Chris Festa
Chris Festa, born in Atlanta on September 5, 1985, is an American auto racing driver.
| Chris Festa | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Born | September 5, 1985 Atlanta, Georgia |
| Retired | 2008 |
| Firestone Indy Lights Series | |
| Years active | 2005-2008 |
| Teams | Sam Schmidt Motorsports Cheever Racing Target Chip Ganassi Racing Rahal Letterman Racing |
| Car number | 25,19,51,9,24 |
| Starts | 40 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Poles | 2 |
| Fastest laps | 33 races |
| Best finish | 2nd in 2005, 2007 |
| Previous series | |
| 2004 2003 | Toyota Atlantic USF2000 |
| Championship titles | |
| 2002 | 2 Started his career in gokarts at the famed Lamar county speedway in barnesville ga., where he learned his racing ability. |
Festa raced the #9 Dallara for Chip Ganassi Racing in the Indy Pro Series in 2007. He also served as Target Chip Ganassi Racing's development driver where he did all the test and development driving for the team's IndyCar program during the 2007 and 2008 Seasons. His work contributed heavily to the win in the 2008 Indy 500 and 2008 IndyCar Series Championship for Scott Dixon. As of the end of the 2007 season he has made 39 IPS starts with a best finish of 2nd (3 times) and won the pole for the first race of the 2007 season at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Festa finished 6th, 8th, and 10th in series points in his first three seasons in the Pro Series, respectively.
He previously competed in the Toyota Atlantic series in 2004 for Rahal Letterman Racing where he was teammates with Danica Patrick. and finished 8th in series points at the age of 18. Chris Festa was a surprise addition to the #7 SAMAX Motorsport Daytona Prototype team for the 2007 24 Hours of Daytona, but drove well and the team finished a respectable 6th place. He returned to the series, now known as the Firestone Indy Lights Series driving for the new Alliance Motorsports team. Festa left the team after 7 races with a best finish of 5th in the season opener at Homestead-Miami after the team's funding ran out. He finished 22nd in points.
Over the course of Festa's career, he won over 60 races and was known for his aggressive style.
Festa is a brother of Kappa Sigma at Florida State University.
Festa is now retired from professional racing and is currently living in Atlanta, Georgia.
Complete motorsports results
American Open-Wheel racing results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest race lap)
USF2000 National Championship results
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | PR1 Motorsports | SEB1 15 |
SEB2 11 |
LRP1 9 |
LRP1 16 |
MDO1 10 |
MDO2 10 |
ROA1 9 |
ROA2 25 |
MDO3 9 |
MDO4 5 |
ATL1 10 |
ATL2 24 |
11th | 107 |
Atlantic Championship
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Team Rahal/Letterman | LBH 11 |
MTY 7 |
MIL 7 |
POR1 10 |
POR2 6 |
CLE 14 |
TOR 8 |
VAN 13 |
ROA 8 |
DEN 7 |
MTL 7 |
LS 7 |
8th | 172 |
Indy Lights
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Sam Schmidt Motorsports | HMS 10 |
PHX 2 |
STP 8 |
INDY 8 |
TXS 3 |
IMS 3 |
NSH 7 |
MIL 10 |
KTY 9 |
PPIR 6 |
SNM 5 |
CHI 11 |
WGL 4 |
FON 4 |
6th | 387 | ||
| 2006 | Cheever Racing | HMS 16 |
STP1 6 |
STP2 8 |
INDY 4 |
WGL 14 |
IMS 15 |
NSH 9 |
MIL | KTY 8 |
SNM1 | SNM2 | CHI 5 |
8th | 205 | ||||
| 2007 | Chip Ganassi Racing | HMS 2 |
STP1 8 |
STP2 12 |
INDY 2 |
MIL 21 |
IMS1 11 |
IMS2 14 |
IOW 16 |
WGL1 21 |
WGL2 17 |
NSH 9 |
MDO 13 |
KTY 4 |
SNM1 13 |
SNM2 19 |
CHI 19 |
10th | 313 |
| 2008 | Alliance Motorsports | HMS 5 |
STP1 11 |
STP2 15 |
KAN 16 |
INDY 18 |
MIL 13 |
IOW 18 |
WGL1 | WGL2 | NSH | MDO1 | MDO2 | KTY | SNM1 | SNM2 | CHI | 22nd | 119 |