Pierluigi Martini (; born 23 April 1961) is an Italian former

racing driver 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 ...

, who competed 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 ...

from to and from to . In endurance racing, Martini won 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 ...

in with

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

. Born in

Lugo, Emilia-Romagna Lugo () is a town and ''comune'' in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, in the province of Ravenna. History A settlement in where the city is now is mentioned for the first time in 782 AD, but the names Lucus appears only in 1071. In 11 ...

, Martini is the nephew of

Formula Two Formula Two (F2) is a type of Open-wheel car, open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009 FIA Formula Two Championship season, 2009 to 2012 FIA Formula Two C ...

driver Giancarlo Martini and the older brother of Oliver. He finished runner-up to

Ivan Capelli Ivan Franco Capelli (born 24 May 1963) is an Italian sports broadcasting, broadcaster and former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Born and raised in Milan, Capelli began competitive kart racing aged 15. He was widely succe ...

in the 1986 International Formula 3000 Championship. Martini contested 124

Formula One Grands Prix Formula One, abbreviated to F1, is the highest class of open-wheeled auto racing series managed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motorsport's world governing body. The "formula" in the name alludes to a series of FIA ...

between and for

Toleman Toleman Motorsport was a Formula One constructor based in the UK. It participated in Formula One between 1981 and 1985, competing in 70 Grands Prix. Today, it is best known for giving Ayrton Senna his Formula One debut. The team was gener ...

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 ...

, and

Scuderia Italia BMS Scuderia Italia SpA (sometimes referred to as simply Scuderia Italia) is an auto racing team founded in 1983 in Brescia by Italian businessman and motorsports enthusiast Giuseppe Lucchini. Originally named Brixia Motor Sport (BMS), the team ...

, achieving 18 championship points.

Early life

Martini's uncle, Giancarlo Martini, 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. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

312T entered by Scuderia Everest, a team owned by Giancarlo Minardi. 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

in place of suspended

Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Senna won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with McLaren, and—at the time of his death—held ...

at the 1984 Italian Grand Prix. He scored a total of 18 championship points and was synonymous with the

team (run by the same Giancarlo Minardi who had previously owned Scuderia Everest). Pierluigi Martini 1994 Minardi

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

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 ...

, 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 The 1988 Detroit Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on June 19, 1988 in Detroit, Michigan. It was the sixth race of the 1988 Formula One season and the last of three back-to-back races in the continent of North America. Summary Quali ...

, 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 The 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix (formally the XXIII Grande Prémio de Portugal) was a Formula One motor race held at the Autódromo do Estoril in Estoril, Portugal on 24 September 1989. It was the thirteenth race of the 1989 Formula One World Champ ...

, 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 The United Nations General Assembly, 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 ...

, 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 Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives, AGS and Minardi teams and was the 1987 Indianapolis 500, 1987 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year. Career Ear ...

, Martini impressed by outpacing his young teammate

Christian Fittipaldi Christian Fittipaldi (born 18 January 1971) is a Brazilian former racing driver who has competed in various forms of motorsport including Formula One, Champ Car, and NASCAR. He was a highly rated young racing driver in the early 1990s, and parti ...

. Martini was also one of the drivers with a reputation for ignoring blue flags. Examples given are the

1991 Monaco Grand Prix The 1991 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monaco on 12 May 1991. It was the fourth race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship. The 78-lap race was won from pole position by Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, driving ...

when he held up

Emanuele Pirro Emanuele Pirro (; born 12 January 1962) is an Italian racing driver who competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing, Pirro is a List of 24 Hours of Le Mans winners, five-time winner of the 24 Hours of L ...

in the

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 ...

Stefano Modena Stefano Modena (born 12 May 1963) is an Italian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Born and raised in Modena, Modena began his career in kart racing. After winning the junior direct-drive Karting World Cup in 1978, ...

in the Tyrrell, and

Riccardo Patrese Riccardo Gabriele Patrese (born 17 April 1954) is an Italian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Patrese was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Williams, and won six Grands Prix across 17 ...

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 Gerhard Berger (; born 27 August 1959) is an Austrian former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Berger won 10 Formula One Grands Prix across 14 seasons. Berger competed in Formula One for 14 seasons, ...

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. Pierluigi Martini 1995 Britain

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 Damon Graham Devereux Hill (born 17 September 1960) is an English former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Hill won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Williams, and won 22 Grands Prix acr ...

, 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 The 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 52nd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 16 – 17 June 1984. It was also the third round of the 1984 World Sportscar Championship season, 1984 World Endurance Championship. There were two big s ...

. After leaving Formula One, he began a successful career in

sportscar racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing that uses sports cars with two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built Sports prototype, sports prototypes, which are the highest level in sports car racing; or grand to ...

. He contested the

1996 24 Hours of Le Mans The 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 64th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 15 and 16 June 1996. It was won by a Tom Walkinshaw-Porsche prototype run by Joest Racing with drivers Davy Jones, Manuel Reuter and Le Mans rookie Alexande ...

in a Porsche run by

Joest Racing Joest Racing is a German sports car racing team that was established in 1978 by former Porsche works racer Reinhold Joest. Their headquarters are in Wald-Michelbach, Germany. Between 1998 and 2016, Joest Racing were strongly linked with ...

. 1997 brought a fourth-place finish in a

Porsche 911 GT1 The Porsche 911 GT1 is a car designed and developed by German automobile manufacturer Porsche AG to compete in the GT1 class of sportscar racing, which also required a street-legal version for homologation (motorsport), homologation purposes. The ...

which he also raced in the

FIA GT Championship The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout ...

that year. In 1998, he joined the brand new Le Mans program of BMW Motorsports. Minardi M189 - Pierluigi Martini

In 1999, Martini,

Yannick Dalmas Yannick Dalmas (; born 28 July 1961) is a former racing driver from France. He won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times (in 1992, 1994, 1995 and 1999), each with different teams. Prior to this, he participated in 49 Formula One Grands Prix, debuti ...

and Joachim Winkelhock won the

Le Mans 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused 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 the Monaco Grand ...

. 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 Grand Prix Masters was a one-make motor racing series featuring retired Formula One drivers. The inaugural (and sole 2005) event, at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in South Africa, took place on 11–13 November, but the series folded after a ...

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

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martini, Pierluigi 1961 births Living people Sportspeople from Lugo, Emilia-Romagna 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