Luca Filippi (born 9 August 1985 in

Savigliano Savigliano () is a of Piedmont, Northern Italy, in the Province of Cuneo, about south of Turin by rail. It is home to ironworks, foundries, locomotive works (once owned by Fiat Ferroviaria, now by Alstom) and silk manufactures, as well as sugar ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

) is an Italian former

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

driver. He competed in

GP2 Series The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Ecc ...

from 2006 to 2012, and the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

from 2013 to 2016. In 2008 he was the official

Honda Racing F1 The Japanese automobile manufacturer Honda has participated in Formula One, as an engine manufacturer and team owner, for various periods since 1964. They have been active as engine manufacturers since , producing the RA Series Hybrid power ...

test driver.

Career

Formula Renault

Filippi made the step out of

karting Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size motor ...

in 2003, competing in

Formula Renault 2.0 Italia Formula Renault 2.0 Italia was a Formula Renault, Formula Renault 2.0 racing series that is based in Italy. The series raced mostly on Italian races but it had regular races at Belgium's Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and in Spain. Several Formul ...

, where he finished third in 2004 behind

Pastor Maldonado Pastor Rafael Maldonado Motta (; born 9 March 1985) is a Venezuelan former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Maldonado won the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix with Williams. After winning the GP2 Series in 2010 with Rapax, Maldona ...

and

Kohei Hirate is a Japanese race car driver. Hirate has won the Super GT series twice. Career Hirate began karting in 1999 when he was 13. After winning the All Japan Junior Kart Championship, coming third and fifth in the All Japan Kart Championship and c ...

Formula 3000

Filippi stepped up to the Italian Formula 3000 series in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, driving for

Giancarlo Fisichella Giancarlo "Giano" Fisichella (; born 14 January 1973), also known as Fisico or Fisi, is an Italian racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Fisichella won three Formula One Grands Prix across 14 seasons. Bo ...

's Fisichella Motorsport team. He also made his

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 ...

test debut in 2005 with

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 following ...

in the team's last test.

GP2 Series

Fisichella joined forces with the

Coloni Motorsport Coloni Motorsport, also known as Scuderia Coloni, was an auto racing team from Italy. Founded by former racing driver Enzo Coloni in 1983, the team participated in Formula Three between 1983 and 1986, before racing in Formula One as Enzo Coloni ...

team in 2006, and Filippi was selected as a driver for the team. However, he switched to the BCN Competición team mid-way through the season. In

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, he continued in GP2 with

Super Nova Racing Super Nova Racing was a British racing team that has competed in International Formula 3000, Formula 3000/GP2 Series, GP2 and the A1 Grand Prix series. History Super Nova first entered racing in 1991. Super Nova was a new incarnation of the p ...

and emerged as one of the series' top performers, finishing the season in fourth position. On 14 November 2007 Filippi tested for

. On 6 December Filippi tested for

Super Aguri F1 Super Aguri F1 was a Formula One team that competed from to . The team, founded by former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki, was based in Tokyo, Japan, but operated from the former Arrows factory at the Leafield Technical Centre, Oxfordshire, England. ...

, being even faster than regular race driver Takuma Sato. For the inaugural

GP2 Asia Series The GP2 Asia Series was a form of open wheel motor racing as a result of a spin-off from the GP2 Series. History The series was officially announced during the weekend of the 2007 Monaco GP2 Series round. GP2 series organiser Bruno Michel com ...

season in early

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, Filippi raced for

Team Meritus Meritus.GP (racing as Altawkilat Meritus.GP for sponsorship reasons) is a Malaysian motor racing team, which organizes the F4 Saudi Arabian Championship. The team is owned by Peter Thompson and Firhat Mokhzani, and managed by engineer Sean Thomp ...

, a

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

n team who entered the series due to regular series team

Racing Engineering Racing Engineering is a Spanish racing team founded in 1999 by Alfonso de Orléans-Borbón that currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. The team's headquarters are located in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near Jerez, where all car prep ...

not competing in the winter series. He only managed to score four points in ten races, finishing in 17th place. Luca Filippi 2009 GP2 Catalunya

Filippi drove for the

ART Grand Prix ART Grand Prix is a French motor racing team that competes in formula single-seaters in Europe. In 2012, it competed in the GP2 Series and GP3 Series as Lotus GP to reflect sponsorship from British sports and racing car manufacturer Lotus. The ...

team in the first half of the 2008 GP2 Series season, alongside

Romain Grosjean Romain David Jeremie Grosjean (; born 17 April 1986) is a French and Swiss racing driver, who competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Lamborghini and serves as a reserve driver in the IndyCar Series for Prema. Grosjean competed under ...

