Nicola Larini (born 19 March 1964) is an Italian racing driver.
He participated in 75 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 6 September 1987. He finished second in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix on a substitute outing for Ferrari, but only scored points once more in his career. He enjoyed greater success in touring car racing, primarily for Alfa Romeo. Info from Wiki
Info by Stephen Latham
Born on March 19th, 1964, in Lido di Camaiore, Tuscany, Nicole Larini was born into a racing family as his father competed successfully in club racing and his uncle Massimo raced for Alfa Romeo’s touring car team in the early 1970s (sadly, Massimo died from injuries sustained in an accident during 1973’s Spa 24 Hours).
After racing motocross bikes at the age of 14 he progressed through karting and single-seater racing. He contested Formula Italia during 1983 and finished third in the following season’s Italian Formula Abarth Championship. He also made his Formula 3 debut that year and in 1986, against a competitive field, won the Italian F3 Championship with an Enzo Coloni Racing Dallara F386-Alfa Romeo. He drove for Coloni in an F3000 race at Enna-Pergusa the following year and found himself in an F1 car when Coloni entered the final two European F1 races. He failed to qualify at Monza but though he made it into the Spanish GP at Jerez he retired after eight laps due to suspension problems. During that year he also raced an Alfa Romeo 75 with G.Francia, retiring at the GP Brno event though finished third in the Tourist Trophy at Silverstone.
Nicola was then signed by Osella and though he only finished three races, received praise for strong performances in the uncompetitive car. His biggest success came at Monaco where he qualified twenty fifth but went on to finish ninth. He was classified nineteenth at Silverstone after running out of fuel on lap 60 of the 65 lap race but after this race the team were forced into pre-qualifying. He failed to pre-qualify in Hungary and at the final race in Australia but the car’s best qualifying performance came at Jerez where he was fourteenth on the grid. There was also a further drive in the Alfa 75 in the Spa 24 Hours race, with G.Francia and J.Cecotto, though they did not finish.
Continuing with Osella for 1989 athough he now had a more competitive car he again had to face pre-qualifying. However, there were some spirited drives, qualifying tenth for the Japanese GP plus running sixth in San Marino until forced out with a hub failure and he was running as high as second in pouring rain in Montreal before retiring with electrical failure.
1990 saw him with Ligier, where he finished all but three races with his best results back to back seventh places in Spain and Japan. He then moved to the new Modena team but once again had to go through the lottery of pre-qualifying. Although entered as Modena Team SpA, the cars were listed as Lambo 291’s on the official entry list and many termed the team as Lamborghini or ‘Lambo’. He made it onto the grid at the season opening US GP and took seventh place but by mid-season, although they were clear of pre-qualifying the team were in financial difficulty. This hampered any development and in the four races he made it onto the grid after this he retired in Germany and Australia and was sixteenth in Hungary and Italy. Unfortunately, the team were unable to resolve their financial problems and folded before the 1992 season. There was no GP drive available for 1992 but he signed as a test driver for Ferrari and raced for Alfa Romeo in the Italian Touring Car Championship. Driving their 155, he took victory plus pole and fastest lap at the season’s opening race at Monza, followed by wins at Levante, Vallelunga, Imola and Misano (and pole positions and fastest laps at most circuits) on his way to the title. At the end of the year he replaced Ivan Capelli at Ferrari in the Japanese and Australian GPs, finishing twelfth and eleventh.
He continued his test driver role with Ferrari in 1993 plus repeated his title win in touring cars with Alfa Romeo, this time in the prestigious DTM. He dominated the series with eleven wins for Alfa Corse at Zolder, Nurburgring, Wunstorf, Nurbugring Nordschleife, Norisring, Donington, Diepholz and Alemannenring plus achieving a pole or fastest lap at every circuit.
He was given another chance with Ferrari in F1 in 1994 when he replaced an injured Jean Alesi early in the season. He qualified seventh at the Pacific GP but in the race, after Ayrton Senna was hit from behind and spun off the track, Nicola also went off and crashed into him, ending both their races. At Imola he finished second and on the podium but any results were overshadowed by the weekend’s tragic deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna. He continued in touring cars with Alfa Romeo for the rest of the year, though didn’t repeat his previous success and was third in the DTM. Unfortunately, the following two seasons were even less successful for Alfa Romeo, with Nicola finishing sixth with the Martini liveried car in 1995, then eleventh when he was back in the Italian series for 1996.
In 1997 there was a return to an F1 cockpit, with Sauber, and he scored a point with sixth place in the season opener in Melbourne. This was followed by eleventh in Brazil and seventh at San Marino but he and the team parted company after only five races.
Nicola then returned to touring cars, racing Nordauto’s Alfa 156 in Italian Touring Cars though despite taking wins at Monza and Vallelunga (twice) plus ten podiums he finished third at season end. In 1999 he raced Target 24’s Riley and Scott Mk 111 with Andrea de Lorenzi, finishing second in the Pergusa 2Hrs 30 Minutes event and seventh in the Tourist Trophy. He also raced a Mk 111 for Conrereo and he and Alex Caffi came home third at the Kyalami 2Hrs 30 Minutes race.
He drove for Alfa Romeo Nordauto from 2001 for several seasons, taking wins in the first year at Monza, Brno and Nurburgring plus eight podiums to finish second to Fabrizio Giovanardi. Continuing with the 156 the following year there were victories at Silverstone, Jarama, Anderstorp, Spa and seven podiums though Giovanardi took the title again and Nicola was third. 2003 would be a disappointing season for him and the team, with only a win at Anderstorp, and six podiums, and he was fourth that year. During this time there were also drives in the Spanish GT series at Jerez and Barcelona in 2004, racing a Maserati Trofeo Light with Alessandro Nannini and Gianni Giudici.
2005 saw the start of an association with Chevrolet in the World Touring Car Championships but his best results with the Lacetti were seventh places in Mexico and Spain plus fourth at Macau. He continued with them for the following four seasons and in 2006 took podium places in Spain and Turkey plus fourth in Spain. The following year was a stronger season for him, finishing fifth in the standings, and taking podiums through the year in the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Italy and Macedonia. 2008 saw a drop back in the final standings and there were only podium finishes in Mexico, France, Portugal and Italy and unfortunately his final season with the team was a disappointing one in terms of results though there was a welcome victory at Marrakesh.
During this time he drove a Ferrari F430 in the 2009 Winter Series at Paul Ricard plus conducted an LMS test at the circuit in 2010.
He was a guest driver in a 2011 VW Scirocco Cup round at Hockenheim and contested this series over a number of seasons. At 2013’s season opening race at Hockenheim he dominated the weekend, taking pole position on a wet track and took the win ahead of the 18 driver field, including Eric van de Poele, Jan Lammers and Martin Donnelly. In 2014 the series made its first appearance in Russia as part of a DTM racing weekend at the Moscow Raceway and 15 drivers contested the round, with Nicola taking the win ahead of Jan Lammers,
He drove CRS Racing’s SCG P4/5 in 2012’s Nurburgring 24 Hours with Fabrizio Giovanardi and Manuel Lauck. 2016 saw him in the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Europe with Petri Corse while in September 2017 he made his NASCAR debut, racing Alex Caffi Motorsport’s Ford Mustang in the Whelen Euro Series semi-final in Italy. In 2018 he, M.Lauck, A.Guelden and P.Terting raced Hyundai Motorsport’s i30 in the Nurburgring 24 Hrs (finishing 35th overall though second in class) plus raced Petri Corse’s Bentley Continual GT3 with Alex Caffi at an Italian GT round at Mugello.
