Oscar Rubén Larrauri (born 19 August 1954) is a racing driver from Argentina.
He participated in 21 Formula One Grands Prix, all with the EuroBrun team, debuting at the 1988 Brazilian Grand Prix. He scored no championship points, only qualifying 8 times.
He was for many years part of Brun Motorsport in sports car racing, and involved in the World Sportscar Championship, IMSA GT Championship, Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft, and All Japan Sports Prototype Championship during his career. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Latham
Oscar Larrauri competed in Formula One with the EuroBrun team plus for many years was part of Brun Motorsport in sports car racing, and also competed in the World Sportscar Championship, IMSA GT Championship, Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft and the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship during his career.
Born in Rosario, Santa Fe, he was a late starter in motor racing as he was almost 20 by the time he started karting in his Santa Fe region in 1974. However, he went on to become the Santa Fe Champion in 1976, 1977 and 1979 and in 1976 was also provincial champion.
Alongside his karting, in 1979 he raced in Argentine F3 and the following year had moved to contest European F3. Despite a tough start to his racing, once he secured a top drive with the Pavanello Euroracing team for 1982 he proved his worth, taking seven victories and the European championship.
He had none other than Juan Manuel Fangio supporting him, and his path seemed set on an F1 drive, especially after he secured a Ferrari test contract for Oscar in 1983. During 1983 he raced a Lancia LC1 in 1000Km endurance races at Silverstone, Nurburgring, Imola and Mugello (with Massimo Sigala and ‘Gimax’) plus contested a number of F2 races with Minardi.
Continuing in sports cars the following year, he raced for Momo Corse, Brun Motorsport and Team Gaggia, with his best results being fourth and fifth at Spa and Imola. 1985 saw him continue with Brun, taking a second place podium at Hockenheim, and it led to a long and rewarding association with them, racing their Porsches through to the early Nineties He took his first victory with the team in 1986 at Jerez, with Jesus Pareja, plus took second place finishes at Watkins Glen and Le Mans.
1987 saw a hectic schedule, with a full calendar of races, and with co-drivers including J.Mass, G.Brancatelli, M.Sigala, F.Jelinski, there were second places at Daytona, Norisring, Road America and Del Mar, plus third at Monza, Nurburgring and Spa. Besides his Brun drives, there was also a one-off race with the Leyton House Racing Team’s Porsche at Fuji.
Brun then moved into Formula 1 in 1988 but it would prove to be a frustrating season plus he was making his Grand Prix debut at the age of 34. Brun formed an alliance with Giampaolo Pavanello’s Euroracing team, who had previously run the factory backed Alfa Romeo team from 1982-1985. The team became known as EuroBrun and he raced alongside Stefano Modena but his best results in the ER188 were thirteenth in Mexico and sixteenth in Germany. In sports car races that year his best results were second and third at Tampa and Monza (with M.Sigala) plus third at Miami. There were more sports car podium placings the following season with third at Daytona, Fuji and Jarama, plus second in Mexico, alongside Walter Brun, HJ Stuck and J.Pareja. Without a drive in F1 with the team at the start of the season, he only drove in the last five races but unfortunately failed to pre-qualify for them.
He continued with Brun’s Porsche 962 through 1990 (luckily walking away after crashing at 200 mph when a tyre exploded in the banking at Daytona) and 1991 but then in 1992 came a move to Joest Racing. In a busy season, it proved to be a rewarding period as he took wins with the Porsche 962 at Interserie races at Nurburgring, Siegerland, Zeltweg and Jarama plus third at the Sebring 12 Hours (with M.Sigala and G.Moretti).
He subsequently embarked on a busy racing career based in Italy, where he drove a Jolly Club Ferrari 348 for two seasons in the GT Supercar championship, taking victories in 1994 at Monza, Magione, Mugello, Misano, Binetto and Vallelunga. At the end of the year he and Tetsuya Oota took a Team Taisan Ferrari F40 to victory in the final round of the All-Japan GT championship. He continued into the next year with Team Taisan in a Porsche 911 GT2 and Ferrari F40 though the bulk of 1995 was spent contesting the Italian Superturismo series in a Jolly Club Alfa T155.
1996 saw him return to race in Argentina for the first time in 10 years and he went on to be the Super American Touring champion in 1997, 1998 and 2000 with a BMW 320i and an Alfa Romeo 156.
