Matteo Zetticci

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Matteo Zetticci
Matteo Zetticci.png
Zetticci at Downton in 2019
Born (2001-11-28) 28 November 2001 (age 22)
Palermo, Sicily, Italy
Nationality 23px-Flag of Italy.svg-1-.png Italian
Formula Virtual World Championship career
2024 team Peugeot Westwood
2024 car number 70
Entries 33 (33 starts)
Championships 0
Wins 6
Podiums 19
Career points 430
Pole positions 4
Fastest laps 4
First entry 2022 Japanese V-Prix
First win 2022 Japanese V-Prix
Latest win 2023 United States V-Prix
Latest entry 2024 Australian V-Prix
2023 position 2nd (248 pts)
Previous series
201921 Virtual World Racing Series
2018 FV3 Series
2017 Virtual Americas Racing Series
Championship titles
2021 Virtual World Racing Series
2018 FV3 Series

Matteo Christijan Stefano Zetticci (born 28 November 2001) is a virtual racing driver with Italian-Dutch nationality. Born in Palermo, he races under the Italian flag and currently competes in Formula Virtual for TotalEnergies Peugeot Team Westwood. He won the FV3 Series Championship in 2018 and the Virtual World Racing Series Championship in 2021.

Zetticci made his Formula Virtual debut in 2022 with Downton, replacing five-time World Champion Nathaniel Powers. His first race was the 2022 Japanese V-Prix, which he duly won after starting fourth on the grid, making him the only driver not racing in the series since it started to win the first ever race he contested.

Personal life

Zetticci was born in Palermo, Sicily to Italian father Stefano and Dutch mother Katelijn, who run a bakery called "Zetticci's" in their home city. He has two sisters; Fleur is three years older and a professional show jumper and Aurora, who is seven years younger. Like most people from Palermo, he is Roman Catholic. In 2017 with his families blessing, Zetticci left Palermo at 15 years old to stay with family friends in St. Petersburg, Florida in the United States to pursue his dream of motor racing.

While in Florida, he met Lucy Miller - the daughter of the family he stayed with - and the two have been in a relationship since. In 2018, he moved home to Palermo to continue his career, but regularly visited Miller in St. Petersburg and vice versa. In late 2019 after turning 18, Zetticci moved to Britain to be closer to the Downton factory after being announced as the teams official reserve driver. He moved into an apartment in Southampton with Miller, who now studies motorsport engineering at Southampton University. The pair became engaged in 2022 prior to the 2022 British V-Prix.

Zetticci is trilingual, being fluent in Italian, Dutch and English.

Early career (2017–2021)

Virtual Americas Racing Series (2017)

Zetticci was handed his motorsport break by Estrella Carreras in VARS in 2017, but in doing so he had to leave his native Italy to live in the United States for a year at just 15 years old - staying with family friends. Zetticci took his opportunity and grasped it with both hands, duly dominating the opening race of the season from pole position, while finishing runner-up in the second to second-year driver Jules Barclay. As the season progressed, an intense but fair battle developed between the duo for the title, the pair showing their class over the rest of the field by winning all sixteen races between them - eight apiece. In the end, Zetticci lost out on the title by one point, having suffered two retirements over the season to his rivals one.

FV3 Series (2018)

Zetticci's success in 2017 saw him scouted by Formula Virtual team Downton, with the deal allowing him to move home to Italy and compete in the FV3 Series in 2018 with Downton's affiliated team Formation Competition. As per the year before, Zetticci dominated the opening race from pole position before picking up a further two wins and additional three podiums in the opening six feature races of the season - culminating in a stunning domination in Slovakia, where he took pole followed by both wins and both fastest laps. A double retirement in Sweden put a minor dent in his championship lead but another double win in Belgium clinched the title, before he rounded off the season with a difficult home feature race to tenth - followed by a dominant sprint race victory.

Virtual World Racing Series (2019–2021)

2019

For 2019, Zetticci remained with Formation Competition but stepped up to VWRS - racing alongside Downton reserve driver Sam Hudson. As in previous years, Zetticci swept the opening race from pole position - to the surprise of many - but struggled in following races against stronger talent than he had previously encountered. Additional podiums in Britain and America were followed by a reverse grid race win in Belgium and interspersed with various points finishes - putting him in championship contention. Second from pole in Abu Dhabi and third in Macau added two more podiums to his tally, but the other four results from the final six races were mechanical retirements, and Zetticci finished fifth overall in the championship but easily took the rookie title and beat his team mate.

2020

Zetticci remained in the same series with the same team for 2020.

Formula Virtual career (2020–present)

Zetticci was picked up by Downton during his 2017 VARS campaign, and was duly added to their junior academy and has been supported by the outfit since.

Downton (2020–2023)

2020

In 2019, it was announced Zetticci would step up from Downton's young driver academy to serve as the teams official reserve driver from 2020 - also opening up the possibility of competing in various official Formula Virtual sessions. Zetticci's first outing in a Formula Virtual car came on day one of pre-season testing, where he duly lapped quickest, before jumping in the car again on the final day and setting the eighth best time.

Zetticci made his first practice outing for the team at the 2020 British V-Prix, where he lapped quicker than team mate Nathaniel Powers and set a time good enough for third fastest. He participated in five further practice sessions during the season, becoming the first reserve driver to top an official Formula Virtual session when he went quickest in Belgium, and marking his first appearance in a Formula Virtual car in front of his home crowd in Italy at the very next race with a fastest session time too.

