Gilles Panizzi

Gilles Panizzi
	Panizzi in 2005
Personal information
Nationality	French
Born	19 September 1965 (age 58); Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Alpes-Maritimes, France
World Rally Championship record
Active years	1990–2006
Co-driver	Hervé Panizzi
Teams	Peugeot, Mitsubishi, Skoda Motorsport
Rallies	71
Championships	0
Rally wins	7
Podiums	14
Stage wins	91
Total points	134
First rally	1990 Monte Carlo Rally
First win	2000 Tour de Corse
Last win	2003 Rally Catalunya
Last rally	2006 Rally Catalunya

Last updated March 30, 2024

Gilles Panizzi (born 19 September 1965) is a French former rally driver.

Between 1999 and 2003 Panizzi had great success in his role as Peugeot's tarmac expert. He won a total of seven World Rally Championship rounds in this period - all on tarmac. However, Panizzi's inability to match his rivals pace on gravel, mud, and snow precluded him from challenging for the world title while at Peugeot. Panizzi had an embarrassing moment during the 2000 Safari Rally, where he and his brother and co-driver Herve were behind the slower car of Argentine driver Roberto Sanchez, who had not moved over despite being ordered to do so was kicking up dust and blinding the irate Panizzi, who picked up two punctures thanks to the stones thrown up by Sanchez's car. The Panizzi brothers were so furious that after the end of the stage they both ran up to Sanchez's car, opened the door and started physically assaulting the Argentine driver, both trying to pull Sanchez out of his car. The Panizzi brothers actions landed them both a $50,000 fine.^[1]^[2] He is the only WRC driver to do a (famous) 360 spin at the Viladrau hairpin, which he did at the 2002 Rally Catalunya.^[3]^[4]

In 2004, Mitsubishi Motor Sports recruited Panizzi and his co-driver and brother, Hervé, to lead the company's charge back in the World Rally Championship.

In the 2005 season, Panizzi was replaced in the lead car by Harri Rovanperä, and guested in the second car with Gianluigi Galli. He finished third at the Monte Carlo Rally, the first event of the season, but only scored points in one other event.

In 2006, he was signed by the semi-privateer Red Bull Škoda team. Despite a strong performance in the opening rally of the season in Monte Carlo, he expressed his dissatisfaction at the performance of his car, and after a disappointing showing in Spain, he announced his departure from the team, and was replaced by his former Peugeot teammate Harri Rovanperä.

Panizzi later participated in 2 Intercontinental Rally Challenge events - the 2007 Rallye Sanremo with the Peugeot 207 S2000 and 2010 Rallye Sanremo with Proton Satria Neo S2000, finishing respectively 8th and 22nd.

The 2021 Rallye Mont-Blanc Morzine saw Panizzi's one-off rallying return. He used a Hyundai i20 R5, finishing 15th overall.

WRC victories

#	Event	Season	Co-driver	Car
1	44ème V-Rally Tour de Corse - Rallye de France	2000	Hervé Panizzi	Peugeot 206 WRC
2	42º Rallye Sanremo - Rallye d'Italia	2000	Hervé Panizzi	Peugeot 206 WRC
3	43º Rallye Sanremo - Rallye d'Italia	2001	Hervé Panizzi	Peugeot 206 WRC
4	46ème Rallye de France - Tour de Corse	2002	Hervé Panizzi	Peugeot 206 WRC
5	38º Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava (Rallye de España)	2002	Hervé Panizzi	Peugeot 206 WRC
6	44º Rallye Sanremo - Rallye d'Italia	2002	Hervé Panizzi	Peugeot 206 WRC
7	39º Rallye Catalunya-Costa Brava (Rallye de España)	2003	Hervé Panizzi	Peugeot 206 WRC

