Emanuele Pirro

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) and 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.

Emanuele Pirro

Pirro in 2012
Born	(1962-01-12) 12 January 1962 (age 63) Rome, Italy
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Italian
Active years	1989–1991
Teams	Benetton, Scuderia Italia
Entries	40 (37 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	3
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1989 French Grand Prix
Last entry	1991 Australian Grand Prix

24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1981, 1998 – 2008, 2010
Teams	Martini Racing, GTC Competition, Audi Sport Joest, Champion Racing, Drayson Racing
Best finish	1st (2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007)
Class wins	6 (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007)

Personal life

He was born in Rome; however, he traces his roots to the small town of Latera near Viterbo through his mother's family. He is married to Marlene, with whom he has two sons, Cristoforo, born in 1993 (Mechanical Engineer, currently Performance Engineer in F1) and Goffredo, born in 1996 (Automotive Engineer specialised in Motorsport). He enjoys cooking in his free time.

Career

Pirro driving for Benetton at the 1989 Belgian Grand Prix.

He began racing cars in 1980 after having raced seven years in go-karts, where he was two time Italian Champion and runner up in both the European and the World Karting Championships. He went on to win races in all the feeder series he competed in including F3, F3000 and Formula Nippon.

Formula One

Pirro at the 1991 United States Grand Prix.

In 1988 he was contracted by McLaren to become test driver to develop the new Honda powertrain for the MP4/4, staying on in that role for the following 3 seasons.

His racing career in F1 started at the 1989 French Grand Prix for the Benetton-Ford team, replacing Johnny Herbert who was still recovering from injuries sustained in a F3000 accident. For the 1990 and 1991 seasons, he raced for BMS Scuderia Italia.

Touring cars

Together with his single seater commitments he raced as a factory driver for BMW in touring car racing up until 1993. He raced and won in ETCC, WTCC, Italian Supertouring and DTM. In DTM he became one of the only drivers to win in his debut in the series. Notably, he won the 24 Hours Nürburgring, the Macau Guia Race twice, and the Wellington 500 four times, with the legendary BMW M3 E30 and team Schnitzer. After leaving BMW in 1993 he joined Audi to win the 1994 and 1995 Italian Touring Car Championships followed by the German Touring Car Championship in 1996. Between the years of 1994 and 1996 racing in the Italian and German Supertouring championships, he contested a total of 70 races finishing only once outside of the top 10 after being taken out at the start in 1994 at the Salzburgring.

Sportscars

Pirro driving an Audi R10 at Laguna Seca in 2006.

After his debut in endurance races at the young age of 19 winning in his class with the Lancia Beta Montecarlo Gr.5 at the 24 Hours of Daytona, winning the Kyalami 9 Hours and a terrible experience at Le Mans the same year, he scarcely participated in these races except sporadic appearances in Japan, first with a Nissan Gr.C at the Fuji 1000 km and with a Porsche 962 Gr.C at the Suzuka 1000 km. That is until his return to Le Mans in 1998 with a McLaren F1 alongside Dindo Capello and Thomas Bscher ending with a retirement. In 1999 Audi unveiled the R8R with which he scored his first of a record breaking nine consecutive podiums at the French classic. In 2000 along with Tom Kristensen and Frank Biela he scored the first of three consecutive wins with the new Audi R8. In 2006 together with Frank Biela and Marco Werner he became the first driver to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a diesel car, repeating the win in the following year. In 2008 he announced the end of his racing career with Audi sportscars. Between the years of 1999 and 2008 he won five 24 Hours of Le Mans, two ALMS championships, two 12 Hours of Sebring and three Petit Le Mans. After 2008 he competed in a number of additional races including a 12 Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans with Drayson Racing in a Lola-Judd LMP1 car, the 24 hours of the Nürburgring with an Audi R8 GT3, the 2011 Gold Coast 500 in the Australian V8 Supercars Championship.

After racing

He regularly competes in historic racing. In 2010 Pirro won the Monaco Historic Grand Prix in the Formula 3 Class.

In roles still linked to motorsport, he serves as a Brand Ambassador for Audi, and is a member of; FIA Drivers’ Commission, FIA Circuits’ Commission, FIA Historic Motorsport Commission, ACI Circuits and Safety Commission. In addition, he is the President of the Italian Karting Commission, and Vice President of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Club and the Club des Pilotes des 24 Heures du Mans. He is also a Steward for F1 races, TV pundit and is a frequent guest speaker at events hosted by multinational companies.

