Andrea Lodovico de Adamich (born 3 October 1941) is a former racing driver from Italy.
He participated in 34 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, making his début on 1 January 1968. He scored a total of six championship points. He also participated in numerous non-championship Formula One races. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Andrea De Adamich’s family originated from Rijeka, in Croatia, although he was born in Trieste, and began his racing in the early 1960s. Results included a third in 1962’s Coppa Carri race in an Alfa Romeo 1900 while in 1964, racing an Alfa Romeo Giulia T1 Super, he finished ninth with Roberto Bussinello at a 6 Hour Brands Hatch race, plus finished fifth in a Spa 24 Hour race with Gino Munaron.
However, he came to prominence by winning the 1965 Italian F3 Championship with a Lola T5A and Brabham BT15. Following this, he made his mark driving for the Autodelta Alfa Romeo team in the European Touring Car Championship, winning a round at Monza when sharing the car with Alessandro Arcioni. There was a journey to America to race an Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ with Roberto Bussinello in the Sebring 12 Hours, and they finished 24th overall and second in GT1.6 class. He competed for the first time in the Targa Florio, driving Jolly Club’s Ferrari 250 LM, but retired from it due to battery problems but in the Nurburgring 1000Km he and Geki took class victory in a Giulia TZ.
He was the 1966 and 1967 European Touring Car Champion, winning four times (Monza, Nurburgring, Snetterton and Zandvoort) and added one podium at Aspern, to win the title ahead of Abarth’s Giancarlo Baghetti. Also, he co-drove with Teodoro Zeccoli to victories in the 4 Hour Monza and 6 Hour Nurburgring races. 1967 saw victories at Zolder, Budapest and the Tourist Trophy plus he won the Trofeo Ettore Bettoja Vallelunga in an Alfa Romeo T33. Racing the T33 brought him to Ferrari’s attention and he drove for them in a non-Championship Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama, where his 312 was on course to finish in fourth (running behind three world champions) until he suffered a late puncture. He remained with Ferrari for 1968, alongside Chris Amon and Jackie Ickx, but crashed during practice for the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch and sustained neck injuries.
His Grand Prix debut came in 1968 in South African though his Ferrari spun off on oil but despite winning the South American Temporada F2 series the following winter with a Ferrari Dino 166 he was not retained by them.
1969 saw him in a works Surtees TS5-Chevrolet in F5000 and he finished third (behind Jackie Ickx and Jochen Rindt) at the International Gold Cup at Oulton Park. He raced an Alfa Romeo T33 to second place at a Coupes de Vitesse for the SOFAR team, plus won at Zeltweg and co-drove for Autodelta with Spartaco Dini to a second place finish at the 6 Hour Nurburgring. There was also a third place finish with Nino Vaccarella at Mugello in a Lola T70 plus he finished fifth in a CanAm race at Michigan with a Chaparral Cars McLaren M12.
In 1970, racing the Alfa T33 for Autodelta, he had a second place finish at the 500Km Imola with Nanni Galli and he and Piers Courage won the 200 mile Buenos Aires race. There was another second in the Zeltweg 1000Km race with Henri Pescarolo and added to this he and Gianluigi Picci won the GP Nurburgring in an Alfa 2000 for Autodelta. The year saw a return to F1 to develop Alfa’s new V8 engine in the back of a works McLaren M7D but it would prove to be a frustrating season of DNQs and retirements and his best finish was eighth at Monza.
A similar arrangement followed in 1971 when he used an Alfa engine, though this time with a March, but the best results were twelfth in the Austrian GP and eighth at Monza. However, there were two World Sportscar Championship victories that year when sharing an Alfa Romeo T33/3, at Brands Hatch with Henri Pescarolo and at Watkins Glen with Ronnie Peterson. Co-driving with Henri Pescarolo they were fourth at Buenos Aires and Nurburgring and third at Spa, Monza and Sebring (with Nino Vaccarella joining them at Sebring) plus a second place in the Targa Florio with Gijs Van Lennep.
1972 saw Andrea compete in a full F1 season with a works Surtees TS9B, running a third car alongside Tim Schenken and Mike Hailwood. He raced the Ford powered car to his best F1 result with fourth in Spain, followed with a seventh place at Monaco and in non-championship races took podium finishes at Vallelunga and Brands Hatch.
For 1973 he drove a Surtees in the South African race at Kyalami but then switched to Bernie Ecclestone’s Brabham squad. Unfortunately, after taking fourth in Belgium and seventh at Monaco, he broke his leg when his Brabham BT42 was caught up in the multi car accident that stopped the British GP at Silverstone. After recovering from his injuries, although he did not return to F1, he resumed racing in 1974’s World Sportscar Championship and he and Carlo Facetti achieved four podium finishes, at Zeltweg, Monza, Nurburgring and Imola.
Following this Andrea then moved away from racing and worked as a journalist and television analyst, founded the Centro Internazionale Guida Sicura in 1991 and was vice president of N.Technology, which prepares race cars for Alfa Romeo.
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