8 of Hélio Castroneves’ Most Memorable Race Cars

This Spiderman’s origin story began when Hélio climbed the fence to celebrate his first IndyCar win. Here he climbs the fence after winning his third Indy 500 on May 24, 2009. Fred Vuich/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images

Hélio Castroneves, this year’s Amelia Concours d’Elegance honoree, has been racing, and winning, for almost 40 years in everything from karts to Indy cars to IMSA sports cars and V8 Supercars. Here are a few of the cars he’s driven to success.

1997 Tasman Motorsports – Indy Lights

Helio Castroneves
David Taylor/Allsport/Getty Images

3 wins and 2nd overall

Indy Lights served as the feeder series for Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), America’s premier open-wheel racing series. Hélio Castroneves began racing in his native Brazil before moving to Europe to race one season in Formula 3. When the season ended in 1995, he was offered a test in the U.S. in the Indy Lights series. For 1996, Castroneves joined Steve Horne’s racing team, Tasman Motorsports, where he did well. In his 1997 season with Tasman—driving the Lola T97/20 powered by a Buick V-6—Castroneves won three races and qualified on the pole four times. Hélio finished the season in second place overall, right behind teammate Tony Kanaan, a fellow Brazilian whom Castroneves had raced against during his karting days back in Brazil.

2001 Marlboro Team Penske – Dallara/Oldsmobile

Indianapolis 500 X Castroneves
Jamie Squire/Allsport/Getty Images

3 wins and 1st place at the Indy 500 (First overall win at Indy)

After two mildly productive seasons in CART, Castroneves was hired by the racing powerhouse, Team Penske, in 2000. In 2001, Castroneves was driving a Honda-powered Reynard 2KI race car and won three races. Penske had sat out the Indianapolis 500 for a long five years as a result of the split between the two racing series, CART and the Indy Racing League (IRL), but returned to the IRL-sanctioned Indy 500 in 2001. However, the IRL used different cars and engines than those used in CART, so Penske had to purchase a Dallara IR-02 powered by an Oldsmobile V-8. In his very first Indianapolis 500, Castroneves qualified 11th and went on to take the checkered flag for his first win at Indy. Castroneves won again in 2002 for back-to-back Indy victories.

2008 DHL Team Penske Porsche – Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2)

Helio-Castroneves-Cars-GettyImages-83128038-edit
Darrell Ingham/Getty Images

1st place at Petit Le Mans

Although Castroneves was a lifelong open-wheel racer, in 2006, he won a sports car endurance race in Brazil. In 2007, he made his U.S. sports car racing debut in the Michael Shank Racing Riley-Ford Daytona Prototype car at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. That same year, Team Penske began fielding the Porsche RS Spyder Evo in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), and Castroneves co-drove that car at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. In 2008, Castroneves and teammate Ryan Briscoe won the Le Mans Prototype 2 class at the 10-hour, 1000-mile Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta, the penultimate event that year in the ALMS season.

2011 James Rosenberg Racing V8 Supercar

V8 Supercar Championship Series Castroneves
Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

2010 and 2011 Armor All Gold Coast 600

In 2010, Castroneves was invited to co-drive with series regular Tim Slade in the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series in one of the biggest races of the season, the Armor All Gold Coast 600 at Surfers Paradise. The star-studded event drew a lot of big-name drivers from other series, including Sébastien Bourdais, David Brabham, Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, Jacques Villeneuve, Scott Pruett, Ryan Briscoe, and Will Power. All the entries were either Ford Falcons or Holden Commodores—Castroneves and Slade drove a Ford Falcon FG. Castroneves returned for the 2011 Gold Coast race, again teaming up with Slade in a Falcon. This time, visiting drivers included Mika Salo, Jörg Bergmeister, Gil de Ferran, Patrick Long, Boris Said, and Simon Pagenaud, to name just a few.

2012 Shell Racing Peugeot 408

shell-racing-peugeot-408-v8-castroneves
StockCar Image Bank

1 race in the Stock Car Brasil Series

With Roger Penske’s approval—Shell was a major Penske sponsor—Castroneves made a guest appearance in the season-ending Stock Car Brasil race in 2012. The race was held at the Interlagos circuit in São Paulo, Brazil, Castroneves’s birthplace. He joined the Shell Racing team for the Stock Car Corrida do Milhão event, which also featured guest drivers Tony Kanaan, Rubens Barrichello and Raphael Matos. All the cars were either Chevrolet Sonics or Peugeot 408s; Castroneves piloted a Peugeot.

2020 Acura Team Penske Acura ARX-05

Roar Before the Rolex 24 Castroneves
Andrew Bershaw/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

4 wins and 1st place overall in IMSA SportsCar Championship, Daytona Prototype international

At Roger Penske’s request in 2018, Castroneves moved from Penske’s IndyCar program to the team’s IMSA sports car program, fielding factory-backed Acuras in the top Daytona Prototype class. Teamed with co-driver Ricky Taylor, the pair had solid seasons in 2018 and 2019. In 2020, they took their performance to a different level, with four wins in their Acura ARX-05, which used an Oreca chassis and a twin-turbo, 600-hp 3.5-liter V-6 engine. A season title eluded Castroneves during his IndyCar career—he finished second four times—but he and Taylor won the 2020 IMSA championship.

2021 Meyer Shank Racing Dallara/Honda

105th Indianapolis 500 Castroneves
Stacy Revere/Getty Images

1st place at the Indy 500 (4th overall win)

With three Indianapolis 500 wins racing for Team Penske to his credit—in 2001, 2002, and 2009—Castroneves moved to the small but aggressive Meyer Shank Racing team in 2021. He won a historic fourth Indy 500, joining A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears, and Al Unser, Sr., as the only four-time winners of the race. Castroneves’s car was a Dallara DW12, powered by a Honda twin-turbocharged 2.2-liter V-6.

2023 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06

IMSA Rolex 24 Daytona Castroneves
David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

1st place at the 24 Hours of Daytona

Castroneves is magic at the 24 Hours of Daytona, winning in 2021, 2022, and 2023. That last win at the Rolex 24, the 61st running of the IMSA season opener, had Castroneves co-driving with Colin Braun, Tom Blomqvist, and old friend Simon Pagenaud. For 2023, IMSA made a major change to its Prototype class, moving from long-time Daytona Prototype specifications to an all-new GTP car. This new car was also eligible to race in the Europe-based World Endurance Championship series, which includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car is referred to as the LMDh car, which stands for Le Mans Daytona hybrid. The winning car was the Acura ARX-06, which Blomqvist qualified with on the pole. Meyer Shank didn’t compete in 2024 but has returned with Acura for the 2025 IMSA season.

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Read next Up next: Cheaper Cars Are Coming, Finally

Comments

    I would dearly love to see Helio win #5 this year at Indy. His chances are likely not really good, but that guy can and has surprised us before, so I wouldn’t ever count him out.

    I did not know he did the Australian V8 supercars series. That became the better Nascar to me with those lovely V8 Fords and Holdens.

    Amazing diversity in teams, tracks, chassis and engines. Lots of talent and success to excel in so many different arenas.

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