Complete WRC results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1990	Gilles Panizzi	Lancia Delta Integrale	MON 16	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	AUS	ITA	CIV	GBR					NC	0
1993	Gilles Panizzi	Peugeot 106 XSi	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA Ret	GRE	ARG	NZL	FIN	AUS	ITA	ESP	GBR				NC	0
1995	Peugeot Sport	Peugeot 306 S16	MON	SWE	POR	FRA 12	NZL	AUS	ESP	GBR									NC	0
1997	Peugeot Sport	Peugeot 306 Maxi	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP 3	FRA 3	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	IDN	ITA	AUS	GBR			10th	8
1998	Peugeot Sport	Peugeot 306 Maxi	MON 9	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP 6	FRA 4	ARG	GRE	NZL		ITA 5	AUS					12th	6
	Gilles Panizzi	Peugeot 106 Rallye										FIN 35
	Gilles Panizzi	Subaru Impreza WRX													GBR Ret
1999	Gilles Panizzi	Subaru Impreza WRC 98	MON Ret	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP												10th	6
1999	Peugeot Esso	Peugeot 206 WRC						FRA Ret	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN 33	CHN	ITA 2	AUS	GBR 7			10th	6
2000	Peugeot Esso	Peugeot 206 WRC	MON Ret	SWE	KEN Ret	POR	ESP 6	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	CYP	FRA 1	ITA 1	AUS Ret	GBR 8			7th	21
2001	Peugeot Total	Peugeot 206 WRC	MON Ret	SWE		ESP 2	ARG						ITA 1	FRA 2	AUS 9				8th	22
2001	H.F. Grifone SRL	Peugeot 206 WRC			POR 12			CYP Ret	GRE Ret	KEN	FIN 14	NZL				GBR Ret			8th	22
2002	Peugeot Total	Peugeot 206 WRC	MON 7		FRA 1	ESP 1	CYP 10	ARG Ret		KEN 6	FIN	GER	ITA 1	NZL 7	AUS				6th	31
2002	Bozian Racing	Peugeot 206 WRC		SWE 16					GRE Ret							GBR 11			6th	31
2003	Marlboro Peugeot Total	Peugeot 206 WRC	MON Ret	SWE						GER 10	FIN	AUS	ITA 2	FRA 6	ESP 1				10th	27
2003	Bozian Racing	Peugeot 206 WRC			TUR 5	NZL	ARG	GRE 7	CYP Ret							GBR Ret			10th	27
2004	Mitsubishi Motors	Mitsubishi Lancer WRC 04	MON 6	SWE Ret	MEX 8	NZL Ret	CYP Ret	GRE 10	TUR Ret	ARG 7	FIN 11	GER Ret	JPN	GBR	ITA	FRA	ESP 12	AUS	13th	6
2005	Mitsubishi Motors	Mitsubishi Lancer WRC 05	MON 3	SWE	MEX 8	NZL	ITA	CYP 11	TUR	GRE	ARG	FIN	GER	GBR	JPN 11	FRA Ret	ESP	AUS	15th	7
2006	Red Bull Škoda	Škoda Fabia WRC	MON 10	SWE	MEX	ESP 10	FRA	ARG	ITA	GRE	GER	FIN	JPN	CYP	TUR	AUS	NZL	GBR	NC	0

Related Research Articles

Juha Matti Pellervo Kankkunen is a Finnish former rally driver. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1983 to 2002. He won 23 world rallies and four drivers' world championship titles, which were both once records in the series. Both Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier have since collected more world titles, but no driver was able to repeat Kankkunen's feat of becoming a world champion with three different manufacturers until Ogier matched this achievement in 2020.

Toni Gardemeister is a Finnish professional rally driver in the World Rally Championship. After previously competing for SEAT's, Mitsubishi's, Škoda's and Ford's factory teams, as well as for privateer teams, he joined the Suzuki World Rally Team for the 2008 season.

Markku Allan Alén is a Finnish former rally and race car driver. He drove for Fiat, Lancia, Subaru and Toyota in the World Rally Championship, and held the record for most stage wins (801) in the series, until Sébastien Loeb overtook it at the 2011 Rally Catalunya. Alén's phrase "now maximum attack" became well-known.

Didier Auriol is a French former rally driver. Born in Montpellier and initially an ambulance driver, he competed in the World Rally Championship throughout the 1990s. He became World Rally Champion in 1994, the first driver from his country to do so. He was a factory candidate for Lancia, Toyota and Peugeot among others, before losing his seat at Škoda at the end of 2003. His sister Nadine was also involved in rallying as a co-driver, while his brother Gerrard was also a former rally driver.

François Duval is a Belgian rally driver.

François Delecour is a French rally driver.

The 1997 World Rally Championship was the 25th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season saw many changes in the championship. Most notably, Group A was partially replaced by the World Rally Car with manufacturers given the option which regulations to construct to. One inherent benefit to manufacturers by adopting WRC regulations was removing the need to mass-produce road-going versions of the cars that they competed with, under the previous rules for homologation. This meant that vehicles such as the Escort RS Cosworth and Subaru Impreza Turbo no longer had to be mass-produced for general sale in order to compete at World Championship level, and thus acting as a means of attracting increased competition and involvement by manufacturers. In the few years that follow, the Championship saw the added presence of WRC cars from companies such as Toyota, Hyundai, Seat, Citroën, and Peugeot, who would all compete under WRC regulations without having to manufacture equivalent specialised road cars for public sale. Both Ford and Subaru switched to WRC in 1997, except Mitsubishi who stayed with Group A to maintain the links to their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution road cars. Subaru's transition was much more gradual for similar reasons with the early Subaru Impreza WRCs still largely Group A in nature.

