Nicola
Larini

Nicola Larini was born on 19 March 1964 in Lido di Camaiore, Tuscany. He began racing in Formula Italia in 1983, finished third in Formula Abarth in 1984 and won the 1986 Italian Formula 3 title for Coloni in a Dallara. In 1987 he made a brief appearance in Formula 3000 with the same team.

Larini reached Formula One with Coloni in 1987. He failed to qualify for the Italian Grand Prix, but started the Spanish Grand Prix, where he retired early. He drove for Osella in 1988 and 1989. His best result in 1988 was ninth at Monaco. In 1989 he ran third in Canada until an electrical failure, and he qualified tenth in Japan. In 1990 he moved to Ligier and took two seventh places. In 1991 he drove for Modena, finished seventh in the season opener in the United States, and then qualified for only four more races.

In 1992 Larini worked on Ferrari's active suspension system and contested two races at the end of the season, starting both from the back of the grid. In 1994 he stood in for the injured Jean Alesi. At the Pacific Grand Prix he started seventh but was eliminated at the first corner, along with Ayrton Senna, after a collision with Mika Häkkinen. At the San Marino Grand Prix he finished second, his only podium, in a race overshadowed by the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna. In 1997 he drove five races for Sauber and scored a point in Australia. In total he made 49 starts without a win.

In touring cars, Larini raced mainly for Alfa Romeo, winning the Italian Superturismo championship in 1992 and the DTM title in 1993. From 2005 to 2009 he raced for Chevrolet in the World Touring Car Championship. In November 2009 he announced the end of his professional career but kept racing: he won a race of the European Lotus Cup at Imola in 2016 and made his NASCAR Whelen Euro Series debut at Franciacorta in 2017.

Source: Wikipedia, “Nicola Larini”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.