Gabriele
Tarquini

Gabriele Tarquini was born on 2 March 1962 in Giulianova. He started kart racing in 1976, aged 14, and was already racing in Formula 3000 by 1985, where he spent three seasons. His best result there was second place at Imola in 1987.

He made his Formula One debut at the 1987 San Marino Grand Prix, a one-off drive for Osella. In 1988 he raced for Coloni. The newly introduced prequalifying caught him out several times, but he still made eight starts, and his eighth place in Canada remained the team's best result. In 1989, after Philippe Streiff's testing accident before the season, he joined AGS from the second round and ran fourth at Monaco until an electrical fault ended his race. He finished the season 26th in the championship. He stayed with AGS in 1990 and 1991, before switching to Fondmetal late in 1991. In 1992 he contested 13 rounds for Fondmetal, and the team folded after the Italian Grand Prix. In 1995 he stood in for Tyrrell at the European Grand Prix and finished 14th. In total he made 38 starts from 78 entries. His 40 failures to qualify are a record, 25 of them in prequalifying.

In touring cars, he won the British Touring Car Championship with Alfa Romeo at his first attempt in 1994, and the European Touring Car Championship in 2003. In 2009 he won the World Touring Car Championship with SEAT at the final race in Macau, becoming the oldest FIA world champion at 47 years and 266 days. In 2018 he took the WTCR title with Hyundai. He announced his retirement from racing at the 2021 Race of Italy. He later became sporting director of Genesis Magma Racing for the 2026 World Endurance Championship.

Source: Wikipedia, “Gabriele Tarquini”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.