Raphael Matos News

A third-place finish in the Desafio Internacional das Estrelas, an invitational charity karting event over the weekend in Florianopolis, Brazil, sat well with Vitor Meira.

Sao Paulo, Brazil will host first IZOD IndyCar Series race of 2010 season The city of Sao Paulo -- the world's fourth largest at nearly 18 million people, according to worldatlas.com -- will stage the opening round of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season.

The Indy Racing League will open its 2010 season on the streets of Sao Paulo, the first time the IndyCar series has held a race in Brazil.

Now this is using the big guns. Shaquille O'Neal gave a shout out via Twitter this past weekend to "Vote for my man, driver Raphael Matos, for Autosport Rookie of the Year." Shaq has more than 2.6 Twitter followers.

IndyCar Series driver Raphael Matos is one of 10 drivers nominated by Autosport Magazine for Autosport Rookie of the Year.

What: SpeedJam Championship Weekend 2009. When: Friday and Saturday . Tickets: www.homesteadmiamispeedway.com. BY LINDA ROBERTSON lrobertson@MiamiHerald.com It would be difficult to quantify how many miles Raphael Matos has logged in his journey from anonymous go-kart mechanic to rising IndyCar star, but for a couple of years it was exactly 24 ...

Speed junkies may want to call in sick Wednesday when the Homestead-Miami Speedway invites you to watch Danica Patrick, Tony Kanaan, Raphael Matos, Mario Moraes, Sarah Fisher and Alex Lloyd test drive in advance of the Oct.

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Daniel Herrington won the Indy Lights Race, while J.R. Hildebrand claimed the series championship with a fifth-place showing on Saturday.

Question: They penalized Marco four spots for avoidable contact? Would this have happened if it had been a non-championship contender? No.

Question: They penalized Marco four spots for avoidable contact? Would this have happened if it had been a non-championship contender? No.

Brazil's newest sports star hasn't shown off his dancing moves yet, but Raphael Matos is starting to win over IndyCar Series fans with his moves on the race track.

AP Photo/Ed Reinke IndyCar Series driver Raphael Matos of Brazil looks on as workers try to dry water seeping up through the track at the Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky., Friday, July 31, 2009.

Indy Racing League officials announced Friday the series will conduct races for the first time next year in Brazil and Birmingham, Ala.

Team Penske drivers Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe were 1-2 on the time chart after the first day of practice for the Rexall Edmonton Indy.

Scott Dixon remembers when he was 13 years old, staying up until 3 a.m. at a friend's house in New Zealand to watch his racing hero Ayrton Senna the day Senna speared the wall at Imola in Italy and died.

RETURN TO EDMONTON Raphael Matos likes Edmonton a lot. He enjoys the city, likes the restaurants and is especially fond of City Centre Raceway.

Team Penske dominated practice day Friday for Sunday's Rexall Edmonton Indy race.

He's still got the cheque. It's up on his wall. To some, Raphael Matos is the racer that turned down $2 million.

Yesterday, Helio Castroneves was in Brazil enjoying a personal audience with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.