2021

Zetticci continued on as Downton's reserve driver in 2021, where he participated in eight practice sessions across the season, once again including Italy.

2022

2023

Peugeot Westwood (2024–present)

2024

Helmet

Racing record

Career Summary

Season Series Team Name Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2017 VARS Estrella Carreras 16 8 4 8 12 312 2nd
2018 FV3 Series Formation Competition 18 7 5 10 10 243 1st
2019 VWRS Formation Competition 24 2 2 1 6 170 5th
2020 VWRS Formation Competition 24 2 2 7 10 225.5 4th
Formula Virtual Downton FV Team Reserve driver
2021 VWRS Formation Competition 24 5 5 10 12 302 1st
Formula Virtual Downton FV Team Reserve driver
2022 Formula Virtual Downton FV Team 16 2 2 2 7 167 4th
2023 Formula Virtual Downton FV Team 16 4 2 2 11 248 2nd
2024 Formula Virtual TotalEnergies Peugeot Team Westwood 1 0 0 0 1 15* 3rd*

* Season in progress.

Complete VARS results

(results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Pos. Points
2017 Estrella Carreras BRA
1

1
BRA
2
2
LAG
1

5
LAG
2

1
ARG
1

1
ARG
2
2
ECU
1

1
ECU
2
Ret
CAN
1

1
CAN
2
Ret
MEX
1
1
MEX
2

1
URU
1
5
URU
2

1
BEL
1

2
BEL
2

2
2nd 312

Complete FV3 Series results

(results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos. Points
2018 Formation Competition GBR
FEA

1
GBR
SPR

8
FRA
FEA

2
FRA
SPR
Ret
ESP
FEA
2
ESP
SPR
7
AUT
FEA

1
AUT
SPR

7
GER
FEA
3
GER
SPR

4
SVK
FEA

1
SVK
SPR

1
SWE
FEA

Ret
SWE
SPR
Ret
BEL
FEA

1
BEL
SPR

1
ITA
FEA

10
ITA
SPR

1
1st 243

Complete VWRS results

(results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Pos. Points
2019 Formation Competition AUS
1

1
AUS
2
18
AUS
3
15
FRA
1
9
FRA
2
4
FRA
3
14
GBR
1
3
GBR
2
5
GBR
3
8
BRA
1
11
BRA
2
9
BRA
3
Ret
USA
1
5
USA
2
2
USA
3
15
BEL
1
4
BEL
2

14
BEL
3
1
UAE
1
Ret
UAE
2

2
UAE
3
Ret
MAC
1
3
MAC
2
Ret
MAC
3
Ret
5th 170
2020 Formation Competition AUS
1

2
AUS
2

11
AUS
3
10
FRA
1
4
FRA
2
2
FRA
3
3
GBR
1

10
GBR
2
Ret
GBR
3

10
BRA
1
3
BRA
2

1
BRA
3
Ret
USA
1
7
USA
2
5
USA
3

3
BEL
1

2
BEL
2
Ret
BEL
3
10
UAE
1
8
UAE
2
Ret
UAE
3

6
MAC
1
3
MAC
2
8
MAC
3
3
4th 225.5
2020 Formation Competition AUS
1
3
AUS
2
Ret
AUS
3
Ret
FRA
1

1
FRA
2

Ret
FRA
3

4
GBR
1

1
GBR
2
2
GBR
3

4
BRA
1

3
BRA
2

2
BRA
3
5
USA
1

1
USA
2
2
USA
3
Ret
BEL
1

1
BEL
2

2
BEL
3
9
UAE
1
Ret
UAE
2
Ret
UAE
3

9
MAC
1

1
MAC
2
2
MAC
3
5
1st 302

1 Zetticci and Jules Barclay set identical fastest lap times and were awarded half a point each.

Complete Formula Virtual results

(results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points
2020 Downton FV Team Downton BD08 Downton MCL-2020 JPN
MAL
AUS
RSA
GBR
TD
FRA
ESP
TD
GER
TD
USA
CAN
BHR
TUR
TD
BEL
TD
ITA
TD
MEX
BRA
- -
2021 Downton FV Team Downton BD09 Downton MCL-2021 JPN
MAL
AUS
RSA
GBR
TD
FRA
TD
ESP
TD
GER
TD
UAE
TUR
TD
BEL
TD
ITA
TD
CAN
TD
USA
MEX
BRA
- -
2022 Downton FV Team Downton BD10 Downton MCL-2022 JPN
1
AUS
7
MAL
21
RSA
3
FRA
3
GBR
9
GER
6
CZE
19
TUR
6
UAE
1
BEL
3
ITA
Ret
CAN
Ret
USA
2
BRA
2
MEX
4
4th 167
2023 Downton FV Team Downton BD11 Downton MCL-2023 AUS
3
MAL
3
JPN
3
RSA
1
UAE
2
FRA
1
GBR
2
GER
5
BEL
2
ITA
1
TUR
9
CAN
3
USA
1
MEX
4
ARG
Ret
BRA
5
2nd 248
2024 TotalEnergies Peugeot Team Westwood Peugeot 9V8-02 Peugeot PSE9X24 AUS
3
MAL
SIN
JPN
FRA
GBR
GER
NED
BEL
ITA
KWT
CAN
USA
MEX
ARG
BRA
3rd* 15*

* Season in progress.