In 2015, he entered the first round of the British Universities Karting Championship alongside his two sons.

He owns the Faloria Mountain Spa Resort, a 5-star hotel in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Finally he has been a regular player for over 25 years in the Nazionale Piloti football team and the “Star Team for the Children” for Prince Albert of Monaco as well as taking part in other charity events.

He also became the Director of the McLaren Racing Driver Development program.^[1]

Race results

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class pos.
1981	Martini Racing	Beppe Gabbiani	Lancia Beta Monte Carlo	Gr.5	47	DNF	DNF
1998	Gulf Team Davidoff GTC Competition	Dr. Thomas Bscher Rinaldo Capello	McLaren F1 GTR-BMW	GT1	228	DNF	DNF
1999	Audi Sport Team Joest	Frank Biela Didier Theys	Audi R8R	LMP	360	3rd	2nd
2000	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Frank Biela	Audi R8	LMP900	368	1st	1st
2001	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Frank Biela	Audi R8	LMP900	321	1st	1st
2002	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Frank Biela	Audi R8	LMP900	375	1st	1st
2003	Champion Racing	Stefan Johansson JJ Lehto	Audi R8	LMP900	372	3rd	1st
2004	ADT Champion Racing	JJ Lehto Marco Werner	Audi R8	LMP1	368	3rd	3rd
2005	ADT Champion Racing	Frank Biela Allan McNish	Audi R8	LMP1	364	3rd	3rd
2006	Audi Sport Team Joest	Frank Biela Marco Werner	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	380	1st	1st
2007	Audi Sport Team Joest	Frank Biela Marco Werner	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	369	1st	1st
2008	Audi Sport North America	Frank Biela Marco Werner	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	367	6th	6th
2010	Drayson Racing	Paul Drayson Jonny Cocker	Lola B09/60-Judd	LMP1	254	NC	NC
Sources:[2][3]

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos.	Pts
1984	Onyx Race Engineering	March 842	BMW	SIL 6	HOC 4	THR 4	VAL 12	MUG 4	PAU Ret	HOC Ret	MIS Ret	PER 6	DON 2	BRH 6	6th	18
Source:[4]

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Pos.	Pts
1985	Onyx Racing	March 85B	Cosworth	SIL 7	THR 1	EST 4	NÜR C	VAL 1	PAU 2	SPA Ret	DIJ Ret	PER 2	ÖST 4	ZAN 5	DON Ret	3rd	38
1986	Onyx Racing	March 86B	Cosworth	SIL 2	VAL 3	PAU 2	SPA 19	IMO Ret	MUG 6	PER 13	ÖST Ret	BIR Ret	BUG 1	JAR 2		3rd	29
Sources:[3][4]

Complete Japanese Formula 3000 Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Pts
1988	Team LeMans	SUZ 9	FUJ 5	MIN 2	SUZ 4	SUG 2	FUJ 4	SUZ 3	SUZ 4				3rd	25
1989	Team LeMans	SUZ 5	FUJ Ret	MIN Ret	SUZ 1	SUG	FUJ	SUZ	SUZ				6th	11
1991	Team Hayashi	SUZ	AUT	FUJ	MIN	SUZ	SUG	FUJ	SUZ	FUJ C	SUZ	FUJ	NC	0
Source:[4]

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Pts
1989	Benetton Formula Ltd	Benetton B188	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8	BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	USA	CAN	FRA 9	GBR 11									23rd	2
		Benetton B189	Ford HBA4 3.5 V8									GER Ret	HUN 8	BEL 10	ITA Ret	POR Ret	ESP Ret	JPN Ret	AUS 5
1990	BMS Scuderia Italia	BMS Dallara 190	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8	USA	BRA	SMR Ret	MON Ret	CAN Ret	MEX Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 11	GER Ret	HUN 10	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR 15	ESP Ret	JPN Ret	AUS Ret	NC	0
1991	Scuderia Italia SpA	BMS Dallara 191	Judd GV 3.5 V10	USA Ret	BRA 11	SMR DNPQ	MON 6	CAN 9	MEX DNPQ	FRA DNPQ	GBR 10	GER 10	HUN Ret	BEL 8	ITA 10	POR Ret	ESP 15	JPN Ret	AUS 7	18th	1
Source:[5]

