 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Giancarlo Minardi | |
|---|---|
 Minardi in 1974 | |
| Born | September 18, 1947 |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Known for | founder of Minardi Formula One team |
Giancarlo Minardi (born 18 September 1947) is the founder and managing director of the now-defunct Minardi Formula One team.
Minardi was born in Faenza (Ravenna), Italy and has spent his life with cars. As a young boy, his family managed a Fiat dealership and an Agip fuel station, and currently manages Iveco and Selenia dealerships. His father, Giovanni Minardi, who died when Giancarlo was young, was also heavily involved in motor racing.
Giancarlo Minardi began his career as a business man, running a successful truck dealership in Italy.
He began his racing career in 1968, buying a Faccioli tuned Fiat 500, achieving good results in the various hillclimbs he competed in. Subsequently he began rallying a Fiat 124, after which he turned his attention to leading the Scuderia del Passatore racing team. Between 1972 and 1974 he led the team to good results in Formula Italia, being runner-up in the 1972 championship and then in 1973 going on to win the title with Giancarlo Martini as driver. After a name change to Scuderia Everest in 1975, his team raced a BMW-March in the European Formula Two Championship for two years.
In 1980 he formed the Minardi racing team with financial backing from well known Italian motor racing patron Piero Mancini. Giancarlo led the Minardi team to four successful Formula Two seasons, the most notable success being a 1981 win at the Misano round with Michele Alboreto.
Formula One was the next logical step for Minardi in 1985. In 1991, Ferrari provided Minardi with V12 engines.
Money woes hit and in 1994 Minardi joined his team with Scuderia Italia in an effort to survive. In 1996 money ran short again and by year's end Minardi was forced to sell 70% of his team to a new investor consortium. Giancarlo retained 14.5% with the remaining 15.5% distributed between the Scuderia Italia investors (Emilio Gnutti, Giuseppe Lucchini and Vittorio Palazzani) and Defendente Marniga. In an attempt to help saving the team Flavio Briatore became the main shareholder after a deal brokered by Bernie Ecclestone. In 1997 Gabriele Rumi from Fondmetal entered as a major partner. Minardi and Rumi shared the General Director role from 1997 to 2000.
2001 saw another change in the ownership of the Minardi team with Australian Paul Stoddart buying the company, although Giancarlo retained the role of Managing Director, with particular emphasis on the development of young drivers. He left Minardi after the takeover and renaming to Scuderia Toro Rosso by the Red Bull energy drink concern in 2006. Subsequently he offered support to both Minardi Team by GP Racing in Euro F3000 and Minardi Piquet Sports in GP2 resulting in significant success for both teams, most notably with Nelson Piquet Jr. himself in GP2 who finished runner up to Lewis Hamilton in the 2006 championship.
Driver development is an area in which Giancarlo is considered to have significant aptitude. He has identified and given breaks to many drivers who subsequently went on to achieve successes with other teams and in other formulas. Drivers such as Giancarlo Fisichella, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber and Jarno Trulli all had their Formula One debut with Minardi.
Giancarlo currently resides in Faenza, Italy. He is married to Mara and has one son named after his father Giovanni. He has two brothers: Giuseppe, who has taken over the Fiat dealership (bankrupt in 2010) [1] and Nando who now runs the truck concession. Giancarlo was the chairman of the football club Faenza Calcio.
In 2010, he ran for Mayor of Faenza.
In 2021, he became the president of the Imola Circuit. [2]
In 2022, he became the President of the FIA's Single Seater Commission. [3]
Minardi was an Italian automobile racing team and constructor founded in Faenza in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal following of fans. In 2001, to save the team from folding, Minardi sold it to Australian businessman Paul Stoddart, who ran the team for five years before selling it on to Red Bull GmbH in 2005 who renamed it Scuderia Toro Rosso. From 2001, all of Minardi chassis were called "PS" then a number, the PS being the initials of team owner, Paul Stoddart.
