Marco Apicella (born 7 October 1965) is an Italian former professional racing driver. He competed in one

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 ...

Grand Prix for the

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

team in the 1993 Italian Grand Prix. He later won the 1994 Japanese Formula 3000 Championship driving for

Dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

Career

Marco Apicella was born in Bologna on 7 October 1965. He began competing in

Formula Three Formula Three (F3) is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. History Formula Three (adop ...

racing in 1984, and took victory for

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 ...

in the first two rounds of the 1986 Italian Formula Three season. Apicella competed in the 1985 Macau Grand Prix, where he failed to finish.

International Formula 3000 (1987–1991)

Apicella's first season in International Formula 3000,

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

, was uncompetitive in the EuroVenturini

Dallara Dallara Group S.r.l. is the largest multi-national Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Giampaolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' M ...

car, only scoring one point thanks to a fifth place at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. During the same year, he tested 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 following ...

Formula One car at the

Autódromo do Estoril The Circuito do Estoril or Autódromo do Estoril (Estoril Circuit), officially known as Autódromo Fernanda Pires da Silva, is a motorsport race track on the Portuguese Riviera, outside of Lisbon, owned by state-run holding management company ...

circuit. Apicella moved to the FIRST team for the 1988 season and was a title favourite for the season. He bought the

March Engineering March Engineering was a Formula One constructor and manufacturer of customer racing cars from the United Kingdom. Although only moderately successful in Grand Prix competition, March racing cars enjoyed much better success in other categories ...

car to a second-place finish in the Monza race, but was not as competitive as teammate

Pierluigi Martini Pierluigi Martini (; born 23 April 1961) is an Italian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to and from to . In endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing, Martini won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in with BMW in motorsport ...

. The team underperformed, but in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, again with FIRST (who had made a change to

Reynard Motorsport Reynard Motorsport was the world's largest racing car manufacturer in the 1980s. Initially based at Bicester and latterly at Reynard Park, Brackley, England the company built successful cars in Formula Ford 1600, Formula Ford 2000, Formula Va ...

cars), Apicella achieved several podium finishes on his way to finishing fourth overall in the Drivers' Championship. Apicella looked like a championship contender for the 1990 season and continued with the FIRST team, but his performances worsened as the season progressed, ending with a disqualification in the

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

round. A crash at the

Pau Grand Prix The Pau Grand Prix () is a motor race held in Pau, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of southwestern France. The French Grand Prix was held at Pau in 1930, leading to the annual Pau Grand Prix being inaugurated in 1933. It was not r ...

prevented him from claiming his first win. Despite a poor 1990 season, Apicella had the chance to test drive with the

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

and Minardi teams. Late in the year, he went to Japan and did some tests for

Bridgestone is a Japanese multinational manufacturing company founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (18891976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of (), meaning ...

in a

Reynard Reynard the Fox is a list of literary cycles, literary cycle of medieval allegorical Folklore of the Low Countries, Dutch, English folklore, English, French folklore, French and German folklore, German fables. The first extant versions of the cy ...

- Mugen Formula One prototype car. Apicella chose to change teams for the 1991 season, moving to

Paul Stewart Racing Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo P ...

, teaming up with Stewart himself. He was classified fifth overall at the end of the season. Apicella was able to score podiums, but not victories, in the Lola car. Apicella started more International F3000 races than any other winless driver.

Japanese Formula 3000 (1992–1993)

With no offers for a drive in International F3000 for

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, Apicella went to Japan to drive in the

Japanese Formula 3000 The Japanese Super Formula Championship is a formula racing series held primarily in Japan. It is considered to be the pinnacle of single-seater racing in Japan or Asia as a whole, making it one of the top motorsport series in the region. The s ...

series, setting up a relationship with the

team. Apicella came tenth in the standings, the best of any Dome driver. Apicella, driving the Dome F103 won the fifth round of the championship that year. He continued to improve, finishing fourth in the

1993 season The General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its calendar advanced 24 hours to th ...

, winning at the Sugo race circuit.

Formula One

Apicella's good performances in Japan during 1992 and early 1993 gave him a drive at the

team for his home race in the

, with team boss

Eddie Jordan Edmund Patrick Jordan (30 March 1948 – 20 March 2025) was an Irish motorsport executive, broadcaster, racing driver and businessman. From to , Jordan served as founder and team principal of Jordan in Formula One. Born in Dublin, Jordan in ...

wanting to try out up-and-coming Formula 3000 drivers. He replaced

Thierry Boutsen Thierry Marc Alain Boutsen (; born 13 July 1957) is a Belgian former racing driver, businessman and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Boutsen won three Formula One Grands Prix across 11 seasons. Boutsen competed in ...