. Following a disappointing first half of the season, Luca left the team in favour of

Sakon Yamamoto is a Japanese former racing driver and politician, who competed in Formula One between and . Yamamoto was a member of the House of Representatives of Japan from 2021 to 2024, representing Tōkai PR for the Liberal Democratic Party. Before ...

after ten races. Filippi was confirmed as a driver at the

Arden International Arden International, competing as Arden Motorsport, is a multiple formula racing team created and run by Christian Horner and Garry Horner. It currently competes in the GB4 Championship, and formerly ran in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, Formula ...

team two days later, where he replaced

Yelmer Buurman Yelmer Evert Frans Buurman (born 19 February 1987) is a Dutch professional racing driver. He was 3rd in the Blancpain Endurance Series in 2013 Blancpain Endurance Series season, 2013, and second in the FIA GT1 Championship in 2012 FIA GT1 World ...

. His results failed to improve and he finished nineteenth in the championship. Filippi returned to BCN Competición for the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season, but was replaced by

Fabrizio Crestani Fabrizio Crestani (born 17 December 1987) is an Italian racing driver. Career Having competed in karts until 2005, Crestani moved up to the Formula Junior 1600 Italia championship, finishing in 4th place in the championship, driving for PSR M ...

as a result of the team's purchase after the first round of the season. For the

2009 GP2 Series season The 2009 GP2 Series season was the forty-third season of the second-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also fifth season under the GP2 Series moniker. The season consisted of twenty races at ten rounds, beginning on 9 May at the Circui ...

, he returned to the Super Nova team, and took the final win of the season at the

Autódromo Internacional do Algarve The Algarve International Circuit (), commonly referred to as Portimão Circuit, is a race circuit located in Portimão, Algarve region, Portugal. The development includes a karting track, off-road track, technology park, five-star hotel, sp ...

. His result promoted him up to fifth overall in the championship standings. Filippi returned to

for the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season, and finished as runner-up in the championship standings, taking Meritus' first victory in the series in

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

. Filippi began the

2010 GP2 Series season The 2010 GP2 Series season was the forty-fourth season of the second-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also sixth season under the GP2 Series moniker. The season began on 8 May at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmeló, Spain and ended ...

without a drive, but returned to Super Nova mid-season to replace the injured

Josef Král Josef Král (born 15 June 1990 in Dvůr Králové nad Labem) is a professional racing driver from the Czech Republic and current Formula 1 commentator on Czech TV station Nova Sport 5. Career Karting & early career Král began his motorsport ca ...

. He took five points from ten races, before Král returned for the season finale, finishing twentieth in the championship. During this period, Filippi became the most experienced GP2 driver in the series' history, beating Javier Villa's record of 82 race entries. Filippi was drafted into the

Scuderia Coloni Coloni Motorsport, also known as Scuderia Coloni, was an auto racing team from Italy. Founded by former racing driver Enzo Coloni in 1983, the team participated in Formula Three between 1983 and 1986, before racing in Formula One as Enzo Coloni ...

team for the second round of the

2011 GP2 Asia Series season The 2011 GP2 Asia Series was the fourth and final season of the GP2 Asia Series, and the second to be held entirely in a single calendar year. Season summary Rather than starting at the end of 2010 and running through the winter as with the pr ...

after regular driver James Jakes opted to move to the United States in order to pursue a career in the

. He returned once again to Super Nova for the main series, alongside

Fairuz Fauzy Mohamed Fairuz bin Mohamed Fauzy (born 24 October 1982) is a Malaysian professional race car driver. Early career Fairuz started competing in karting events in 1994 before making the move to British Formula Ford at the start of 1999. He ...

. After five rounds of the championship, he switched back to Coloni, replacing Kevin Ceccon. He immediately registered an improvement in form, winning his first race for the team at the

Nürburgring The () is a 150,000-person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long configuration, built in the 1920s ...

, which also marked his 100th race in the series. He also won the

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), informally referred to as Spa, is a motor-racing circuit located in Francorchamps, Stavelot, Wallonia, Belgium, about southeast of Spa. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, ho ...

sprint race and the

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

feature race, propelling him to a career-best second place in the drivers' championship. After almost a year away from GP2, Filippi was again called up by Coloni as a replacement for

Stefano Coletti Stefano Coletti (born 6 April 1989) is a Monaco, Monégasque former professional Auto racing, racing driver who raced for SMP Racing in the European Le Mans Series. His sister Alexandra Coletti is an alpine skier. He is the first Monégasque drive ...

for his home race of the 2012 championship at

. Despite his absence from the series, he won the feature race. He also secured pole position for the following (and final) round of the championship in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, but crashed heavily during the feature race, damaging his car beyond immediate repair and thus non-starting the sprint race. Nevertheless, he still finished 16th in the drivers' championship despite contesting only four of the series' 24 races.