Scuderia Ferrari S.p.A. is the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team is also known by the nickname "The Prancing Horse", in reference to their logo. It is the oldest surviving and most successful Formula One team, having competed in every world championship since the 1950 Formula One season. The team was founded by Enzo Ferrari, initially to race cars produced by Alfa Romeo. However, by 1947 Ferrari had begun building its own cars. Among its important achievements outside Formula One are winning the World Sportscar Championship, 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Spa, 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, Bathurst 12 Hour, races for Grand tourer cars and racing on road courses of the Targa Florio, the Mille Miglia and the Carrera Panamericana. The team is also known for its passionate support base, known as the tifosi. The Italian Grand Prix at Monza is regarded as the team's home race.
Andrea de Cesaris was an Italian racing driver. He started 208 Formula One Grands Prix but never won. As a result, he holds the record for the most races started without a race victory. A string of accidents early in his career earned him a reputation for being a fast but wild driver.
Flavio Briatore is an Italian businessman. He started his career as a restaurant manager and insurance salesman in Italy. Briatore was convicted in Italy on several fraud charges in the 1980s, receiving two prison sentences, though the convictions were later extinguished by an amnesty. Briatore set up a number of successful Benetton franchises as a fugitive in the Virgin Islands and the United States. In 1990, he was promoted by Luciano Benetton to manage the Benetton Formula One racing team, which became Renault F1 in 2002. From 2007 to 2011, he was part-owner and chairman of London's Queens Park Rangers F.C. In September 2009, Briatore was forced to resign from the ING Renault F1 team due to his involvement in race fixing at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. After the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) conducted its own investigation, Briatore was banned indefinitely from any events sanctioned by the FIA, although this ban was later overturned by a French Tribunal de Grande Instance.
Giancarlo Fisichella, also known as Fisico, Giano or Fisi, is an Italian professional racing driver, also captain of the official Nazionale Piloti association football team. He has driven in Formula One for Minardi, Jordan, Benetton, Sauber, Renault, Force India and Ferrari. Since then he has driven for AF Corse in their Ferrari 458 GTE at various sportscar events, becoming twice a Le Mans 24 Hour class winner, and a GT class winner of the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. He was also Ferrari's F1 reserve driver for 2010.
Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni is an Italian Porsche factory auto racing driver who drove in the 2004 Formula One World Championship for Minardi. He is a GP2 Series race winner and is now racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, in which he gained the 2013 and 2014 GT Drivers' Titles whilst driving as a factory Ferrari driver. He won the 2008 FIA GT Championship, 2011 Le Mans Series and 2012 International GT Open and took three class victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in 2008, 2012 and 2014. He also was successful at the 2009 and 2015 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, 2010 12 Hours of Sebring and 2011 Petit Le Mans.
The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, better known as Imola, is a 4.909 km (3.050 mi) motor racing circuit in the town of Imola, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, 40 km (25 mi) east of Bologna. It is one of the few major international circuits to run in an anti-clockwise direction. The circuit is named after Ferrari's late founder, Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), and his son, Alfredo "Dino" Ferrari (1932–1956). Before Enzo's death, it was called Autodromo Dino Ferrari. The circuit has an FIA Grade One licence.
Michele Alboreto was an Italian racing driver. He was runner up to Alain Prost in the 1985 Formula One World Championship, as well as winning the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and 2001 12 Hours of Sebring sports car races. Alboreto competed in Formula One from 1981 until 1994, racing for a number of teams, including five seasons (1984–88) for Ferrari.
Pierluigi Martini is an Italian former racing driver. He won the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans and participated in 124 Formula One Grands Prix between 1984 and 1995.
Gianni Morbidelli is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 70 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 11 March 1990. He achieved one podium, and scored a total of 8.5 championship points. He currently competes in the TCR International Series.
