Piercarlo
Ghinzani

Piercarlo Ghinzani was born on 16 January 1952 in Riviera d'Adda, Italy. He began racing in Formula Ford before moving up to Formula Three, first with the Allegrini Team and from 1976 with Euroracing. In 1977 he won the European Formula Three Championship, which gave chassis supplier March its first title in that series. He added the Italian Formula Three title in 1979. In 1978 he also contested a Formula Two round at Pergusa, finishing fourth in a March-BMW.

Ghinzani made his Formula One debut at the 1981 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, where Enzo Osella gave him the car of the injured Miguel Angel Guerra. In 1983 he tested for Tyrrell, but Ken Tyrrell kept Michele Alboreto and Danny Sullivan, so Ghinzani signed for Osella and stayed with the team in 1984. That year he finished fifth in the Dallas Grand Prix, his only points finish, which left him 19th in the World Championship. In 1985 he started the season with Osella and moved to Toleman midway through the year, partnering Teo Fabi. He was back at Osella in 1986, then drove for Ligier alongside René Arnoux in 1987 and for Zakspeed in 1988, where his best result was 14th at Hockenheim. In 1989 he returned to Osella with Nicola Larini as his team-mate, and announced his retirement from Formula One before the final race in Australia. He made 72 starts from 111 entries and never reached the podium.

Away from Formula One, Ghinzani drove for the Lancia sports car team in 1982 and won a round of the Group C World Championship at Mugello with Alboreto. He competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times between 1980 and 1983 but never saw the finish. In 1992 he founded Team Ghinzani, which raced in several national and European Formula Three championships and ran A1 Team Italy in A1 Grand Prix from 2005 to 2009.

Source: Wikipedia, “Piercarlo Ghinzani”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.