Piercarlo Ghinzani

Piercarlo Ghinzani (born 16 January 1952 in Riviera d'Adda, Lombardy) is a former racing driver from Italy. He currently manages his own racing team, Team Ghinzani, which was created in 1992 and is currently involved in several Formula Three championships.

Piercarlo Ghinzani
Born (1952-01-16) 16 January 1952
Riviera d'Adda, Lombardy, Italy
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality Italian
Active years1981, 19831989
TeamsOsella, Toleman, Ligier, Zakspeed
Entries111 (74 starts)
Championships0
Wins0
Podiums0
Career points2
Pole positions0
Fastest laps0
First entry1981 Belgian Grand Prix
Last entry1989 Australian Grand Prix

Early career

Before his Formula One career, Ghinzani raced between 1976 and 1979 with Team Euroracing, in several Formula Three championships such as the European Championship which he won in 1977,[1] the Italian Championship which he won in 1979 and the British Championship.[2] He also raced in Formula 2 in 1978.

Formula One career

Ghinzani achieved Osella's second and last points finish at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix.

He participated in 111 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 17 May at the 1981 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder. He qualified for 77 of those, and started 74. He spent much of the 1980s racing for the small Osella team, and he only ever achieved one points finish. Ghinzani explained his continued association with unsuccessful teams such as Osella by saying it was better to be in Formula One, even at the back of the grid, than it was not being in it.

Following sporadic Formula One appearances in 1981, and racing in Group C Sports car racing as a teammate to Michele Alboreto and Riccardo Patrese for Lancia, Ghinzani's first full season with the Osella team was in 1983. Despite achieving no points finishes he was retained for 1984. After qualifying 20th for the second race of the season at Kyalami in South African, 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 take his only career points when he finished fifth at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix in a race marked by high attrition, crumbling tarmac and oppressive heat.

Ghinzani during practice for the 1985 European Grand Prix

Ghinzani remained with Osella for 1985, and in the latter half of that year he was drafted into the Toleman team to partner fellow Italian Teo Fabi. Despite the competitiveness of the car (Fabi managed to put his car on pole in Germany), Ghinzani suffered reliability problems and was unable to register a finish for the team. In 1986 he returned to Osella which brought predictable results in a car that was based on a 1983 design and with a turbocharged Alfa Romeo V8 engine that was unreliable, only moderately powerful and hard on fuel.

For 1987 he was contracted to the Ligier team, alongside former Grand Prix winner René Arnoux. The team planned to run the new turbocharged 4 cylinder Alfa Romeo engines, but those plans were suddenly scuppered by Arnoux's scathing pre-season comments that likened the engine to dog food and gave Alfa's parent company Fiat the excuse they needed to pull the plug on the engine project. This forced the team to hastily adapt their cars to fit Megatron engines, though luckily both were 4 cylinder and almost the same size (the Megatron was actually the BMW engine used by Brabham and previously by Arrows and Benetton, but as BMW had pulled out of F1 at the beginning of the season, Arrows and their sponsors, USF&G, bought the remaining engines from BMW and renamed them "Megatron"). However, while both were 4 cylinder engines, their respective 'plumbing' was completely different, forcing the team to miss the opening race of the season in Brazil while the rear suspension was re-designed to fit the new engine. Ghinzani occasionally ran in the points for Ligier, notably in Germany, but suffered the indignity of being excluded at Silverstone from the British Grand Prix.

In 1988 Ghinzani drove for the small German Zakspeed team, which ran its own 4 cylinder turbo engine, though generally without success, and his best finish for the year was 14th in the German Grand Prix at a wet Hockenheim (his teammate, young German Bernd Schneider finished 12th in the race, the best finish for the team in 1988). Despite being one of the few teams to use turbo powered engines in 1988, Ghinzani and Schneider often struggled to qualify for races and were often slower than the atmospheric cars. One such time was at the ultra fast Silverstone Circuit for the British Grand Prix. Neither driver qualified, with Ghinzani six seconds and Schneider eight seconds slower than the pole sitting Ferrari of Gerhard Berger.

For 1989 he once again linked with Osella as teammate to young Italian driver Nicola Larini.

