Armindo Araújo

Nationality:Portuguese Date of Birth:01 Sep 77 Car:MINI John Cooper Works WRC Team:WRC Team MINI Portugal Co-driver:Miguel Ramalho FIA Championship Titles:2009-2010 FIA Production Car World Rally Champion WRC Debut:Portugal 2001 Website:www.armindoaraujo.com Career Highlights 2011: Twenty-third in World Rally Championship 2010: Production Car World Rally Champion with three wins 2009: Production Car World Rally Champion with one win 2008: Eighth in Production Car World Rally Championship 2004: Portuguese Rally Champion and Portuguese Rally Champion for Drivers of 1600cc Cars 2003: Portuguese Rally Champion and Portuguese Rally Champion for Drivers of 1600cc Cars 2002: Portuguese Rally Champion for Drivers of 1600cc Cars Career Summary With several Portuguese national titles under his belt, Araujo made the step up to the Production Car World Rally Championship in 2007. He created an immediate impression with a fourth-place finish on his debut in Sweden, which was only his second start on snow. Remaining at the wheel of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, Araujo built on that early promise by finishing eighth overall in 2008 to lay the foundations for a successful title bid in 2009, which included a maiden win on home soil plus podiums in Cyprus, Italy and Greece. Now reliant on a Lancer Evolution X, which he helped to develop, Araujo became the first driver in PWRC history to successfully defend his title by virtue of a dominant performance. He was a winner in Mexico, Germany and France and never failed to finish outside of the podium places on the three other events he contested. As well as winning the PWRC crown for a second time, Araujo continued in his role as Ralliart Italy’s test driver, making the most of his technical knowledge to help develop the R4 version of the Lancer, which broke cover in 2011. Having dominated the PWRC for the best part of two seasons, Araujo graduated to World Rally Car competition in 2011 and finished eighth overall on ADAC Rallye Deutschland in a MINI John Cooper Works WRC run by the Motorsport Italia operation. He will continue in the car in 2012, albeit under the Armindo Araujo World Rally Team banner when he will be eligible for Manufacturers’ championship points for the first time.