Filipe Albuquerque

Career

Albuquerque began karting in 1993, describing it as a joke that quickly became more serious. He noted the difficulty of getting sponsorship, saying without Red Bull he would probably be at home studying. He won two national karting titles before moving up to Spanish Formula Three with Red Bull's help. Later, after a driver was fired from Red Bull, Albuquerque was told he would do the Renault 2.0-litre race in Zolder.

He was the fastest driver for the team during that race, became the permanent replacement, and was also called into the Formula Renault German series. He finished sixth in Spanish Formula Three, fifth in the Formula Renault Eurocup, and third in Formula Renault Germany, being the highest-positioned rookie in all three championships. In 2006 he raced in both the Formula Renault Eurocup and the North European Formula Renault championship, winning the Drivers' title in both series.

For 2007 he entered the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with Epsilon Euskadi, finishing fourth in the drivers' championship, and was chosen as a replacement for Ernesto Viso at the Silverstone round of GP2 Series after Viso's accident at Magny-Cours. He remained in Formula Renault 3.5 for 2008 but only competed in four races, focusing on the A1 Grand Prix series. He made his A1 GP debut in the 2007–08 season, replacing João Urbano at A1 Team Portugal mid-season.

He finished every race he started in the points, including three podium finishes, and the team finished eleventh. He returned for the 2008–09 season as the team's sole driver, finishing third overall after taking Portugal's first series win in China. He was retained for the 2009–10 season, but the series ran into financial trouble and the new season was cancelled before it began. With his single-seater prospects looking bleak, he moved to Italian GT racing when it became apparent the A1 GP series had died.

He moved to the Italian GT3 Championship for part of 2009, driving an Audi R8 LMS, and also made an appearance at one race meeting for the 2009 Superstars Series, finishing second in both races in an Audi RS4. For 2010 he competed full-time in the Italian GT3 Championship, finishing as joint-runner up with co-driver Marco Bonanomi. He also made another Superstars guest appearance for Audi, winning one race at his home event at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve.

In 2010 he competed in the Race of Champions at Düsseldorf, partnered with Álvaro Parente in the Cup of Nations where they were knocked out in the group stage, but in the individual Champion of Champions he scored a surprise victory, defeating Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel in the semi-final and multiple World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb in the final. In 2011 he competed in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, driving a 2008-spec Audi A4, and also entered the Blancpain Endurance Series in an Audi R8 entered by WRT, finishing second overall.

In 2013 he made his debut in the 24 Hours of Daytona driving an Audi R8 Grand-Am for Alex Job Racing in the GT class, winning the class as part of an Audi 1–2 finish. In 2014 he was no longer racing in DTM, instead racing in the European Le Mans Series in LMP2 and finishing as runner-up in the drivers' standings, and was part of Audi's official team for the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans. He nearly won the 2017 24 Hours of Daytona, leading the final stages before contact with Ricky Taylor caused him to spin out with seven minutes to go; he ran down Taylor on the last lap but was unable to pass, losing by 0.671 seconds.