Andre Ribeiro, Honda’s first Indy car race winner and a three-time winner in CART in the 1990s, died May 22 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, following a bout with cancer.
Ribeiro was 55.
After a race-winning career in his native Brazil and later Europe, Andre Ribeiro da Cunha came to North America with Tasman Motorsports to compete in the 1994 Indy Lights Championship, winning four times and finishing runner-up in the drivers’ championship.
Devastating news,RIP Andre, gone way too soon
Former Indycar star Andre Ribeiro dies of cancer aged 55 https://t.co/GGiT0lq7eu via @motorsport
Tasman and Rebeiro moved up to Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) competition in 1995 where, as a rookie, Ribeiro notched Honda’s first Indy car victory on August 20, winning from the pole in his Tasman Motorsports Reynard Honda.
Two more wins, one in his native Brazil at Rio de Janeiro and the other at Michigan International Speedway, followed in 1996. Ribeiro raced three years for Tasman and race in 1998 for Roger Penske’s Team Penske.
Ribeiro retired from IndyCar following the 1998 season went on to run a network of automobile dealearships in his native Brazil in partnership with racing team owner Roger Penske. Ribeiro is one of 18 drivers to win Indy-car races for Penkse.
Statement on the passing of Andre Ribeiro. pic.twitter.com/tjq9uvuMVU
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