Emanuele Pirro

Emanuele Pirro (; born 12 January 1962) is an Italian racing driver who competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing, Pirro is a five-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and a two-time winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring with Audi.

Pirro is a two-time Italian Karting Champion (1976, 1979), Formula Fiat Abarth Champion (1980), two-time Italian Superturismo Champion (1994, 1995), and winner of the Super Tourenwagen Cup (1996).

In sportscar racing, Pirro is a two-time American Le Mans Series champion (2001, 2005), three-time winner of Petit Le Mans (2001, 2005, 2008), winner of the 24 Hours Nürburgring (1989), and two-time winner of the Macau Guia Race (1991, 1992). He has contested over 500 official national and international races, winning over 90.

Personal life Born in Rome, Pirro 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). The family is not related to motorcycle racer Michele Pirro.

Career

Pirro 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

In 1988, Pirro 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 three seasons.

Pirro's 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, Pirro 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-ten after being taken out at the start in 1994 at the Salzburgring.

Sportscars

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, Pirro 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, Pirro 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, and the 2011 Gold Coast 500 in the Australian V8 Supercars Championship.

After racing

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

In roles still linked to motorsport, Pirro 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, Pirro entered the first round of the British Universities Karting Championship alongside his two sons.

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

Pirro 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.

Pirro also became the Director of the McLaren Racing Driver Development program.

Race results

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps Martini Racing Beppe Gabbiani Lancia Beta Monte Carlo Gr.5 47 DNF DNF Gulf Team Davidoff GTC Competition Dr. Thomas Bscher Rinaldo Capello McLaren F1 GTR-BMW GT1 228 DNF DNF Audi Sport Team Joest Frank Biela Didier Theys Audi R8R LMP 360 3rd 2nd Audi Sport Team Joest Tom Kristensen Frank Biela Audi R8 LMP900 368 1st 1st Audi Sport Team Joest Tom Kristensen Frank Biela Audi R8 LMP900 321 1st 1st Audi Sport Team Joest Tom Kristensen Frank Biela Audi R8 LMP900 375 1st 1st Champion Racing Stefan Johansson JJ Lehto Audi R8 LMP900 372 3rd 1st ADT Champion Racing JJ Lehto Marco Werner Audi R8 LMP1 368 3rd 3rd ADT Champion Racing Frank Biela Allan McNish Audi R8 LMP1 364 3rd 3rd Audi Sport Team Joest Frank Biela Marco Werner Audi R10 TDI LMP1 380 1st 1st Audi Sport Team Joest Frank Biela Marco Werner Audi R10 TDI LMP1 369 1st 1st Audi Sport North America Frank Biela Marco Werner Audi R10 TDI LMP1 367 6th 6th Drayson Racing Paul Drayson Jonny Cocker Lola B09/60-Judd LMP1 254 NC NC

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 Pts Onyx Race Engineering March 842 BMW SIL HOC THR VAL MUG PAU HOC MIS PER DON BRH 6th 18

Complete International Formula 3000 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

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 Pts 1989 BMW M Team Schnitzer BMW M3 Evo ZOL1 ZOL2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 MFA1 MFA2 AVU1 AVU2 NÜR1 NÜR2 NOR1 NOR2 HOC1 HOC2 DIE1 DIE2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HOC1 HOC2 NC 0 1990 Schnitzer Motorsport BMW M3 Sport Evo ZOL1 ZOL2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 AVU1 AVU2 MFA1 MFA2 WUN1 WUN2 NÜR1 NÜR2 NOR1 NOR2 DIE1 DIE2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HOC1 HOC2 15th 36 1992 BMW M Team Bigazzi BMW M3 Sport Evo ZOL1 ZOL2 NÜR1 NÜR2 WUN1 WUN2 AVU1 AVU2 HOC1 HOC2 NÜR1 NÜR2 NOR1 NOR2 BRN1 BRN2 DIE1 DIE2 ALE1 ALE2 NÜR1 NÜR2 HOC1 HOC2 12th 85 2004 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi A4 DTM 2004 HOC EST ADR LAU NOR SHA1 NÜR OSC ZAN BRN HOC 11th 11 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)

Macau Grand Prix Guia Race results Year Team Car Class 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