Auto GP

Filippi contested in the

2010 Auto GP season The 2010 Auto GP Series was the twelfth season of the former Euroseries 3000, and the first under its new name "Auto GP". The main sponsor of the series was PartyPoker.it. The series used the same Lola B05/52 chassis that the A1 Grand Prix ser ...

, where he finished 5th in the drivers' standings with 2 victories topping and tailing the season with the 1st race at Brno and the last race at Monza. He returned to the series the following year, taking one

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

, three fastest laps, one win and five further podiums, finishing as runner-up to Kevin Ceccon by only 3 points despite having missed two races.

IndyCar

On 6 March 2012, it was announced that Filippi would join

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) is an auto racing team that has participated in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the IndyCar Series. Headquartered in Zionsville, Indiana and Hilliard, Ohio, it is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 50 ...

in the IndyCar series from the

Indy 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

onwards. He would have partnered ex-Formula 1 driver

Takuma Sato is a Japanese racing driver, who competes part-time in the IndyCar Series for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Sato competed in Formula One from to . In American open-wheel racing, Sato is a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 in 2017 a ...

; despite this, he did not take part in the Indy 500 nor in the following races. He competed in four races in 2013 for

Bryan Herta Autosport Bryan Herta Autosport is an American auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series and the Michelin Pilot Challenge. It is owned by former IndyCar driver Bryan Herta. The team won the 2011 Indianapolis 500 with driver Dan Wheldon. In 201 ...

, scoring a best finish of 15th.

CFH Racing CFH Racing was an American auto racing team that competed in the IndyCar Series The team was founded in August 2014 via a merger between Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing and Ed Carpenter Racing, and debuted in 2015. CFH Racing was co-owned by Ed Ca ...

signed Filippi for the 2015 IndyCar season to compete at the road/street races. For the 2016 season, Filippi signed with Dale Coyne Racing to compete in the whole season, ovals included. His first race on an oval track was in Phoenix Arizona, where he finished P20. A few days before the GP of Indianapolis, Coyne excluded Filippi from both Indy events and signed Gabby Chaves in place of the Italian driver.

Formula E

2017 saw Filippi join

Nio Nio or NIO may refer to: * NI Opera, Opera company * Nio (Buddhism), guardians of the Buddha * Nio Inc., a Chinese electric automobile manufacturer * Nicaraguan córdoba, currency by ISO 4217 currency code * National Institute of Oceanography (d ...

in the all-electric

FIA Formula E Championship Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The racing series is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars. ...

alongside

Oliver Turvey Oliver Jonathan Turvey (born 1 April 1987) is a British people, British professional racing driver, who most recently competed in Formula E, and is currently signed to DS Penske as a reserve driver and a sporting advisor. He was a notable Karti ...

, where he picked up a point in his debut race with a tenth-place finish in the 2017 Hong Kong ePrix. Despite a strong debut, Filippi failed to pick up another point during the season. He missed the

Paris ePrix The Paris ePrix was an annual race of the open-wheel car, single-seater, Electric car, electrically powered Formula E championship, held in Paris, France. It was first raced in the 2015-16 Formula E season, 2015-16 season. Circuit Circuit des In ...

, so that

Ma Qinghua Ma Qinghua () (born 25 December 1987) is a Chinese racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup with Cyan Performance Lynk & Co. Ma became the first Chinese driver to win an FIA World Championship race when he won race ...

could fulfil a contract deal. He scored just one point to Turvey's 46 and was dropped by NIO for the 2018/19 season.

Racing record

Career summary

^† As Filippi was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points. ^* Season still in progress.

Complete GP2 Series results

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

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

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

Complete Auto GP results

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

IndyCar Series results

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

Complete Formula E results

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

Complete TCR Europe Touring Car Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete World Touring Car Cup results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^‡ As Filippi was a Wildcard entry, he was ineligible to score points.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Filippi, Luca 1985 births Living people People from Savigliano Italian racing drivers Karting World Championship drivers Italian Formula Three Championship drivers British Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Formula Renault Eurocup drivers Auto GP drivers GP2 Asia Series drivers GP2 Series drivers International GT Open drivers IndyCar Series drivers Formula E drivers World Touring Car Cup drivers Euronova Racing drivers Scuderia Coloni drivers Ocean Racing Technology drivers Super Nova Racing drivers ART Grand Prix drivers Arden International drivers Team Meritus drivers Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers Ed Carpenter Racing drivers Dale Coyne Racing drivers NIO 333 FE Team drivers Sportspeople from the Province of Cuneo GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers Team Lazarus drivers Bryan Herta Autosport drivers Fortec Motorsport drivers TCR Europe Touring Car Series drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers M1RA drivers