Ghinzani announced his decision to retire from Grand Prix racing before official practice of the final race of the 1989 season in Australia. He qualified 21st for his final race, but it ended when his Osella was violently hit from behind by the Lotus of triple World Champion Nelson Piquet on lap 19 under braking for the hairpin at the end of the fast Brabham Straight. Piquet, whose helmet was hit by one of the Osella's rear wheels but who was not hurt, stated that he simply not seen Ghinzani until he hit him due to the amount of spray. During the race, 1989 World Champion Alain Prost refused to drive more than one lap in protest of the dangerous conditions caused by persistent and heavy rain.

Piercarlo Ghinzani also holds the record for the most Formula One appearances without qualifying in the top ten.[3]

Racing record

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

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 Patrese
Hans Heyer
Lancia LC1 Gr.6 152 DNF DNF
1983 Martini Lancia Michele Alboreto
Hans Heyer
Lancia LC2 C 121 DNF DNF

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Pts
1981 Osella Squadra Corse Osella FA1B Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 USW BRA ARG SMR BEL
13
MON
DNQ
ESP FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN CPL NC 0
1983 Osella Squadra Corse Osella FA1D Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 BRA
DNQ
USW
DNQ
FRA
DNQ
NC 0
Osella FA1E Alfa Romeo 1260 3.0 V12 SMR
DNQ
MON
DNQ
BEL
DNQ
DET
Ret
CAN
DNQ
GBR
Ret
GER
Ret
AUT
11
NED
DNQ
ITA
Ret
EUR
Ret
RSA
Ret
1984 Osella Squadra Corse Osella FA1F Alfa Romeo 890T 1.5 V8t BRA
Ret
RSA
DNS
BEL
Ret
SMR
DNQ
FRA
12
MON
7
CAN
Ret
DET
Ret
DAL
5
GBR
9
GER
Ret
AUT
Ret
NED
Ret
ITA
7
EUR
Ret
POR
Ret
19th 2
1985 Osella Squadra Corse Osella FA1F Alfa Romeo 890T 1.5 V8t BRA
12
POR
9
SMR
NC
NC 0
Osella FA1G MON
DNQ
CAN
Ret
DET
Ret
FRA
15
GBR
Ret
GER
Toleman Group Motorsport Toleman TG185 Hart 415T 1.5 L4t AUT
DNS
NED
Ret
ITA
DNS
BEL
Ret
EUR
Ret
RSA
Ret
AUS
Ret
1986 Osella Squadra Corse Osella FA1F Alfa Romeo 890T 1.5 V8t BRA
Ret
ESP
Ret
SMR
Ret
MON
DNQ
BEL
Ret
CAN
Ret
DET
Ret
NC 0
Osella FA1H FRA
Ret
GBR
Ret
Osella FA1G GER
Ret
HUN
Ret
AUT
11
ITA
Ret
POR
Ret
MEX
Ret
AUS
Ret
1987 Ligier Loto Ligier JS29B Megatron M12/13 1.5 L4t BRA SMR
Ret
BEL
7
MON
12
DET
Ret
NC 0
Ligier JS29C FRA
Ret
GBR
EX
GER
Ret
HUN
12
AUT
8
ITA
8
POR
Ret
ESP
Ret
MEX
Ret
JPN
13
AUS
Ret
1988 West Zakspeed Racing Zakspeed 881 Zakspeed 1500/4 1.5 L4t BRA
DNQ
SMR
Ret
MON
Ret
MEX
15
CAN
14
DET
DNQ
FRA
EX
GBR
DNQ
GER
14
HUN
DNQ
BEL
Ret
NC 0
Zakspeed 881B ITA
Ret
POR
DNQ
ESP
DNQ
JPN
DNQ
AUS
Ret
1989 Osella Squadra Corse Osella FA1M Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8 BRA
DNPQ
SMR
DNPQ
MON
DNPQ
MEX
DNPQ
USA
DNPQ
CAN
DNPQ
FRA
DNPQ
GBR
DNPQ
GER
DNPQ
HUN
Ret
BEL
DNPQ
ITA
DNPQ
POR
DNPQ
ESP
Ret
JPN
DNPQ
AUS
Ret
NC 0

Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

References

  1. Brown, Allen. "European Formula 3 1977". oldracingcars.com. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  2. Piercarlo Ghinzani driverdb.com
  3. Merlino, Michele. "Alonso closes in on Mansell's tally". Autosport Magazine. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Riccardo Patrese
European Formula Three Champion
1977
Succeeded by
Jan Lammers
Preceded by
Siegfried Stohr
Italian Formula Three Champion
1979
Succeeded by
Guido Pardini
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