Pierluigi Martini (born 23 April 1961) is an Italian former racing driver. He won the 1999 24 hours of Le Mans and participated in 124

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

Grands Prix (with 119 starts) between 1984 and 1995.

Early life

Martini's uncle,

Giancarlo Martini Giancarlo Martini (16 August 1947 – 26 March 2013) was a racing driver from Italy. He participated in two non-championship Formula One Grands Prix driving a Ferrari 312T for Giancarlo Minardi. He was the uncle of the racing drivers Pierl ...

, raced during the 1970s, including some non-championship races in a

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

312T entered by Scuderia Everest, a team owned by

Giancarlo Minardi Giancarlo Minardi (born 18 September 1947) is the founder and managing director of the now-defunct Minardi Formula One team. Early life Minardi was born in Faenza (Ravenna), Italy and has spent his life with cars. As a young boy, his family ma ...

. Pierluigi's younger brother, Oliver, is also a racing driver.

Formula One

Martini participated in 124

Grands Prix, debuting on 9 September 1984, driving for Toleman in place of suspended Ayrton Senna at the

1984 Italian Grand Prix The 1984 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 9 September 1984. It was the fourteenth race of the 1984 Formula One World Championship. The 51-lap race was won by Austrian Niki Lauda, driving a McLaren- TAG, with loca ...

. He scored a total of 18 championship points and was synonymous with the

Minardi 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 followi ...

team (run by the same

who had previously owned Scuderia Everest). Pierluigi Martini 1994 Minardi

Indeed, aside from a single outing with Toleman and a one-season dalliance with Scuderia Italia in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

, Martini's entire Formula One career was spent with the Italian outfit. He raced with the minnow team in three different stints, drove for them on their debut in 1985, scored their first point in the 1988 Detroit Grand Prix, and their only front-row start at the 1990 United States Grand Prix (where unexpected rain on Saturday meant that the grid was decided entirely by times from Friday's session. Pirelli's soft qualifying tyres caught Goodyear off guard, and the Italian manufacturer put five of its teams in the top ten positions). Both Martini and Minardi led a race for a single lap at the 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix, and their joint-best finish was 4th at the 1991 San Marino Grand Prix and 1991 Portuguese Grand Prix, the latter being Martini's single finish on the lead lap. Initially out of a drive for 1993, he was recalled back to the little Italian team midway through the season in place of

Fabrizio Barbazza Fabrizio Barbazza (born 2 April 1963) is an Italian former Formula One driver who raced for the AGS and Minardi teams and was the 1987 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year. Career Early career Barbazza was born in Monza, Lombardy. After ...

, Martini impressed by outpacing his young team mate Christian Fittipaldi. Martini was also one of the drivers with a reputation for ignoring blue flags. Examples given are the 1991 Monaco Grand Prix when he held up Emanuele Pirro in the

Dallara Dallara is an Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Gian Paolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' Melegari ( Parma), Italy he create ...

, Stefano Modena in the Tyrrell, and Riccardo Patrese in the Williams for several laps despite running towards the back of the field, and the

1995 Canadian Grand Prix The 1995 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 11 June 1995 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal. It was the sixth race of the 1995 Formula One season. It produced the only Grand Prix victory for French driver Jean Al ...

where he blocked Gerhard Berger in the Ferrari when the Austrian tried to lap him. On both occasions Martini was called in for a 10-second stop and go penalty for ignoring blue flags. Quizzed about this attitude on the occasion of the

1995 San Marino Grand Prix The 1995 San Marino Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 30 April 1995 at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola. It was the third race of the 1995 Formula One season. Following the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna at ...

, where he held up winner Damon Hill, Martini replied: 'What should I exactly apologise for? My trajectories are always clean. Should I just park the car on the grass? I'm here to do my race like anybody else. I've always been correct. Those who complain about my conduct should explain why they cannot overtake me when their car has at least 150 hp more than mine'.

Sportscars

Prior to commencing his Formula One career, Martini drove a Lancia LC2 in the 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans. After leaving Formula One, he began a successful career in

sportscar racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing i ...

. He contested the 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Porsche run by Joest Racing. 1997 brought a fourth-place finish in a Porsche 911 GT1 which he also raced in the FIA GT Championship that year. In 1998, he joined the brand new Le Mans program of BMW Motorsports. In 1999, Martini, Yannick Dalmas and

Joachim Winkelhock Joachim Winkelhock (born 24 October 1960) is a German motor racing driver. The younger brother of the late Manfred Winkelhock, Winkelhock was born in Waiblingen, near Stuttgart. The youngest brother, Thomas Winkelhock, and Manfred's son Markus ...

won the

Le Mans 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose w ...

. The trio drove for BMW. The team had to fight both Toyota and Mercedes works cars and won the race by a lap from the runner-up Toyota. Martini returned to motorsports in 2006, competing in the Grand Prix Masters series for retired Formula One drivers.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete International Formula 3000 results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.)

Complete Formula One results

( key)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete Grand Prix Masters results

( key) Races in bold indicate pole position, races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.

Sources

DRIVERS: PIERLUIGI MARTINI
GrandPrix.com

External links

Driver Database StatsRacing Reference Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martini, Pierluigi 1961 births Living people Sportspeople from the Province of Ravenna Italian racing drivers Italian Formula One drivers European Formula Two Championship drivers Italian Formula Three Championship drivers FIA European Formula 3 Championship drivers Toleman Formula One drivers Minardi Formula One drivers Scuderia Italia Formula One drivers Grand Prix Masters drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans winning drivers International Formula 3000 drivers American Le Mans Series drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers Superstars Series drivers BMW M drivers Porsche Motorsports drivers Team Joest drivers Schnitzer Motorsport drivers