. Apicella tested the

Jordan 193 The Jordan 193 was the car with which the Jordan team competed in the 1993 Formula One World Championship. The number 14 seat was taken by debutant Rubens Barrichello, while five different drivers occupied the number 15 seat over the course of th ...

car at Imola before the race weekend. During practice for the race he spun on the moist tarmac at the second Lesmo corner. He qualified in 23rd position, half a second behind teammate Barrichello, who set his times later in the session after the circuit had become less damp. It was the first time Apicella had driven a racing car with a

semi-automatic gearbox A semi-automatic transmission is a multiple-speed transmission where part of its operation is automated (typically the actuation of the clutch), but the driver's input is still required to launch the vehicle from a standstill and to manually chang ...

. Apicella retired at the first corner of the first lap of the race after a multi-car collision. He was replaced by

Emanuele Naspetti Emanuele Naspetti (born 24 February 1968) is a racing driver and entrepreneur from Italy. Career Karting He made his racing debut at the age of 12 and spent seven years in karting (1980–1986), participating in more than 200 races and achi ...

for the following round in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. As a result of this, he is falsely considered to have had the shortest Formula 1 career out of any driver, a record held by

Ernst Loof Ernst Loof (4 July 1907 in Neindorf near Oschersleben – 3 March 1956 in Bonn) was an automotive engineer and racing driver from Germany. He contributed to the design of the BMW 328 sports car in the late 1930s. Biography Loof participated in ...

. Apicella retired after driving 800 metres, while Loof's car broke down as it was pulling away from the starting grid.

Japanese Formula 3000/Formula Nippon (1994–1996)

For

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, Apicella continued with Dome in Japanese Formula 3000, winning at the Mine, Suzuka and Fuji circuits on his way to winning the title. He continued in Japanese F3000 for

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

and

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

(the series being renamed

Formula Nippon The Japanese Super Formula Championship is a formula racing series held primarily in Japan. It is considered to be the pinnacle of single-seater racing in Japan or Asia as a whole, making it one of the top motorsport series in the region. The s ...

for 1996), this time with Team 5Zigen, but his activities were limited, as he chose to do other motor sport activities such as the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

. Apicella was appointed Chief Test Driver with Dome for 1996, testing the Dome F105 car alongside

Shinji Nakano Shinji Nakano (中野信治, born 1 April 1971) is a Japanese professional racing driver. His father, Tsuneharu, was also a racing driver. He competed in the All-Japan Formula Three Championship. Racing career Pre Formula One Career For ...

and Katsumi Yamamoto from April to June 1996 at the Suzuka Circuit. The aim was for the car to produce a base for them to mount a challenge into Formula One, but the project was shelved after the car was substantially damaged in an accident. Apicella's last season in the Formula Nippon series was in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, driving for the Stellar International team. His best result for the team was a fourth place at the Mine circuit.

Other series (1999–2009)

Apicella moved back to Italy for

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, competing in the Italian Formula 3000 championship. He scored two wins during the season on his way to third place in the championship. Apicella also tried to qualify for the Spa round of the International Formula 3000 championship in

for Monaco Motorsport, but failed to do so due to adverse weather conditions. Apicella has since gone back to Japan, to compete in touring cars with the

All Japan GT Championship All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC) is a sports car racing, grand touring car racing series that began in 1993. Originally titled as the , the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It was the top level of sports car racing in Japan. ...

. Apicella has also competed in several

races. He was scheduled to compete in the 2007 event with the

JLOC The Japan Lamborghini Owners' Club (JLOC) is an organization of Lamborghini car owners in Japan, whose members would later form Team JLOC, currently competing in the GT300 class of Super GT, in 1994. Team JLOC first entered Super GT in 1994 and ...

Isao Noritake team, but on the first day of practice he was involved in an accident on the

Mulsanne Straight The Mulsanne Straight (, "Straight Line of Les Hunaudières") is the name used in English for a formerly long straight of the Circuit de la Sarthe around which the 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race takes place. Since 1990, the straight is interrup ...

, which heavily damaged his

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. ( , ), usually referred to as Lamborghini or colloquially Lambo, is an Italian manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its su ...

Murciélago Murciélago (Spanish for "Bat") was a Navarra Spanish Fighting Bull, fighting bull who gained fame after Lamborghini chose to name Lamborghini Murciélago, a supercar after him to continue the passion for bullfighting that Ferruccio Lamborghini, ...

car. Apicella competed in the 2009 event, again with the JLOC team. This and a start for JLOC in the 2009 Super GT Series saw the end of Apicella's professional racing career.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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

Complete Japanese Formula 3000/Formula Nippon results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) † Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Complete Formula One results

( key)

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete JGTC/Super GT results

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Apicella, Marco 1965 births Living people Racing drivers from Bologna Italian racing drivers Italian Formula One drivers Japanese Formula 3000 Championship drivers Jordan Formula One drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers Formula Nippon drivers Auto GP drivers Super GT drivers International Formula 3000 drivers European Le Mans Series drivers Paul Stewart Racing drivers Team LeMans drivers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Scuderia Coloni drivers TOM'S drivers