Pierluigi Martini (born 23 April 1961) is an Italian former racing driver. He won the 1999 24 hours of Le Mans and participated in 124 Formula One Grands Prix (with 119 starts) between 1984 and 1995. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Pierluigi Martini competed in 124 Formula One Grands Prix (with 119 starts) between 1984 and 1995, and his debut came with Toleman at the Italian Grand Prix.
Apart from Giancarlo Minardi himself, Pierluigi was synonymous with the Minardi team, as, apart from his Toleman debut, and a season with Scuderia Italia, his entire F1 career was spent with the team.
During his years racing for them, there were landmark moments for him and the team; he drove for them on their debut in 1985, scored their first point in the 1988 Detroit GP, achieved a front-row start at the 1990 US GP, 1989’s Portuguese GP saw him drive their only lap leading a race, plus he achieved their best F1 result of 4th, in 1991, at Imola and Estoril,
He competed for several years in Italian F3 and won the 1983 European F3 Championship. There was a a one-off F2 drive at Misano and he excelled in his Minardi M283-BMW, finishing second. Following this he tested a Brabham-BMW at Brands Hatch and drove a Lancia LC2 at Le Mans in 1984.
The Toleman F1 team had dropped Ayrton Senna before his move to Lotus and they turned to Pierluigi for the 1984 Italian GP although he failed to qualify.
In 1985, Minardi moved up to F1 and he drove their Motori Moderni-powered car but it would be a frustrating season.
He then raced in F3000 and won three times in a Pavesi Ralt RT20-Cosworth in 1986 as he challenged Ivan Capelli for the title, though finished runner up. 1988 saw him drive for Lamberto Leoni’s FIRST Racing Team, winning the Mediterranean GP at Enna-Pergusa and he finished fourth in the championship.
During the year he returned to F1 with Minardi at Detroit, replacing Adrián Campos and his sixth place finish gave the team their very first world championship point. Over the next few seasons, Minardi were supported by many fans who liked their underdog status against the big teams. Highlights included a fifth place in the 1989 British and Portuguese GPs and he used Pirelli’s qualifying tyres to good effect at 1990’s US GP, starting the race on the front row.
A switch to Ferrari engines for 1991 provided him with his best F1 results, with two fourth place finishes and he finished 11th in the world championship. From this he drove a BMS Scuderia Italia Dallara F192-Ferrari in 1992 but returned to Minardi for his final three seasons as an F1 driver; his last F1 race was the 1995 German GP.
After leaving F1, he contested the 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Joest Racing Porsche, the following year raced a Porsche 911 GT1 to an eighth place finish plus also raced in the FIA GT Championship and in 1998 joined BMW Motorsport’s Le Mans program.
Then came his highest profile victory in 1999, when he raced a Schnitzer BMW V12 LMR(with Yannick Dalmas and Joachim Winkelhock) at Le Mans. They had to fight the Toyota and Mercedes works cars and he battled with Ukyo Katayama’s Toyota during his final stint though he took the win after Ukyo suffered a high-speed puncture.
There was a return to motor racing in 2006 when he competed in the GP Masters series and he has attended historic events such as Minardi Historic Days and Goodwood.
