Jesús Plaza

Jesús Plaza (born 22 November 1985 in Mexico City) is a Mexican racing driver. He currently drives for American Racing Conglomerate in the Formula 1 Rejects World Racing Series. Plaza collected ARC's first podium at the 2013 British Grand Prix and has been retained by ARC for the 2014 F1RWRS season

Racing career

Career in Lower Formulae

Jesús Plaza's first taste of racing came while on a trip to the United States where he first rode in a go-kart. He persuaded his parents to finance his rise through the racing ranks. After a distinguished karting career, he then went to the U.S. where he competed in Formula BMW USA. He finished second in the championship in 2003 but he then took a step backwards to Formula Ford. After handily winning the 2004 Formula Ford USA championship, he moved up to F3 Euroseries where he finished a stellar fourth in the championship at the tender age of 19. 2005 was a disappointing year for Plaza as his career stalled. He made a one-off appearance in A1GP (racing against his future teammate, Collin Pratchett) but only finished thirteenth in F3. Plaza then joined GP2 in 2006 and became one of the series' stalwarts. After a four-year stint in GP2 (where he won six races), Plaza finally got his big break and became a test driver for HRT in 2010. Plaza remained as test driver until the end of 2011. He then joined Trueba Racing Team as a reserve driver, but the cash-strapped team did not utilize his services. Finally, Plaza got his big break, at the age of 28, joining American Racing Conglomerate as their second driver.

F1RWRS - American Racing Conglomerate

Plaza's debut in the F1RWRS 2013 Tasman Grand Prix for ARC was surprising. The untested rookie had to battle through pre-qualifying but he passed the test, taking the second fastest time in the session. Plaza then proceeded to qualify in sixth place for the race. Although he retired later on, Plaza's performance drew several glances from the other teams. Plaza qualified again in Australia but failed to qualify for his home race in Mexico. Plaza qualified in Dallas for the United States Grand Prix but DNPQ'd in Monaco. However, things began to turn around at the British Grand Prix where Plaza qualified seventh, then drove a consistent race and ended up in second place. It was his and his team's first ever podium and Plaza celebrated heartily.

Although Plaza missed the qualifying cut again in the German Grand Prix, it would be the last time that ARC would face pre-qualifying as Plaza's second place lifted them from the pre-qualifying teams. Plaza's podium revitalized his season and he would take two more points finishes and finish 13th in the championship. Plaza continued to impress by finishing a spectacular second to Jack Christopherson in the 2013 F1RWRS Indianapolis 500. With teammate Pratchett finishing fifth, ARC capped of their season with a bang and confirmed both drivers for next season.

Complete F1RWRS/ARWS Results

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	DC	Pts
2013	American Racing Conglomerate	ARC 1-13	Ford HB IV	TAS Ret	AUS Ret	MEX DNPQ	USA Ret	MON DNPQ	FRA Ret	GBR 2	GER DNPQ	NED 8†	BEL Ret	POR 8	MED 4	MAC Ret	CHN Ret	JPN 6	BRA 11			=13th	10
2014	American Racing Conglomerate	ARC 1-14	Ford HB IV	TAS Ret	AUS 6	BRA Ret	MEX Ret	USA Ret	MON Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	MED Ret	NED 12	MAC Ret	CHN Ret	JPN Ret			=24th	1
2016	Alstom Equipe Gauthier	Gauthier G1.16	Pure-Hart PHRWRS-1	AUS DNPQ	NSW DNPQ	GBR 9	ITA DNPQ	AUT 8	CAN Ret	SUS Ret	NUS Ret	GER Ret	NSE 13	MON Ret	BEL Ret	MEX	ARG	CHN	JPN			28th	0
2017	Team Mecha Racing	Mecha FM-17	Pure-Hart PHRWRS-1-17	AUS DNPQ	NSW Ret	GBR DNPQ	ITA Ret	AUT DNPQ	CAN DNPQ	SUS Ret	NUS Ret	GER Ret	NSE Ret	BEL DNPQ	MON DNPQ	MOR Ret	ARG Ret	JPN Ret	CHN Ret			39th	0
2018	Team Mecha Racing	Mecha FM-18	Pure-Hart PHWS-2	AUS	NSW	ITA	MAR	CAL	USA 14	CAN 10	GBR DNPQ	AUT Ret	GER Ret	SCA Ret	BEL Ret	MON 10	RSA DNPQ	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	JPN 10	CHN 7	27th	0
2019	Rob Lomas Racing	Lomas RLR-P03	Great Wall GW19	AUS DNPQ	NSW DNPQ	KIN 5	ITA Ret	MAR EX	CAN DNPQ	USA 9†	GBR DNQ	AUT 10	GER 11	SCA 8†	BEL Ret	MON DNS	RSA Ret	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	JPN Ret	CHN Ret	20th	2

• * Denotes a season currently in progress.
• † Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.