| Gonzalo Rodríguez | |
| Birth Name: | Gonzalo Rodríguez Bongoll |
| Birth Date: | 22 January 1971 |
| Birth Place: | Montevideo, Uruguay |
| Death Place: | Laguna Seca Raceway, Monterey County, California, U.S. |
| Last Series: | CART Championship Car |
| Years Active: | 1999 |
| Teams: | Penske Racing |
| Starts: | 1 |
| Wins: | 0 |
| Poles: | 0 |
Gonzalo "Gonchi" Rodríguez Bongoll (January 22, 1971 – September 11, 1999)[1] was a Uruguayan racing driver. He was killed in a crash at Laguna Seca Raceway during practice for a CART race which would have been his second start in the series.
He showed promise in Formula 3000 for three seasons, taking two wins in 1998 at Spa-Francorchamps and Nürburgring, winning the following season in Monaco and finishing third in both championships. Following a rotation of drivers as team mates to Al Unser Jr. in CART Penske Racing's second car, he was given his opportunity at the Detroit Grand Prix in 1999 and scored a point in his only race.
At the Laguna Seca Raceway during a practice session for his second CART race, he was fatally injured in a crash. A stuck throttle was initially thought to be the cause for his car overshooting the braking point, leaving the track, striking a tire barrier and slamming into a concrete wall behind the barrier at the entry of the Corkscrew corner. Review of the in-car telemetry refuted this supposition.[2] The impact caused his car to flip over the barrier and land upside down on the other side of the wall. Rodríguez was killed instantly by a basilar skull fracture caused by the impact with the wall, which was lined by only a thin layer of tires. Because of the incident, an additional tire wall was installed at the end of the straight.[3]
Rodríguez had a contract in place to compete in the 2000 CART championship with Patrick Racing, and there were rumours that Minardi could hire him for the 2001 Formula One season.
In 2014, a Spanish-language documentary of his life, Gonchi, was released.[4]
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | DC | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | nowrap | Redman & Bright F3000 | SIL | PAU | HEL | NÜR | PER | HOC | A1R | SPA | MUG | JER | 22nd | 0.5 | ||
| 1998 | nowrap | Team Astromega | OSC | IMO | CAT | SIL | MON | PAU | A1R | HOC | HUN | SPA | PER | NÜR | 3rd | 33 |
| 1999 | nowrap | Team Astromega | IMO | MON | CAT | MAG | SIL | A1R | HOC | HUN | SPA | NÜR | 3rd | 27 | ||
(key)