Emanuele Pirro (born 12 January 1962) is an Italian racing driver who has raced in Formula One, touring cars and in endurance races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans which he has won a total of five times.
Two times Italian Karting Champion (1976, 1979), Formula Fiat Abarth Champion (1980), two times Italian Touring Car Champion (1994, 1995), two times Italian Overall Champion (1995, 1996), German Touring Car Champion (1996), he also achieved records in endurance racing that place him amongst the best in the discipline, including; five wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007), two times ALMS Champion (2001, 2005), two times winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring (2000, 2007), three times winner of Petit Le Mans (2001, 2005, 2008), winner of the 24 Hours Nürburgring (1989), two times winner of the Macau Guia Race (1991, 1992) and two times winner of the Goodwood RAC Historic TT. He has taken part in over 500 official national and international races. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Born in Rome in 1962, Emanuele Pirro’s father owned an electrical store, and had competed in his Fiat 600 in the Mille Miglia, driving it from Rome to the start in Brescia, completing the thousand miles, and then drove home again. When Emanuele was nine, he fixed an old Fiat for himself and drove it on the back roads at night.
He then became involved in karting and at 14 was Italian kart champion, and went on to finish second in both the World and European championships. Following this he moved into Formula Fiat Abarth and took the title in 1980.
The following year, aged nineteen, he was invited to drive a Jolly Club Lancia Montecarlo turbo (with Carlo Facetti and Martino Finotti)in the Daytona 24 Hours in 1981. They finished fifth overall, and won the 2-litre GT category, which gave Lancia maximum World Endurance Championship points. But Le Mans that year would be a traumatic event (with Beppe Gabbiani). A driver and marshall were killed and after an accident in which he mistakenly thought Beppe had been killed, the two drivers later left the circuit together and Emanuele vowed he would never return to race there again.
He also did the Kyalami Nine Hours, with Michele Alboreto, and they won outright plus he competed in European F3 with a Martini (Mike Thackwell and Roberto Moreno were dominating the series) and he won the season’s final race at Mugello. Following this he drove for the Euroracing team, and finished second in the Championship and then went on to race with RC Motorsport. He moved up to F2 in 1984 with Mike Earle’s Onyx team, finishing sixth and stayed with them in F3000 in 1985, taking victories at Thruxton and Vallelunga.
Towards the end of the year he was offered a race seat with Brabham BMW for Montréal and Detroit, but it did not happen although he did a test for them. Roberto Ravaglia suggested him to BMW and he found himself in a BMW 635 in a 500km race at Monza. They offered him a works ride for 1986, to fit in with his F3000 races, and he finished second in that year’s F3000 in a March 85B.
1986–88 saw him with the Schnitzer BMW team in European Touring Cars plus the World Touring Car Championship in 1987. For 1987 there been had an offer from Tyrrell but he eventually signed as a McLaren test driver and was involved with Honda’s engine development and tested three days every other week at Suzuka. Alongside this he drove in Japanese F3000 and Grand Champion cars.
At this time he was offered a test contract with Ferrari and there was also a race offer with Larrousse, whose car he tested. He competed in three races with Benetton, in France, Britain and Australia (where he finished fifth) though Nelson Piquet was later signed. There would be some superb performances in touring cars, including victory at 1989’s DTM Nürburgring 24 Hours, with Roberto Ravaglia and Fabien Giroix at Bigazzi.
Emmanuele was so busy at this time, with testing and competing in various forms of racing, that in 1988 he travelled on planes 108 times, which equated to a flight every 3.3 days.
During this period he also won the Wellington 500 touring car race in New Zealand four years on the run, in 1988 and 1989 (with Roberto Ravaglia), 1990 (with Johnny Cecotto) then 1991 with Joachim Winkelhock.
Returning to F1 with the Scuderia Italia team, it would prove to be a frustrating time. Hepatitis affected his pre season and then the car only finished in Britain and Portugal, and despite qualifying ninth at Monaco, the car failed on the parade lap. In 1991 he finished sixth at Monaco and eighth at Spa, though qualified well in seventh at Hungary.
In touring cars, he won the Macau Guia race in 1991, raced a CiBiEmme BMW M3 in Italian Touring Cars in 1992, then switched to the Bigazzi team. Following this he was champion for two seasons with Audi Sport Italia and in 1996 was Super Tourenwagen Cup champion in an Audi A4.
In 1999 he was chosen to race Audi’s R8 prototype and finished third at Le Mans and then he (with Frank Biela and Tom Kristensen) won the race in 2000, 2001 and 2002. 2001 was a hard time thought as Michele Alboreto had been killed testing the R8 at the Lausitzring and they considered withdrawing out of respect, but then decided to try to win again in his honour. During that year’s race, Emanuele had a tyre blow out in practice and it rained for a lot of the race distance.
In 2001 he became the ALMS champion and won a second ALMS title in 2005 then he, Frank Biela and Marco Werner made history in 2006 by becoming the first drivers to win the Le Mans 24 Hours in a diesel-powered car and Emaanule was driving the Audi R10 when it completed a record 380 laps. In the following year, the three would win the race again.
His last race for Audi was the final 2008 ALMS race at Laguna Seca but in 2010 he returned to Le Mans, Sebring and Petit le Mans with Paul Drayson’s Lola-Judd plus also competed in an Australian Supercar race in 2011.
Following this Emanuele kept busy, owning a hotel in the Italian Alps, working around the world for the FIA and as an ambassador for Audi. He is a steward at some Grands Prix and a member of the Drivers’ Commission, president of the Karting Federation, vice-president of the GPDC (originally the Anciens Pilotes) and involved with the Le Mans Drivers’ Club.
He still attends historic events and has twice won the RAC TT Celebration race at Goodwood, where fans enjoyed his victory laps of honour. He was actually reprimanded during his racing at Le Mans, due to celebrating a victory by standing up in the cockpit, with his arms in the air and letting the car coast across the line. The ACO made a new regulation called ‘Pirro’s Law’, which bans similar celebrations.
During his racing, Emanuele raced with a phrase on his helmet, attributed to Tazio Nuvolari. As a young boy, he read that Tazio Nuvolari had it stitched on his overalls, with a cross and a heart so Emanuele had the same phrase painted on his helmet-‘Fosti con me nel pericolo e nella vittoria’, which means ‘You will be with me in danger and in victory.’
Info from Peter Hopper
Emanuele Pirro never achieved the success many thought he would at GP level, with just one 5th and one 6th place finishes in 3 seasons, but away from F1, he had a stellar career. A race winner in European and Japanese F3000, and multiple race winner in BMW touring cars from the mid 1980’s into the early 1990’s. But I’ve focused on his time with Audi, where he achieved huge success over many years.
Where to start? Well, 5 Le Mans 24 hr wins seems a good place, which were part of an amazing 9 successive podiums from 1999-2007. Next, there were 2 ALMS championships in the US, in 2001 and 2005, plus many individual race wins. Alongside these successes, there were Italian Touring car titles in 1994/95, plus the German STW championship in 1996. All in all,a record to be very proud of.