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft/Masters results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	Pos.	Pts
1989	BMW M Team Schnitzer	BMW M3 Evo	ZOL 1	ZOL 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	MFA 1	MFA 2	AVU 1	AVU 2	NÜR 1 DNS	NÜR 2 DNS	NOR 1	NOR 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	DIE 1	DIE 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	HOC 1	HOC 2			NC	0
1990	Schnitzer Motorsport	BMW M3 Sport Evo	ZOL 1	ZOL 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	AVU 1	AVU 2	MFA 1	MFA 2	WUN 1	WUN 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	NOR 1	NOR 2	DIE 1	DIE 2	NÜR 1 1	NÜR 2 3	HOC 1 7	HOC 2 11			15th	36
1992	BMW M Team Bigazzi	BMW M3 Sport Evo	ZOL 1 6	ZOL 2 3	NÜR 1 14	NÜR 2 3	WUN 1 Ret	WUN 2 16	AVU 1 23	AVU 2 3	HOC 1 10	HOC 2 Ret	NÜR 1 21	NÜR 2 10	NOR 1 6	NOR 2 8	BRN 1 3	BRN 2 Ret	DIE 1 Ret	DIE 2 Ret	ALE 1 6	ALE 2 10	NÜR 1 Ret	NÜR 2 8	HOC 1 9	HOC 2 5	12th	85
2004	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi A4 DTM 2004	HOC 7	EST 11	ADR 9	LAU 6	NOR 9	SHA1 Ret	NÜR 11	OSC 15	ZAN 7	BRN 5	HOC Ret														11th	11
Sources:[4][6]

¹ – A non-championship one-off race was held in 2004 at the streets of Shanghai, China.

Complete Italian Superturismo Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos.	Pts
1992	CiBiEmme Engineering	BMW M3 Sport Evolution	S1	MNZ 1 4	MNZ 2 3	MAG 1 3	MAG 2 1	MUG 1	MUG 2	BIN 1	BIN 2	VAL 1 4	VAL 2 3	IMO 1	IMO 2	MIS 1 Ret	MIS 2 6	PER 1	PER 2	VAR 1	VAR 2	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	6th	82
1993	Scuderia Bigazzi	BMW 318i		MNZ 1	MNZ 2	VAL 1	VAL 2	MIS 1	MIS 2	MAG 1	MAG 2	BIN 1	BIN 2	IMO 1	IMO 2	VAR 1	VAR 2	MIS 1	MIS 2	PER 1 5	PER 2 4	MUG 1 4	MUG 2 Ret	13th	28
1994	Audi Sport Italia	Audi 80 Quattro		MNZ 1 2	MNZ 2 2	VAL 1 10	VAL 2 1	MAG 1 1	MAG 2 1	BIN 1 1	BIN 2 1	MIS 1 4	MIS 2 4	VAL 1 2	VAL 2 1	MUG 1 4	MUG 2 2	PER 1 4	PER 2 4	VAR 1 2	VAR 2 2	MUG 1 10	MUG 2 2	1st	269.5
1995	Audi Sport Italia	Audi A4 Quattro		MIS 1 2	MIS 2 1	BIN 1 1	BIN 2 1	MNZ 1 1	MNZ 2 2	IMO 1 1	IMO 2 1	MAG 1 1	MAG 2 2	MUG 1 3	MUG 2 5	MIS 1 1	MIS 2 1	PER 1 5	PER 2 4	VAR 1 2	VAR 2 1	VAL 1 1	VAL 2 2	1st	317
1996	A.Z.K./ROC	Audi A4 Quattro		MUG 1	MUG 2	MAG 1	MAG 2	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	BIN 1	BIN 2	MIS 1	MIS 2	IMO 1	IMO 2	PER 1	PER 2	PER 1	PER 2	VAR 1	VAR 2	VAL 1 5	VAL 2 4	15th	18
Source:[6]

