Stefano
Modena

Stefano Modena was born on 12 May 1963 in Modena and began racing in karts. He won the junior World Cup in 1978 and was senior European champion in 1983 and 1984. He moved up to Italian Formula 3 in 1985 and took three wins there in 1986, finishing fourth overall. In 1987 he won the International Formula 3000 title with Onyx, winning three rounds along the way.

He made his Formula One debut in the 1987 season finale in Australia for Brabham, qualifying 15th. In 1988 he drove for the new EuroBrun team, whose Ford Cosworth-powered car was uncompetitive, and he started ten of the 16 races he entered. He rejoined Brabham in 1989, when the team returned after a year away. With a Judd V8 he started inside the top ten eight times and finished third at the Monaco Grand Prix, the first of his two podiums. He ended that year 16th in the championship. In 1990 he was fifth in the opening race in the United States and again finished 16th overall.

In 1991 he joined Tyrrell as the replacement for Jean Alesi, who left for Ferrari. He was fourth in Phoenix, ran third at Imola until a transmission failure, and lined up on the front row beside Ayrton Senna at Monaco before an engine failure ended his race. In Canada he finished second after Nigel Mansell retired on the final lap, and he added a point with sixth place in Japan. Eighth in the standings was his best championship position. In 1992 he drove for Jordan with a Yamaha V12 engine. He failed to qualify four times, starting 12 of 16 races, and scored the team's only point of the year in the final round in Australia. He could not find a Formula One drive for 1993.

In Formula One he was entered 81 times and started 70 races, with two podiums. From 1993 to 1999 he raced for Alfa Romeo in Italian and German touring car series, and in 2000 for Opel before retiring from racing. In 2003 he began testing tyres for Bridgestone.

Source: Wikipedia, “Stefano Modena”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.