Harri "Rovis" Rovanperä is a Finnish rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship from 1993 to 2006. He drove for SEAT (1997–00), Peugeot (2001–04), Mitsubishi (2005) and Red Bull Škoda Team (2006). Rovanperä was known as a loose surface specialist. He is the father of 2022 and 2023 World Rally driver's championship winner Kalle Rovanperä. He was married to Tiina Rovanperä.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freddy Loix</span> Belgian rally driver (born 1970)

Freddy Loix is a Belgian rally driver.

The Peugeot 206 WRC is a World Rally Car based on the Peugeot 206. It was used by Peugeot Sport, Peugeot's factory team, in the World Rally Championship from 1999 to 2003. The car brought Peugeot the manufacturers' world title three years in a row from 2000 to 2002. Marcus Grönholm won the drivers' title in 2000 and 2002.

The Citroën Total World Rally Team was the Citroën factory backed entry into the World Rally Championship (WRC), run by Citroën Racing.

The 42º Rally RACC Catalunya - Costa Daurada, the fourth round of the 2006 World Rally Championship season, took place from March 24 to 26, 2006.

Peugeot Sport is the department of French carmaker Peugeot responsible for motorsport activities.

Craig Breen was an Irish rally driver who last competed part time for the Hyundai team in the World Rally Championship (WRC). He won the 2012 Super 2000 WRC, scoring class wins in the Monte Carlo Rally, Wales Rally GB, Rally France and the Rally of Spain. Breen won the WRC Academy Cup in 2011, winning his first event at the 2011 Rallye Deutschland and sealing the championship with a win at Wales Rally GB. The Academy title going down to the last stage, with Breen and Estonian rally driver Egon Kaur ending the season, both on 111 points, Breen then won the title on count back of stage wins, 39 to 14. Breen won the 2021 Rentokil Historic Rally in Killarney, Kerry, Ireland in his BMW M3 E30.

The Mitsubishi Lancer WRC is a World Rally Car built by Ralliart, Mitsubishi Motors' motorsport division, to compete in the World Rally Championship. The previous Lancer Evolution series were homologated for the Group A class, and their competitiveness against World Rally Cars from other manufacturers was therefore limited.

Alexandre Bengué is a French rally driver. Bengué was a factory driver for Škoda Motorsport in the World Rally Championship in 2005, before scoring two points finishes as a privateer in 2006.

The FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup was a sub-section of the World Rally Championship from 1993 to 1999. It involved mostly 1,600 cc (97.6 cu in) or 2,000 cc (122.0 cu in), naturally aspirated, front wheel drive cars. The series was discontinued due to high costs, and the new Super 2000 class was amalgamated into the Production World Rally Championship, whilst the 1600cc cars were generally modified for usage in the Super 1600 class, which formed the basis of the Junior World Rally Championship in 2001. The most successful manufacturer was SEAT, who won the title three times in a row with their SEAT Ibiza Kit Car.

The 2002 Rallye Sanremo was the eleventh round of the 2002 World Rally Championship. The race was held over three days between 20 September and 22 September 2002, and was won by Peugeot's Gilles Panizzi, his 6th win in the World Rally Championship.

The 2001 Rallye Sanremo was the eleventh round of the 2001 World Rally Championship. The race was held over three days between 5 October and 7 October 2001, and was won by Peugeot's Gilles Panizzi, his 3rd win in the World Rally Championship.

References

↑ "Gilles Panizzi retires - Safari Rally Kenya 2000". YouTube .
↑ "WRC Craziest Moments II - Gilles Panizzi vs. Roberto Sanchez". YouTube . Archived from the original on 2021-12-05.
↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : "Rally video - WRC: Gilles Panizzi's 360 at Catalunya 2002". YouTube .
↑ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : "WRC: Gilles Panizzi's 360° donut drift at Viladrau stage 15 of Rally Catalunya 2002". YouTube .

Sources

WRC.com - the official World Rally Championship website.
Official Website - note: inactive as of April 2006

Sporting positions
Preceded by JJ Lehto Tommi Mäkinen Kari Tiainen	Race of Champions Nations' Cup 2000 with: Régis Laconi Yvan Muller	Succeeded by Fernando Alonso Jesús Puras Rubén Xaus
Preceded by Colin Edwards Jeff Gordon Jimmie Johnson	Race of Champions Nations' Cup 2003 with: Cristiano da Matta Fonsi Nieto	Succeeded by Jean Alesi Sébastien Loeb

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Gilles Panizzi retires - Safari Rally Kenya 2000". YouTube .

[2] "WRC Craziest Moments II - Gilles Panizzi vs. Roberto Sanchez". YouTube . Archived from the original on 2021-12-05.

[3] Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : "Rally video - WRC: Gilles Panizzi's 360 at Catalunya 2002". YouTube .

[4] Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine : "WRC: Gilles Panizzi's 360° donut drift at Viladrau stage 15 of Rally Catalunya 2002". YouTube .

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

Authority control databases
International	ISNI VIAF
National	France BnF data