So is Bia the Danica Patrick of Brazil? To tell the truth, 23-year-old Ana
Beatriz Caselato Gomes de Figueiredo, or simply "Bia", has established her
own identity. But as Bia's fortunes continue to rise following her history-making
performance as the first woman to win in the Firestone Indy Lights, the
IndyCar developmental series, comparisons may be inevitable.
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Victory lane: race winner Ana Beatriz celebrates with her winning guitar. Photo by Dana Garrett - IRL.
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The victory in Nashville, in which Bia led all but 32 laps in the 77-lap
race, was no fluke. Her potential was well-established long before
she dominated the Sunbelt Rentals 100 in Nashville. Bia had already
claimed three Indy Lights third-place finishes and a fourth prior to
this weekend.
The racing bug nipped at Bia as early as the age of five, when Bia's
father took her to the famed Interlagos race track in São Paulo.
"Bianinha" ("little Bia") was mesmerized by the daring of Ayrton Senna,
but she had many athletic interests as a child, including volleyball,
soccer and horseback riding.
At age seven Ana Figueiredo got behind a steering wheel. At eight she
competed in her first kart race, following a week-long orientation at
Interlagos. Ana participated in 10 races that first year, a number that
would grow over several years to 30 as other interests gave way to an
increasingly serious-about-racing Bia.
Although her father is a psychiatrist and her mother a dentist, the
mounting expenses associated with Bia's passion (engines and chassis, a
coach, a pit crew, fuel, parts, maintenance and modifications, travel,
etc.) became increasingly problematic. She was not their only child, and
Bia's racing project was progressively draining the family's financial
resources.
Not surprisingly, by the time she was 15 Bia's father had to inform her
that he could no longer subsidize her racing. But fortune was already
smiling on the talented young Brasileira (Brazilian woman). When she was
12, Bia had been discovered by the famed Afro-Brazilian racing coach
Nailor Campos, more commonly known simply as "Nô," and Nô had become her
coach and chief mechanic.
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Ana Beatriz at the Sam Schmidt garage in Indianapolis. Photo by Phillip Wagner.
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Nô has coached an impressive number of successful Brazilian drivers.
The most recognizable among them might be the IRL's Tony Kanaan, who
this year set a new Indianapolis and IRL record by leading laps in his
seventh consecutive Indianapolis 500 -- the only seven he has ever
competed in.
Nô also coached Brazilian Formula One standout Rubens Barrichello,
current IndyCar and former CART and Formula One driver Enrique Bernoldi,
and former IndyCar and CART driver Andre Ribeiro, Bia's current
co-manager. So when Nô proactively expressed an interest in working with
a young female driver in Brazil's notably male-dominated society it was
momentous. Ana Figueiredo had to be something special. Though Bia had
achieved success before, it was significant that she won the very first
time she worked with Nô.
Bia's potential had become increasingly evident, so in 2001 (the year
after her father made the difficult decision to stop funding her) Nô was
able to gain sponsorship from a former Brazilian racing champion, Xandy
(Pollini) Negrão. Xandy is the owner of the Medley drug company, which
was established in Campinas, the state of São Paulo, in 1932. In spite
of his last name Xandy is of Italian rather than African ancestry.
Bia's talents matured just as Medley, which had once been threatened
by overwhelming debt, was experiencing a period of rapid growth. Xandy
himself has a passion for motorsport -- his son "Xandinho" is the
Brazilian GT3 champion -- but he had been forced to take a break from
racing to reorganize Medley in the late 1980s.
Between 2000 and 2005 Medley rocketed from 28th to sixth among
pharmaceutical companies in Brazil by focusing on generic drugs and
forming strategic partnerships with foreign manufacturers. Under
Medley's sponsorship in 2001 and 2002, at the ages of 16 and 17, Bia won
Brazil's Gold Helmet award as the best driver in the kart category.
Bia finished runner-up in the Brazilian Kart Cup in 2001 and runner-up
for the Brazilian championship in 2002. In 2003 she was the Brazilian
Formula Renault rookie of the year, when she won the Sorriso Petrobras
Kart Cup and was runner-up for the Petrobras Karting Selective award.
In 2004 and 2005 Bia finished fifth and third overall respectively in
Brazilian Formula Renault, capturing another Gold Helmet award in 2005.
In the 2006 racing season Ana graduated to the South American Formula
Three series. There she competed against fellow Brazilian Mario Moraes,
who narrowly missed winning an F3 championship and is currently also
racing in the IRL.
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Ana Beatriz. Photo by Andy Sallee.
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In 2006 Bia finished fifth overall as a Formula F3 driver for the
Cesario Formula team. In 2007 she test-drove cars in British Formula
Three and Firestone Indy Lights in the United States. In Shanghai,
China, Bia also tested the A1GP car driven by yet another Brazilian
Formula Indy standout, Vitor Meira.
Through her co-manager Andre Ribeiro, Bia secured an invitation to drive
the green-and-white #20 Healthy Choice car in the 2008 Firestone Indy
Lights series for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Sam Schmidt Motorsports is
the premier team of the Firestone Indy Lights series, having captured 29
pole positions and 23 races going into the 2008 season. Bia currently
ranks third in the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights point standings out of 34
drivers, behind teammate Richard Antinucci and fellow Brazilian Raphael
Matos.
In Part Two of this story, read an exclusive personal interview with
Bia.
About the author: Phillip Wagner is a longtime freelance
photo-journalist with a wide range of credits but a special interest
in Brazil. Phillip has covered the Indianapolis 500 since 2001 and is
a recognized authority on the remarkable record of Brazilians at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He is also the co-founder and director of
Rhythm of Hope, which he founded in 2004 as an outgrowth of his personal
efforts to elevate the life chances of Brazilian favela (slum) youth in
the hometown of Tony Kanaan: Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
