David Martínez (racing driver)

David Martínez
Born	(1981-12-08) December 8, 1981 Monterrey, Mexico
Occupation	Race car driver
Years active	1998–present
Known for	Highest-ranking debut by a Mexican competitor in top-tier open-wheel categories (IndyCar, Champ Car World Series, F1)

David Martínez (born December 8, 1981, in Monterrey) is a Mexican race car driver recognized for achieving the highest-ranking debut by a Mexican competitor in top-tier open-wheel categories (IndyCar, Champ Car World Series, F1). He secured ninth place at the 2006 Gran Premio Telmex, a milestone he shares with Patricio O'Ward, who also finished ninth at the 2018 Indycar Grand Prix of Sonoma.

Initial stages in Mexico

Martínez began his motorsport journey at seven years old, competing in Mexican karting circuits before advancing through Formula 2/Formula 3000, Formula 3, and Formula Renault 2000 de America. At just 14, he captured his first formula title in the Mexican Formula 2 Neon series. In 1997, he earned Rookie of the Year honors in the Mexican Marlboro Cup Formula 3000 and later claimed the Mexican Formula Renault 2000 championship in 2002. Expanding his reach internationally, Martínez participated in the Barber Dodge Pro Series during 2003, triumphing in his first event at Fundidora Park located in Monterrey.

European competitions and Atlantic Championship (2004–2006)

In 2004, Martínez transitioned to European racing, where he recorded five finishes within the top five in the Formula Renault V6 Eurocup. The following year, despite missing the initial race of the season, he achieved fifth place overall in the Atlantic Championship, securing four podium finishes, seven top-five results, and earning his inaugural pole position. Additionally, he took part in select rounds of the A1 Grand Prix Series during that period.

Returning to the Atlantic Championship in 2006 with US RaceTronics, Martínez once again concluded the season ranked fifth overall, even after changing teams midway through. He delivered a notable performance on home territory by finishing third at Monterrey.

Champ Car and Indy Lights tenure (2006-present)

Martínez made his Champ Car debut in 2006 driving for Forsythe Championship Racing at the Mexico City event behind the wheel of a Lola-Ford-Cosworth. Originally intended to pilot a third car for the team, he stepped in for an injured Paul Tracy and finished ninth—marking the top debut finish by a Mexican driver in premier open-wheel competition. After limited participation in 2007, he returned to Forsythe's #7 vehicle for the final two races of that season, including another appearance in Mexico City. Although running as high as fifth place during one race, a gearbox failure during a pit stop relegated him to fourteenth position. Martínez’s last Champ Car race occurred at Long Beach in 2008—the series’ final event—where he achieved his career-best finish of eighth.

In 2009, Martínez’s racing was confined to the 24 Hours of Daytona, where he finished tenth in the DP class competing with Beyer Racing. He resumed involvement in American open-wheel racing in 2010 by making two starts in Firestone Indy Lights for Genoa Racing, attaining a best result of eighth place at Infineon Raceway.

Racing record

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	Fastest laps	Points	Position
2006	Champ Car	Forsythe	1	0	0	0	13	22nd
2007	Champ Car	Forsythe	2	0	0	0	18	20th
2007-08	A1 Grand Prix	A1 Team Mexico	2	0	0	0	0	16th (1)

*(1) = Team standings.

American Open-Wheel Racing Performance

(legend)

Barber Dodge Pro Series

Season	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final Position	Total Points
1998	SEB	LRP	DET	WGI	CLE 17	GRA	MOH	ROA	LS1	ATL	HMS	LS2	40th	-
2003	STP	MTY 1	MIL 9	LAG 3	POR 2	CLE 4	TOR 3	VAN 8	MOH 9	MTL 17			4th	103

Atlantic Championship

 |-  |-  |-

Season	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Final Standing	Points Accumulated
2002	Condor Motorsports-Ariba	MTY 15	LBH	MIL	LGA	POR	CHI	TOR	CLE	TRR	ROA	MTL	DEN	31st	1
2005	US RaceTronics	LBH	MTY 3	POR1 6	POR2 4	CLE1 Ret	CLE2 8	TOR 2	EDM 8	San Jose Grand Prix 2	Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver 5	style="background:#FFDF9F;"   Champ Car Grand Prix of Road America Template:Small │3   |   <style = "background : #FFDF9F" >Grand Prix of Montreal Template:Small │3</style>	style = "background : #DFFFDF"  5th	style = "background : #DFFFDF" 238
																									} Champ Car Year Team No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Standing Points Earned 2006 Forsythe Championship Racing 3 LBH HOU MTY MIL POR CLE TOR EDM SJO DEN MTL ROA SRF MXC 9 22nd 13 2007 7 LVG LBH HOU POR CLE MTT TOR EDM SJO ROA ZOL ASN SRF 10 MXC 14 20th 18 IndyCar Series Year Team Chassis No. Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Final Position Total Points

¹ Events conducted on the same day.

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Position	Points
2010	Genoa Racing	STP	ALA	LBH	INDY	IOW	WGL	TOR	EDM	MOH 14	SNM 8	CHI	KTY	HMS	25th	40

Full A1 Grand Prix Results

(key) (Races in bold denote pole position) (Races in italics denote fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	Overall Position	Points Earned
2005–06	Mexico	GBR SPR	GBR FEA	GER SPR 8	GER FEA 13	POR SPR	POR FEA	AUS SPR	AUS FEA	MYS SPR	MYS FEA	UAE SPR	UAE FEA	RSA SPR 10	RSA FEA Ret	IDN SPR	IDN FEA	MEX SPR	MEX FEA	USA SPR	USA FEA	CHN SPR	CHN FEA	10th	59
2007–08		NED SPR	NED FEA	CZE SPR	CZE FEA	MYS SPR	MYS FEA	ZHU SPR	ZHU FEA	NZL SPR	NZL FEA	AUS SPR	AUS FEA	RSA SPR	RSA FEA	MEX SPR	MEX FEA	SHA SPR	SHA FEA	GBR SPR "20"	GBR SPR "16"			16th	22

External links

• Official website of David Martínez
• Performance records at Driver Database