Loading AI tools
Italian racing driver (born 1962) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Emanuele Pirro (born 12 January 1962) is an Italian racing driver who has raced in Formula One, touring cars and in endurance races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which he has won a total of five times. Two times Italian Karting Champion (1976, 1979), Formula Fiat Abarth Champion (1980), two times Italian Touring Car Champion (1994, 1995), two times Italian Overall Champion (1995, 1996) and German Touring Car Champion (1996), he also achieved records in endurance racing that place him amongst the best in the discipline, including; five wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007), two times ALMS Champion (2001, 2005), two times winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring (2000, 2007), three times winner of Petit Le Mans (2001, 2005, 2008), winner of the 24 Hours Nürburgring (1989), two times winner of the Macau Guia Race (1991, 1992) and two times winner of the Goodwood RAC Historic TT. He has taken part in over 500 official national and international races.
Pirro in 2012 | |
| Born | 12 January 1962 Rome, Italy |
|---|---|
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  Italian |
| Active years | 1989–1991 |
| Teams | Benetton, Scuderia Italia |
| Entries | 40 (37 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Career points | 3 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 1989 French Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1991 Australian Grand Prix |
He was born in Rome; however, he traces his roots to the small town of Latera near Viterbo through his mother's family. He is married to Marlene, with whom he has two sons, Cristoforo, born in 1993 (Mechanical Engineer, currently Performance Engineer in F1) and Goffredo, born in 1996 (Automotive Engineer specialised in Motorsport). He enjoys cooking in his free time.
He began racing cars in 1980 after having raced seven years in go-karts, where he was two time Italian Champion and runner up in both the European and the World Karting Championships. He went on to win races in all the feeder series he competed in including F3, F3000 and Formula Nippon.
In 1988 he was contracted by McLaren to become test driver to develop the new Honda powertrain for the MP4/4, staying on in that role for the following 3 seasons.
His racing career in F1 started at the 1989 French Grand Prix for the Benetton-Ford team, replacing Johnny Herbert who was still recovering from injuries sustained in a F3000 accident. For the 1990 and 1991 seasons, he raced for BMS Scuderia Italia.
Together with his single seater commitments he raced as a factory driver for BMW in touring car racing up until 1993. He raced and won in ETCC, WTCC, Italian Supertouring and DTM. In DTM he became one of the only drivers to win in his debut in the series. Notably, he won the 24 Hours Nürburgring, the Macau Guia Race twice, and the Wellington 500 four times, with the legendary BMW M3 E30 and team Schnitzer. After leaving BMW in 1993 he joined Audi to win the 1994 and 1995 Italian Touring Car Championships followed by the German Touring Car Championship in 1996. Between the years of 1994 and 1996 racing in the Italian and German Supertouring championships, he contested a total of 70 races finishing only once outside of the top 10 after being taken out at the start in 1994 at the Salzburgring.
After his debut in endurance races at the young age of 19 winning in his class with the Lancia Beta Montecarlo Gr.5 at the 24 Hours of Daytona, winning the Kyalami 9 Hours and a terrible experience at Le Mans the same year, he scarcely participated in these races except sporadic appearances in Japan, first with a Nissan Gr.C at the Fuji 1000 km and with a Porsche 962 Gr.C at the Suzuka 1000 km. That is until his return to Le Mans in 1998 with a McLaren F1 alongside Dindo Capello and Thomas Bscher ending with a retirement. In 1999 Audi unveiled the R8R with which he scored his first of a record breaking nine consecutive podiums at the French classic. In 2000 along with Tom Kristensen and Frank Biela he scored the first of three consecutive wins with the new Audi R8. In 2006 together with Frank Biela and Marco Werner he became the first driver to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a diesel car, repeating the win in the following year. In 2008 he announced the end of his racing career with Audi sportscars. Between the years of 1999 and 2008 he won five 24 Hours of Le Mans, two ALMS championships, two 12 Hours of Sebring and three Petit Le Mans. After 2008 he competed in a number of additional races including a 12 Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans with Drayson Racing in a Lola-Judd LMP1 car, the 24 hours of the Nuerburgring with an Audi R8 GT3, the 2011 Gold Coast 500 in the Australian V8 Supercars Championship.
He regularly competes in historic racing. In 2010 Pirro won the Monaco Historic Grand Prix in the Formula 3 Class.
In roles still linked to motorsport, he serves as a Brand Ambassador for Audi, and is a member of; FIA Drivers’ Commission, FIA Circuits’ Commission, FIA Historic Motorsport Commission, ACI Circuits and Safety Commission. In addition, he is the President of the Italian Karting Commission, and Vice President of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Club and the Club des Pilotes des 24 Heures du Mans. He is also a Steward for F1 races, TV pundit and is a frequent guest speaker at events hosted by multinational companies.
In 2015, he entered the first round of the British Universities Karting Championship alongside his two sons.