Luca Badoer is an Italian former racing driver. Badoer has raced for the Scuderia Italia, Minardi, Forti and most recently, Ferrari teams. In addition to his racing duties, Badoer was one of the active test and reserve drivers for Ferrari from 1998 to 2010 and in 2009 stood in for Ferrari's regular race driver Felipe Massa at the European Grand Prix and the Belgian Grand Prix after the Brazilian was injured during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix and his original replacement, Michael Schumacher, pulled out due to injury.
BMS Scuderia Italia SpA is an Italian auto racing team founded by Italian steel magnate and motorsports enthusiast Giuseppe Lucchini in 1983. Initially named Brixia Motor Sport (BMS) the team briefly entered the World Touring Car Championship, the team's name was altered to BMS Scuderia Italia upon their entrance into Formula One in 1988. After departing Formula One in 1993, BMS Scuderia Italia has been involved in touring car racing and sports car racing.
Giovanni Lavaggi is an Italian racing driver.
The 2006 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 60th season of Formula One motor racing. It featured the 57th Formula One World Championship which began on 12 March and ended on 22 October after eighteen races. The Drivers' Championship was won by Fernando Alonso of Renault for the second year in a row, with Alonso becoming the youngest ever double world champion at the time. Then-retiring seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher of Scuderia Ferrari finished runner-up, 13 points behind. The Constructors' Championship was won by Renault, which defeated Ferrari by five points.
Rapax Team was an Italian motor racing team. The team's history can be traced back to when the GP Racing team was founded in 1997, and also to when Piquet Sports was created in 2000 by triple world champion Nelson Piquet. In 2007, Piquet Sports and GP Racing merged to create "Minardi Piquet Sports". In 2008, the team dropped "Minardi" from their name. In early 2009, the team was sold and rebranded as Piquet GP, but changed its name again in November to Rapax Team, once all remaining ties to part-owner Piquet were cut.
Coloni Motorsport, also known as Scuderia Coloni, was an auto racing team from Italy. Formed by Enzo Coloni in 1983, the team participated in Formula Three between 1983 and 1986, before racing in Formula One as Enzo Coloni Racing Car Systems between 1987 and 1991. They made 82 attempts to take part in a Formula One race but only qualified 14 times. Since then, under the management of Enzo Coloni's son Paolo, the team has been successful in Formula Three, Formula 3000 and GP2 Series. Between 2006 and 2009 the team ran under the name of Fisichella Motor Sport, with support from Formula One driver Giancarlo Fisichella and his manager Enrico Zanarini.
The Scuderia Toro Rosso STR1 was the car with which the Scuderia Toro Rosso team competed in the 2006 Formula One season. It was driven by Vitantonio Liuzzi, who had started four Grands Prix for the sister Red Bull Racing team in 2005, and Scott Speed, a débutant who was the first American driver to compete in F1 since Michael Andretti in 1993. The STR1 was the first car from the Faenza-based team to use Michelin tyres since the Minardi PS02. The STR1 was also the first Toro Rosso F1 car to feature the mandatory 7-speed gearbox configuration. The STR1 was also the last Formula One car to utilize the 3.0 L V10 engine configuration to date, but with 16,700 rpm rev limiter and 77mm air restrictor.
Roldán Rodríguez Iglesias is a Spanish racing driver, who competed in the GP2 Series from 2007 to 2009. Prior to this he competed in Spanish Formula Three and various Formula 3000 categories.
Piquet GP, formerly known as Minardi Piquet Sports or Minardi by Piquet Sports and Piquet Sports, is a motor racing team. The team's history can be traced back to when the GP Racing team was founded in 1997, and also to when Piquet Sports was created in 2000 by triple world champion Nelson Piquet. In 2007, Piquet Sports and GP Racing merged to create "Minardi Piquet Sports". In 2008, the team dropped "Minardi" from their name. In early 2009, the team was sold and rebranded as Piquet GP, but changed its name again in November to Rapax Team, once all remaining ties to part-owner Piquet were cut.
Massimo Rivola is an Italian motorsport official and the sports director for Aprilia in MotoGP.
