RACING DRIVERS from Colombia

Top 5

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Colombian Racing Drivers of all time. This list of famous Colombian Racing Drivers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Juan Pablo Montoya (b. 1975)

With an HPI of 53.09, Juan Pablo Montoya is the most famous Colombian Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 49 different languages on wikipedia.

Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxwam ˈpaβlo monˈtoʝa rolˈdan]; born 20 September 1975) is a Colombian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 2001 to 2006, IndyCar between 1999 and 2022, and the NASCAR Cup Series between 2006 and 2024. Montoya won seven Formula One Grands Prix across six seasons. In American open-wheel racing, Montoya won the CART Championship Series in 1999 with CGR and is a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. In endurance racing, Montoya won the IMSA SportsCar Championship in 2019 with Penske and is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona with CGR. Montoya began karting at the age of five, progressing to car racing in Colombia and Mexico at age 17, finishing runner-up in the Copa Formula Renault and winning the Nationale Tournement Swift GTI Championship. He also competed in the Barber Saab Pro Series, the Formula Vauxhall Lotus Championship and the British Formula 3 Championship. In 1997 and 1998, Montoya raced in the International Formula 3000 for RSM Marko and then Super Nova Racing, winning seven races and the 1998 Drivers' Championship. He debuted in CART in 1999 with Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR), winning the series championship as a rookie in 1999. During the 2000 CART season, Montoya's car suffered from unreliability, but still won three races for ninth in the Drivers' Championship. That year also saw him win the Indianapolis 500 (in the rival Indy Racing League (IRL)) in his first attempt. He first drove in Formula One with the Williams team in the 2001 season and won his first race in that year's Italian Grand Prix. Montoya qualified on pole position seven times in the 2002 championship and won two races in the 2003 season that put him third in the World Drivers' Championship in both years. He fell to fifth in the 2004 World Drivers' Championship but won the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix. At the start of the 2005 season, Montoya moved to McLaren and finished fourth with three victories. Montoya left F1 in the 2006 season, after that year's United States Grand Prix and began competing in NASCAR for CGR in late 2006. During his seven-year NASCAR career, Montoya won the 2007 Telcel-Motorola Mexico 200, the 2007 Toyota/Save Mart 350 and the 2010 Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen. He qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2009 and finished a career-high eighth in that season's points standings. Montoya would later make one-off NASCAR appearances, twice in 2014 for Penske and once in 2024 for 23XI Racing. For the 2014 season, Montoya moved to the IndyCar Series with Penske, winning once. In 2015 he won two races (including the Indianapolis 500) and finished second in the championship to Scott Dixon. His final series victory came in 2016. He made his IMSA debut for Penske at the 2017 Petit Le Mans, competing full-time from 2018 to 2020. Paired with Dane Cameron, Montoya won the IMSA championship in the Prototype class in 2019. Montoya has also won the 6 Hours of Bogotá three times as well as the individual event of the Race of Champions in 2017.

2. Ricardo Londoño (1949 - 2009)

With an HPI of 45.95, Ricardo Londoño is the 2nd most famous Colombian Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Ricardo Londoño-Bridge (8 August 1949 – 18 July 2009) was a racing driver from Colombia. He had an unremarkable international career apart from his one attempt at Formula One in the 1981 Brazilian Grand Prix with Ensign. Londoño was the first racing driver from Colombia to participate in a Formula One race weekend. Born in Medellín, he raced in stock car and motorcycle speed championships until the 1970s and claimed many victories. Londoño left for the United States in 1979 and took part in IMSA GT Championship races. The following year, he placed seventh overall in the 24 Hours of Daytona and twelfth in the Can-Am standings. Londoño received support from coffee growing and drug trafficking and this enabled him to compete in the season-closing British Formula One Championship at Silverstone where he finished seventh. Despite his inexperience, he was selected by Ensign to compete in the 1981 Brazilian Grand Prix, mainly for financial purposes. Londoño took part in the Grand Prix's acclimatisation session and recorded fast lap times before hitting Keke Rosberg and was thus not granted a super licence by the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile. He was therefore dismissed from the Ensign team. Londoño's illegal support enabled him to race in three Formula Two events in 1981 with the Docking-Spitzey Team-Toleman and took a best result of ninth at the Pau Grand Prix. Despite the arrest of several of his sponsors which prevented him from participating in the 1982 Can-Am season, he continued to drive in the IMSA GT Championship until 1986 when he withdrew from motor racing. Londoño subsequently returned to Colombia and carried out illegal activities related to drug trafficking. A majority of his property was seized by the Colombian courts in December 2000 and he was murdered nine years later.

3. Roberto Guerrero (b. 1958)

With an HPI of 42.82, Roberto Guerrero is the 3rd most famous Colombian Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Roberto José Guerrero Isaza (born 16 November 1958) is a Colombian-American former race driver. He participated in 29 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 23 January 1982, becoming the first Colombian to start a Formula One Grand Prix. With no championship points in Formula One and no prospects to drive for a competitive team, Guerrero left at the end of the 1983 season to race in the United States. He had an auspicious beginning to his Indycar racing career, winning both CART and Indianapolis 500 rookie of the year honors in 1984. His initial promise was never completely fulfilled, winning only two CART races, both in 1987. Later the same year he had a massive accident which left him in a coma for 17 days. Of special note were Guerrero's participations in the Indianapolis 500. He came very close to winning outright on two occasions, but bad luck always kept the victory out of his grasp. In 1992 he spun off on the pace lap after having qualified on the pole position. Guerrero finished runner up twice, in the top-five five times, and held the qualifying speed record from 1992 through 1996. Guerrero was also selected to participate in the 1988 International Race of Champions. Guerrero became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1989. He and his wife have three children and reside in San Juan Capistrano in Orange County, California. In recent years Guerrero has returned to racing, but of a different venue. He began off-road racing at the legendary Baja 2000. He has since continued to race in Baja 1000 events and guide tours of the Baja Peninsula with Wide Open Baja.

4. Tatiana Calderón (b. 1993)

With an HPI of 34.47, Tatiana Calderón is the 4th most famous Colombian Racing Driver.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Tatiana Calderón Noguera (born 10 March 1993) is a Colombian racing driver currently competing in the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship driving for Gradient Racing. Calderón previously drove for the Drago Corse with ThreeBond squad in the Super Formula Championship and for Richard Mille Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Born into a family of car dealers, Calderón began racing go-karts at the age of nine, and was the first woman to win national karting championships in either Colombia or the United States. She progressed to car racing at the age of 17 in the Star Mazda Championship, taking two podiums in the 2011 season, a race victory in the 2014 Florida Winter Series, and was runner-up in the 2015–16 MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship. Calderón was the first woman to stand on the podium in the British Formula 3 International Series and the first to lead a lap in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. From 2016 to 2018, she competed in the GP3 Series and later the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship. Calderón was employed by the Sauber Formula One team (later Alfa Romeo Racing) as a development and test driver from 2018 to 2021.

5. Yonny Hernández (b. 1988)

With an HPI of 30.69, Yonny Hernández is the 5th most famous Colombian Racing Driver.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Yonny Hernández Vega (born 25 July 1988) is a Colombian motorcycle racer. He is the older brother of Santiago Hernández.