Personal career A mechanical engineer
graduate with an
MBA from
INSEAD, Amaral was the former majority owner of the
Media Capital group, a conglomerate that owns the
TVI TV channel and several radio stations, including
Rádio Comercial and
Rádio Clube Português in Portugal. He sold a majority stake in the group to
PRISA in 2005. His current business interests are concentrated in Quifel Group, via 3 sub-holdings: a) Quifel Natural Resources; b) AHS Investimentos; c) Partgris. Through these investment vehicles, Miguel Pais do Amaral has relevant stakes in companies such as Norwind, Campo Largo Patrimonial, Novabase, Casa da Anadia and others. The majority of his investments are concentrated in Portugal and Brazil, in renewable energy and property markets.
Racing career He began racing in the
Portuguese Cross-Country Rally Championship, as well as in the
Portuguese Classic Touring Car Championship. In 2001, he teamed up with
Pedro Couceiro to drive in the
Spanish GT Championship before the two joined
ASM Team. Later, he teamed up with
Miguel de Castro driving a
Porsche 997 GT3 RSR and in 2009 he won the
Trofeu Iberico de GT. In
2006. Amaral purchased a
Lola B05/40 Le Mans prototype, formerly run by
Chamberlain-Synergy Motorsports in the
Le Mans Series. After one win under the Chamberlain name, the team scored two more victories as ASM, but this prevented Amaral and his co-drivers Miguel Angel de Castro and
Angel Burgueño from winning their class. Amaral and ASM Team continued to run their Lola in the Le Mans Series in
2007 and
2008. In
2009, Amaral and
Olivier Pla raced a
Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S/2 and won the
LMP2 championship. ==24 Hours of Le Mans results==