He owns the Faloria Mountain Spa Resort, a 5-star hotel in Cortina d’Ampezzo.
Finally he has been a regular player for over 25 years in the Nazionale Piloti football team and the “Star Team for the Children” for Prince Albert of Monaco as well as taking part in other charity events.
He also became the Director of the McLaren Racing Driver Development program.[1]
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | WDC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Benetton Formula Ltd | Benetton B188 | Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8 | BRA | SMR | MON | MEX | USA | CAN | FRA 9 |
GBR 11 |
23rd | 2 | ||||||||
| Benetton B189 | Ford HBA4 3.5 V8 | GER Ret |
HUN 8 |
BEL 10 |
ITA Ret |
POR Ret |
ESP Ret |
JPN Ret |
AUS 5 | ||||||||||||
| 1990 | BMS Scuderia Italia | BMS Dallara 190 | Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8 | USA | BRA | SMR Ret |
MON Ret |
CAN Ret |
MEX Ret |
FRA Ret |
GBR 11 |
GER Ret |
HUN 10 |
BEL Ret |
ITA Ret |
POR 15 |
ESP Ret |
JPN Ret |
AUS Ret |
NC | 0 |
| 1991 | Scuderia Italia SpA | BMS Dallara 191 | Judd GV 3.5 V10 | USA Ret |
BRA 11 |
SMR DNPQ |
MON 6 |
CAN 9 |
MEX DNPQ |
FRA DNPQ |
GBR 10 |
GER 10 |
HUN Ret |
BEL 8 |
ITA 10 |
POR Ret |
ESP 15 |
JPN Ret |
AUS 7 |
18th | 1 |
Source:[5] | |||||||||||||||||||||
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | 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. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | BMW M Team Schnitzer | BMW M3 Evo | ZOL 1 |
ZOL 2 |
HOC 1 |
HOC 2 |
NÜR 1 |
NÜR 2 |
MFA 1 |
MFA 2 |
AVU 1 |
AVU 2 |
NÜR 1 DNS |
NÜR 2 DNS |
NOR 1 |
NOR 2 |
HOC 1 |
HOC 2 |
DIE 1 |
DIE 2 |
NÜR 1 |
NÜR 2 |
HOC 1 |
HOC 2 |
NC | 0 | ||
| 1990 | Schnitzer Motorsport | BMW M3 Sport Evo | ZOL 1 |
ZOL 2 |
HOC 1 |
HOC 2 |
NÜR 1 |
NÜR 2 |
AVU 1 |
AVU 2 |
MFA 1 |
MFA 2 |
WUN 1 |
WUN 2 |
NÜR 1 |
NÜR 2 |
NOR 1 |
NOR 2 |
DIE 1 |
DIE 2 |
NÜR 1 1 |
NÜR 2 3 |
HOC 1 7 |
HOC 2 11 |
15th | 36 | ||
| 1992 | BMW M Team Bigazzi | BMW M3 Sport Evo | ZOL 1 6 |
ZOL 2 3 |
NÜR 1 14 |
NÜR 2 3 |
WUN 1 Ret |
WUN 2 16 |
AVU 1 23 |
AVU 2 3 |
HOC 1 10 |
HOC 2 Ret |
NÜR 1 21 |
NÜR 2 10 |
NOR 1 6 |
NOR 2 8 |
BRN 1 3 |
BRN 2 Ret |
DIE 1 Ret |
DIE 2 Ret |
ALE 1 6 |
ALE 2 10 |
NÜR 1 Ret |
NÜR 2 8 |
HOC 1 9 |
HOC 2 5 |
12th | 85 |
| 2004 | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi A4 DTM 2004 | HOC 7 |
EST 11 |
ADR 9 |
LAU 6 |
NOR 9 |
SHA1 Ret |
NÜR 11 |
OSC 15 |
ZAN 7 |
BRN 5 |
HOC Ret |
11th | 11 | |||||||||||||
1 – A non-championship one-off race was held in 2004 at the streets of Shanghai, China.
