Former Team Penske IndyCar driver arrested in Brazil

Former Team Penske driver in IndyCar, Tarso Marques, was arrested in Brazil in the early hours of Sunday, August 31. He was stopped by the police while driving a Lamborghini Gallardo without any license plates, which prompted the cops to halt him in the first place.

Marques is a former F1 and IndyCar driver. He is known for his lavish lifestyle in Brazil, owing to his massive car collection, but one of his cars, the Lamborghini Gallardo, had accumulated a debt of 1.3 million Brazilian reais (above $235,000), leading to his arrest by the police.

The 49-year-old was an F1 driver before his IndyCar venture. He drove for Minardi in 1996 and 1997, before his return to Europe in 2001, where he was paired alongside future two-time F1 world champion, Fernando Alonso. Marques had the upper hand in the intra-team rivalry owing to his two ninth-place finishes, which helped him finish the year ahead of the Spaniard.

Meanwhile, his IndyCar attempt had multiple chapters, which started with Team Penske in 1999, where he did six races with the squad, with a solitary top-10 finish in his home race in Brazil.

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Tarso Marques once revealed the reason behind his torrid debut year with Team Penske in IndyCar

Team Penske - Source: Getty

Tarso Marques raced for two teams in the premier class of open-wheel racing in the United States. His first jibe at the sport came with the heavyweights, Team Penske, while Dale Coyne Racing fielded him for a few runs in the early 2000s.

He first subbed in for Al Unser Jr. after he suffered injuries in his lower limbs in a crash at the season opener in Miami. Subsequently, the Brazilian then came in on a rotational basis with the other drivers for four more starts.

Reflecting on his time with Team Penske in 1999, he told Autosport in 2001:

"In 1998 I didn't race, and in '99 I did six races for Penske. It was very hard. Penske was a great team, but it was a bad year. The car wasn't good, the tyres at that time weren't good, and the engine was probably the worst one at that time. So the whole package wasn't good. But I think they did a good job for me, because the team was based for one car. I was supposed to do only two races, but I did six. We took some more mechanics, but we didn't have enough equipment to do two cars, so they did a good job."

"It was a pleasure, but at the same time it was a bit frustrating... We had a few good races, but not as good as it should have been at Penske's normal level, when they're at their top performance. So it was hard."

On the other hand, Marques' lawyer has not made any statement about the 49-year-old's detention.