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Piercarlo Ghinzani | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Ghinzani driving theToleman TG185 during the1985 European Grand Prix | |
| Born | (1952-01-16)16 January 1952 (age 73) Riviera d'Adda,Lombardy, Italy |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  Italian |
| Active years | 1981,1983–1989 |
| Teams | Osella,Toleman,Ligier,Zakspeed |
| Entries | 111 (74 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Careerpoints | 2 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 1981 Belgian Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1989 Australian Grand Prix |
Piercarlo Ghinzani (born 16 January 1952) is an Italian formerracing driver andmotorsport executive, who competed inFormula One from1981 to1989.
Ghinzani participated in 111Formula One Grands Prix forOsella,Toleman,Ligier andZakspeed, debuting at the1981 Belgian Grand Prix. He scored his only points finish at the1984 Dallas Grand Prix with Osella, where he finished fifth. Ghinzani entered four editions of the24 Hours of Le Mans from1980 to1983 withLancia, but retired with mechanical faults in each.
Upon retiring from motor racing, Ghinzani founded theeponymous racing teamTeam Ghinzani in 1992, which has since competed inA1 Grand Prix asA1 Team Italy from2005 to2009, as well as in several national and continentalFormula Three championships.
Ghinzani started his racing career inFormula Ford. He then graduated toFormula Three, racing with the Allegrini Team. In 1976 he switched toTeam Euroracing, and won theEuropean Championship in 1977, givingMarch, who was supplying the chassis, its first European Formula Three title.[1] In 1979 he won theItalian Championship.[2] He also had a one-off inFormula 2 in 1978, finishing fourth atPergusa on a March-BMW, and in 1979 tried to qualify theDywa at theMonza round of the1980 British Formula One Championship.[3]
Ghinzani debuted inFormula One on 17 May at the1981 Belgian Grand Prix atZolder, whenEnzo Osella asked him to replace the injuredMiguel Angel Guerra. In1983 Ghinzani was invited to test forTyrrell. Despite lapping faster thanMichele Alboreto,Danny Sullivan,Chico Serra andStefan Johansson,Ken Tyrrell deciced to retain Alboreto and Sullivan, and Ghinzani signed with Osella for his first full Formula One season. Despite achieving no points finishes, Ghinzani stayed with the team for1984. After qualifying 20th for the second race of the season atKyalami inSouth Africa, he crashed in the morning warm-up at high speed through the Jukskei Sweep. His Osella hit the wall and with almost a full fuel load of 220 litres, went up in flames and he suffered burns to his hands and face that kept him out of the race. He recovered to score his first and only career points when he finished fifth at the1984 Dallas Grand Prix in a race marked by high attrition, crumbling tarmac and oppressive heat.
After beginning1985 with Osella, halfway through the season Ghinzani was hired by theToleman team to partner fellow ItalianTeo Fabi. Although thecar at times displayed flashes of competitiveness (Fabi managed to qualify on pole inGermany), it was marred by unreliability problems, and both drivers were forced to retire for the rest of the season. In1986 he returned to Osella, but his second stint with the team, which was running a turbochargedAlfa RomeoV8 engine, was unsuccessful.
For1987 Ghinzani was contracted to theLigier team, alongside former Grand Prix winnerRené Arnoux. The team planned to run the new turbocharged4 cylinder Alfa Romeo engines, but those plans were scuppered by Arnoux's scathing pre-season comments that likened the engine to dog food, leading Alfa's parent companyFiat to pull the plug on the engine project. This forced the team to hastily adapt theircars to fitMegatron engines. (The Megatron was actually theBMW engine used byBrabham and previously byArrows andBenetton before BMW retired from the sport). However, while both the Alfa and Megatron were 4-cylinder engines, their respective plumbing was completely different, forcing the team to miss the opening race of the season inBrazil while the rear suspension was re-designed to fit the new engine. Ghinzani occasionally ran in the points for Ligier, notably inGermany, before being forced to retire. During qualifying for theBritish Grand Prix, Ghinzani's Ligier ran out of fuel in front of the pits. His mechanics jumped the pit wall, refuelled him on the track and then push-started him, a clear violation of the rules leading to Ghinzani's exclusion from the remainder of the event. Before the incident, the Italian had set a time which would have put him 19th on the grid.
In1988 Ghinzani drove for the GermanZakspeed team, which ran its own 4 cylinder turbo engine, though generally without success. His best finish for the year was 14th in theGerman Grand Prix at a wetHockenheim. Despite being one of the few teams to use turbo powered engines in 1988, Ghinzani and his teammate, young GermanBernd Schneider, struggled to qualify for races and were often slower than theatmospheric cars.
Ghinzani's final Formula One season was1989, where he once again raced with Osella as teammate to young Italian driverNicola Larini. Ghinzani announced his decision to retire from Grand Prix racing before official practice of the final race of the 1989 season inAustralia. He had qualified 21st, but his race ended when his Osella was hit from behind by theLotus of triple World ChampionNelson Piquet on lap 19.
Ghinzani holds the record for the most Formula One appearances without qualifying in the top ten.[4]
In 1982 Ghinzani drove for theLanciaSports car racing team, winning aGroup C World Championship event with Michele Alboreto atMugello in 1982. He competed at the24 Hours of Le Mans four times between 1980 and 1983 but failed to finish on all occasions.
In 1992 Ghinzani foundedTeam Ghinzani. The team Ghinzani have raced in Italian, German and Formula 3 Euro Series since 2000 and also entered Italian Formula 3000/Euro Formula 3000 between 1999 and 2002. Since 2005–06 season, the outfit has managed A1 Team Italy in collaboration with Arco Motorsport, in the A1 Grand Prix series.
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Lancia Corse | Gianfranco Brancatelli Markku Alén | Lancia Beta Monte Carlo | Gr.5 | 26 | DNF | DNF |
| 1981 | Martini Racing | Riccardo Patrese Hans Heyer | Lancia Beta Monte Carlo | Gr.5 | 186 | DNF | DNF |
| 1982 | Martini Racing | Riccardo PatreseHans Heyer | Lancia LC1 | Gr.6 | 152 | DNF | DNF |
| 1983 | MartiniLancia | Michele AlboretoHans Heyer | Lancia LC2 | C | 121 | DNF | DNF |
(key)
† Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | European Formula Three Champion 1977 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Italian Formula Three Champion 1979 | Succeeded by |
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