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | CiBiEmme Engineering | BMW M3 Sport Evolution | S1 | MNZ 1 4 |
MNZ 2 3 |
MAG 1 3 |
MAG 2 1 |
MUG 1 |
MUG 2 |
BIN 1 |
BIN 2 |
VAL 1 4 |
VAL 2 3 |
IMO 1 |
IMO 2 |
MIS 1 Ret |
MIS 2 6 |
PER 1 |
PER 2 |
VAR 1 |
VAR 2 |
MNZ 1 |
MNZ 2 |
6th | 82 |
| 1993 | Scuderia Bigazzi | BMW 318i | MNZ 1 |
MNZ 2 |
VAL 1 |
VAL 2 |
MIS 1 |
MIS 2 |
MAG 1 |
MAG 2 |
BIN 1 |
BIN 2 |
IMO 1 |
IMO 2 |
VAR 1 |
VAR 2 |
MIS 1 |
MIS 2 |
PER 1 5 |
PER 2 4 |
MUG 1 4 |
MUG 2 Ret |
13th | 28 | |
| 1994 | Audi Sport Italia | Audi 80 Quattro | MNZ 1 2 |
MNZ 2 2 |
VAL 1 10 |
VAL 2 1 |
MAG 1 1 |
MAG 2 1 |
BIN 1 1 |
BIN 2 1 |
MIS 1 4 |
MIS 2 4 |
VAL 1 2 |
VAL 2 1 |
MUG 1 4 |
MUG 2 2 |
PER 1 4 |
PER 2 4 |
VAR 1 2 |
VAR 2 2 |
MUG 1 10 |
MUG 2 2 |
1st | 269.5 | |
| 1995 | Audi Sport Italia | Audi A4 Quattro | MIS 1 2 |
MIS 2 1 |
BIN 1 1 |
BIN 2 1 |
MNZ 1 1 |
MNZ 2 2 |
IMO 1 1 |
IMO 2 1 |
MAG 1 1 |
MAG 2 2 |
MUG 1 3 |
MUG 2 5 |
MIS 1 1 |
MIS 2 1 |
PER 1 5 |
PER 2 4 |
VAR 1 2 |
VAR 2 1 |
VAL 1 1 |
VAL 2 2 |
1st | 317 | |
| 1996 | A.Z.K./ROC | Audi A4 Quattro | MUG 1 |
MUG 2 |
MAG 1 |
MAG 2 |
MNZ 1 |
MNZ 2 |
BIN 1 |
BIN 2 |
MIS 1 |
MIS 2 |
IMO 1 |
IMO 2 |
PER 1 |
PER 2 |
PER 1 |
PER 2 |
VAR 1 |
VAR 2 |
VAL 1 5 |
VAL 2 4 |
15th | 18 | |
Source:[6] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Racing Organisation Course | Audi 80 Quattro Competition | AVU 2 |
WUN 3 |
ZOL 3 |
ZAN 2 |
ÖST 4 |
SAL Ret |
SPA 5 |
NÜR 2 |
3rd | 87 | ||||||||||||
| 1995 | Racing Organisation Course | Audi A4 Quattro | ZOL 1 |
ZOL 2 |
SPA 1 |
SPA 2 |
ÖST 1 |
ÖST 2 |
HOC 1 |
HOC 2 |
NÜR 1 |
NÜR 2 |
SAL 1 |
SAL 2 |
AVU 1 10 |
AVU 2 7 |
NÜR 1 1 |
NÜR 2 1 |
16th | 105 | ||||
| 1996 | A.Z.K./ROC | Audi A4 Quattro | ZOL 1 1 |
ZOL 2 1 |
ASS 1 3 |
ASS 2 2 |
HOC 1 1 |
HOC 2 1 |
SAC 1 3 |
SAC 2 1 |
WUN 1 2 |
WUN 2 1 |
ZWE 1 2 |
ZWE 2 3 |
SAL 1 8 |
SAL 2 10 |
AVU 1 4 |
AVU 2 1 |
NÜR 1 1 |
NÜR 2 1 |
1st | 678 | ||
| 1997 | A.Z.K./ROC | Audi A4 Quattro | HOC 1 11 |
HOC 2 9 |
ZOL 1 4 |
ZOL 2 10 |
NÜR 1 20 |
NÜR 2 7 |
SAC 1 6 |
SAC 2 Ret |
NOR 1 5 |
NOR 2 3 |
WUN 1 Ret |
WUN 2 Ret |
ZWE 1 4 |
ZWE 2 1 |
SAL 1 13 |
SAL 2 7 |
REG 1 19 |
REG 2 11 |
NÜR 1 13 |
NÜR 2 10 |
6th | 357 |
| 1998 | Abt Sportsline Team Audi | Audi A4 | HOC 1 16 |
HOC 2 7 |
NÜR 1 Ret |
NÜR 2 13 |
SAC 1 17 |
SAC 2 Ret |
NOR 1 19 |
NOR 2 19 |
REG 1 13 |
REG 2 8 |
WUN 1 Ret |
WUN 2 Ret |
ZWE 1 14 |
ZWE 2 Ret |
SAL 1 7 |
SAL 2 2 |
OSC 1 7 |
OSC 2 Ret |
NÜR 1 10 |
NÜR 2 12 |
16th | 205 |
Source:[6] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
| Year | Team | Car | Class | Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 |  Team Schnitzer |
BMW M3 Sport Evolution | Group A Division 2 | DNF |
| 1990 | Team Schnitzer |
BMW M3 Sport Evolution | Group A Division 2 | 2nd |
| 1991 | Watson’s Team Schnitzer |
BMW M3 Sport Evolution | DTM | 1st |
| 1992 | Mobil 1 Team Schnitzer |
BMW M3 Sport Evolution | DTM | 1st |
| 1993 | Watson’s Team Schnitzer |
BMW 318i | FIA Class 2 | 3rd |
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