Complete Super Tourenwagen Cup results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos.	Pts
1994	Racing Organisation Course	Audi 80 Quattro Competition	AVU 2	WUN 3	ZOL 3	ZAN 2	ÖST 4	SAL Ret	SPA 5	NÜR 2													3rd	87
1995	Racing Organisation Course	Audi A4 Quattro	ZOL 1	ZOL 2	SPA 1	SPA 2	ÖST 1	ÖST 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	SAL 1	SAL 2	AVU 1 10	AVU 2 7	NÜR 1 1	NÜR 2 1					16th	105
1996	A.Z.K./ROC	Audi A4 Quattro	ZOL 1 1	ZOL 2 1	ASS 1 3	ASS 2 2	HOC 1 1	HOC 2 1	SAC 1 3	SAC 2 1	WUN 1 2	WUN 2 1	ZWE 1 2	ZWE 2 3	SAL 1 8	SAL 2 10	AVU 1 4	AVU 2 1	NÜR 1 1	NÜR 2 1			1st	678
1997	A.Z.K./ROC	Audi A4 Quattro	HOC 1 11	HOC 2 9	ZOL 1 4	ZOL 2 10	NÜR 1 20	NÜR 2 7	SAC 1 6	SAC 2 Ret	NOR 1 5	NOR 2 3	WUN 1 Ret	WUN 2 Ret	ZWE 1 4	ZWE 2 1	SAL 1 13	SAL 2 7	REG 1 19	REG 2 11	NÜR 1 13	NÜR 2 10	6th	357
1998	Abt Sportsline Team Audi	Audi A4	HOC 1 16	HOC 2 7	NÜR 1 Ret	NÜR 2 13	SAC 1 17	SAC 2 Ret	NOR 1 19	NOR 2 19	REG 1 13	REG 2 8	WUN 1 Ret	WUN 2 Ret	ZWE 1 14	ZWE 2 Ret	SAL 1 7	SAL 2 2	OSC 1 7	OSC 2 Ret	NÜR 1 10	NÜR 2 12	16th	205
Source:[6]

Complete American Le Mans Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points	Ref
1999	Audi Sport Team Joest	LMP	Audi R8R	Audi 3.6 L Turbo V8	SEB 5	ATL	MOS	SON	POR	PET	MON	LSV					52nd	20	[7]
2000	Audi Sport North America	LMP	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	SEB 1			NÜR 3	SON 2	MOS Ret	TEX 1	ROS 4	PET 2	MON 2	LSV 1	ADE 5	3rd	232	[8]
			Audi R8R			CHA 6	SIL 5
2001	Audi Sport North America	LMP900	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	TEX 2	SEB 2	DON 2	JAR 2	SON 2	POR 2	MOS 1	MID 4	MON 1	PET 1			1st	202	[9]
2002	Audi Sport North America	LMP900	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	SEB 5	SON 8	MID 1	AME 2	WAS 3	TRO 2	MOS Ret	MON 1	MIA 1	PET 6			4th	206	[10]
2003	ADT Champion Racing	LMP900	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	SEB 2	ATL	SON	TRO	MOS	AME	MON	MIA	PET				18th	22	[11]
2004	ADT Champion Racing	LMP1	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	SEB 2	MID	LIM	SON	POR	MOS	AME	PET	MON				13th	22	[12]
2005	ADT Champion Racing	LMP1	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	SEB 2	ATL 3	MID 3	LIM 2	SON 1	POR 1	AME 1	MOS 3	PET 1	MON 2			1st	182	[13]
2006	Audi Sport North America	LMP1	Audi R10 TDI	Audi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	SEB	TEX	MID	LIM	UTA 1	POR 2	AME 1	MOS 4	PET 5	MON 2			5th	80	[14]
2007	Audi Sport North America	LMP1	Audi R10 TDI	Audi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	SEB 1	STP 2	LNB 2	TEX 2	UTA 2	LIM 4	MID 1	AME 2	MOS 2	DET 1	PET	MON	4th	175	[15]
2008	Audi Sport North America	LMP1	Audi R10 TDI	Audi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	SEB	STP Ret	LNB 2	UTA Ret	LIM 3	MID 2	AME 2	MOS 2	DET DSQ	PET 1	MON 2		3rd	156	[16]
2010	Drayson Racing	LMP1	Lola B09/60	Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5 L V10	SEB 4	LNB	MON Ret	UTA 2	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	PET				12th	46	[17]

Macau Grand Prix Guia Race results

Year	Team	Car	Class	Pos.
1989	Team Schnitzer	BMW M3 Sport Evolution	Group A Division 2	DNF
1990	Team Schnitzer	BMW M3 Sport Evolution	Group A Division 2	2nd
1991	Watson’s Team Schnitzer	BMW M3 Sport Evolution	DTM	1st
1992	Mobil 1 Team Schnitzer	BMW M3 Sport Evolution	DTM	1st
1993	Watson’s Team Schnitzer	BMW 318i	FIA Class 2	3rd

• Spa 24 hours : 1st: 1986, 1990
• 4 hours of Jarama: 1st: 1987
• Grand Prix of Nürburgring 1st,1986