Carlo Maria Abate (10 July 1932 – 29 April 2019) was an Italian auto racing driver. He was one of the best

Ferrari 250 GTO The Ferrari 250 GTO is a grand tourer produced by Ferrari from 1962 to 1964 for Homologation (motorsport), homologation into the FIA's Group 3 (racing), Group 3 Grand Touring Car category. It was powered by Ferrari's Ferrari Colombo engine#250, ...

specialists. Abate preferred to be addressed as "Carlo Mario Abate" instead of his christened name. Abate raced mostly for the private Italian team

Scuderia Serenissima Scuderia Serenissima or Scuderia SSS Republica di Venezia was an auto racing team funded by Giovanni Volpi and active in the early 1960s. The name "Serenissima" ("Most Serene") refers to one of the many definitions the city of Venice is known f ...

of Count Giovanni Volpi, but also for

Scuderia Centro Sud Scuderia Centro Sud was a Privateer (motorsport), privateer racing team founded in Modena by Guglielmo "Mimmo" Dei and active in Formula One and sports car racing between 1956 and 1965. Dei had been an amateur driver in the 1930s. In the early 19 ...

Scuderia Ferrari Scuderia Ferrari (; ), currently racing under Scuderia Ferrari HP, 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 Pranc ...

and the

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

factory team. He won one of the rounds of

1962 World Sportscar Championship The 1962 World Sportscar Championship season was the 10th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship motor racing. It featured the 1962 International Championship for GT Manufacturers, which was contested in three engine capacity divisions, an ...

: The Trophée d'Auvergne on 15 July 1962. In

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

he tried participating in

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

races, entering the 1962 Naples Grand Prix in a

, finishing fourth. After crashing his Lotus 18/21 at his next race at

Reims-Gueux The circuit Reims-Gueux was a motor racing circuit made up of rural public roads, located in Gueux, west of Reims in the Champagne region of north-eastern France, established in 1926 as the second venue of the Grand Prix de la Marne. The trian ...

, he withdrew his entry to his first World Championship event, the

1962 French Grand Prix The 1962 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Rouen-Les-Essarts on 8 July 1962. It was race 4 of 9 in both the 1962 World Championship of Drivers and the 1962 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was won by ...

, and later also entered and withdrew from

1962 German Grand Prix The 1962 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Nürburgring on 5 August 1962. It was race 6 of 9 in both the 1962 World Championship of Drivers and the 1962 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The 15-lap race ...

. He returned to the track for the 1962 Mediterranean Grand Prix, where he came third. The following year, he drove a Scuderia Centro Sud

Cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), an alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * "Cooper", a song by Roxette from ...

to fifth place in the 1963 Imola Grand Prix, and came third at the 1963 Syracuse Grand Prix. After withdrawing his entry to the

1963 Italian Grand Prix The 1963 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 8 September 1963. It was the seventh of ten races in both the 1963 World Championship of Drivers and the 1963 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. At this rac ...

, he retired from the sport at the end of the year, his greatest year, culminating with a win at the

Targa Florio The Targa Florio was a public road Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo, Sicily, Palermo. Founded in 1906 Targa Florio, 1906, it was the oldest sports car ra ...

in a factory

with

Jo Bonnier Karl Jockum Jonas "Joakim" Bonnier (31 January 1930 – 11 June 1972), commonly known as Jo Bonnier, was a Swedish racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Bonnier won the 1959 Dutch Grand Prix with BRM. ...

. Abate later became the director of a private clinic.

Career results

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Formula One World Championship results

( key)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abate, Carlo Maria 1932 births 2019 deaths Racing drivers from Turin Italian Formula One drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers Italian racing drivers