ^ New points system implemented in 2004

IndyCar Series Year Team No. Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Rank Points Ref 2008 Pacific Coast Motorsports 96 Panoz DP01 Cosworth XFEHMSSTPMOT1DNPLBH13KAN 27th 112 Dallara HondaINDYDNQMIL26TXS21IOWRIRWGL13NSHMDO19EDM24KTYSNM16DETCHISRF2

1 Run on same day. 2 Non-points-paying, exhibition race.

Years Teams Races Poles Wins Podiums(Non-win) Top 10s(Non-podium) Indianapolis 500Wins Championships117001000

Complete TCR World Tour results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 DC Points 2025 Apycsa Racing Team Audi RS 3 LMS TCR AHR1 AHR2 AHR3 CRT1 CRT2 CRT3 MNZ1 MNZ2 CVR1 CVR2 BEN1 BEN2 BEN3 INJ1 INJ2 INJ3 ZHZ1 ZHZ2 ZHZ3 MAC1 MAC2 NC† 0† † As Domínguez was a TCR National Series entry, he was ineligible for points.

References

Forsythe Signs Dominguez (March 30, 2005) Champ Car Veteran Mario Dominguez Joins Pacific Coast Motorsports (July 25, 2007)

External links

Mario Dominguez profile provided by CBS SportsLine