Giacomo Ricci

Giacomo Ricci (born 30 March 1985 in Baveno) is a former Italian racing driver.

Career

Formula BMW Ricci began his car racing career by driving in the German-based Formula BMW ADAC series in 2001 and 2002, with a best finish of seventh in the drivers' championship.

Formula Renault Ricci also competed in one race of the Italian Formula Renault Championship in 2001, and competed in rounds of the two-litre German series and the European Cup in 2002. For 2003, he made a step down to the smaller engine category of the Spanish Formula Junior 1600 series, finishing fourth in the championship. He also drove in one race of the North American-based FRenault series during the year. In 2004, he drove in eight races of the World Series by Nissan (who share the same owners as Renault, the championship being rebranded as the World Series by Renault the following year).

Formula 3000 From 2004 to 2007, Ricci drove in the F3000 series variously known as Euro Formula 3000, Italian Formula 3000 and the Euroseries 3000. After initially scoring no points from four races in 2004, he improved to third place in the standings in 2005. In 2006, driving for the Fisichella Motorsport team, he won the championship with five wins and thirteen podium finishes. For 2007, he only competed in selected rounds and finished fifth in the championship, opting to focus his intentions on North American-based motor racing that year.

Champ Car Atlantic Ricci duly drove in Champ Car Atlantic (the feeder series for the now-defunct Champ Car World Series) in 2007 for the Conquest Racing team. He finished in sixth place in the championship, despite not scoring any wins or podium finishes. He was the third-highest ranked rookie of 2007, behind Franck Perera and Robert Wickens.

GP2 Series Ricci received his GP2 Series call-up in 2008 to replace the injured Michael Herck in the David Price Racing team for the first few rounds of the championship, because the Belgian-Romanian driver had broken his wrist in the preceding GP2 Asia Series. His team-mate was Brazilian Diego Nunes. He was replaced by Andy Soucek after the first two rounds of the championship as Herck continued to recover.

Ricci then competed in the first round of the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season for the Trident Racing team. He was then replaced by Alberto Valerio, so he moved back to DPR for the second round onwards, where he in turn replaced Yuhi Sekiguchi.

Ricci continued with DPR into the 2009 GP2 Series season, teaming up with Herck this time, as he did in the Asia Series. Ricci struggled with reliability, finishing only three of the seven races he started and was replaced for the Nürburgring rounds by ex-IndyCar Series racer Franck Perera.

Ricci returned for the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season and after a double retirement at the first Abu Dhabi round, Ricci scored his first ever GP2 points in either the main series or the Asia Series, after finishing fifth in the second Abu Dhabi feature race. He added his first podium the following day, finishing third behind team-mate Herck and race-winner Davide Valsecchi during the sprint race. His first victory came in the final race of the season, leading from lights-to-flag in Bahrain. With this result, he sealed third place in the championship both for himself, and his team.

Ricci remained with DPR for the 2010 main series, and scored his first points finish with second place in the first race of the season. He then endured an eleven-race, non-scoring streak, but a stronger weekend in Hungary culminated in his maiden main series win in the sprint race. However, he was replaced by compatriot Fabrizio Crestani thereafter. He still finished in thirteenth place in the drivers' championship despite missing the final six races on the calendar.

After spending most of 2011 without a drive, Ricci returned to the GP2 Series for the non-championship races in Abu Dhabi that concluded the season. Driving for Super Nova Racing alongside compatriot Fabio Onidi, he finished 11th and 23rd in the two races.

International GT Open Ricci also competed in the GTA and GTS classes of the International GT Open championship in 2008.

Auto GP The withdrawal of the Super Nova team from the GP2 Series hampered Ricci's hopes to remain in the category, so for 2012, he returned to the Euroseries 3000 (now rebranded as the Auto GP) to compete in selected events for the Austrian Zele Racing team.

Ricci is currently the team manager of Trident Racing.

Racing record

Career summary Season Series Team Races Wins PolesF/LapsPodiums Points Position 2001 Formula BMW ADAC CTS-Motorsport 20 1 0?3 94 7th Formula Renault 2.0 Italia Toby Fortec Racing 1 0 000 0 NC 2002 Formula Renault 2000 Germany SL Formula Racing 8 0 000 26 28th Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup KUG Motorsport 6 0 000 0 NC Formula BMW ADAC KUG/Dewalt Racing 6 0 000 15 18th 2003 Formula Junior 1600 Spain ? ? ? ??? 106 4th Fran-Am 2000 Winter World Championship Team Italia 1 0 000 30 29th 2004 World Series by Nissan Vergani Formula 6 0 000 4 19th GD Racing20000 Euro Formula 3000 Series Power Tech 4 0 000 0 14th 2005 Italian Formula 3000 Championship Team Astromega 8 0 014 33 3rd 2006 Euroseries 3000 FMS International 18 5 1713 106 1st 2007 Euroseries 3000 G-Tec 2 1 001 37 5th ELK Motorsport41024 Champ Car Atlantic Conquest Racing 12 0 000 188 6th 2008 GP2 Series DPR 4 0 000 0 31st International GT Open - GTA GPC Sport 6 0 002 19 12th International GT Open - GTS Villois Racing 4 1 003 26 10th Italian Formula 3 Championship BVM - Target Racing 2 0 000 5 16th International Formula Master Euronova Racing 2 0 000 0 34th 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series Trident Racing 2 0 000 0 27th DPR 9 0 000 2009 GP2 Series DPR 7 0 000 0 27th International GT Open - Super GT Advanced Engineering121006505th Le Mans Series - GT2 FBR10000320th 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series DPR 8 1 013 29 3rd 2010 GP2 Series DPR 14 1 002 16 13th Auto GP Series RP Motorsport 2 0 001 8 12th Superleague Formula Galatasaray S.K.30000358‡13th‡ 2011 GP2 Final Super Nova Racing 2 0 000 0 15th 2012 Auto GP World Series Zele Racing 4 0 001 40 11th Team MLR7120000 2013 Auto GP Series Team MLR7120000024th 2014 MW-V6 Pickup Series Team Italy30033517th ‡ Team standings.

Complete Euroseries 3000/Auto GP 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 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Points 2004 Power Tech BRN EST JER MNZ SPA DON DIJ ZOL NÜR1 NÜR2 14th 0 2005 Team Astromega ADR VAL BRN IMO MUG MAG MNZ MIS 3rd 33 2006 FMS International ADR1 ADR2 IMO1 IMO2 SPA1 SPA2 HUN1 HUN2 MUG1 MUG2 SIL1 SIL2 CAT1 CAT2 VAL1 VAL2 MIS1 MIS2 1st 106 2007 ELK Motorsport VAL1 VAL2 HUN1 HUN2 SIL1 SIL2 MUG1 MUG2 NÜR1 NÜR2 SPA1 SPA2 MNZ1 MNZ2 CAT1 CAT2 5th 37 2010 RP Motorsport BRN1 BRN2 IMO1 IMO2 SPA1 SPA2 MAG1 MAG2 NAV1 NAV2 MNZ1 MNZ2 12th 8 2012 Zele Racing MNZ1 MNZ2 VAL1 VAL2 MAR1 MAR2 HUN1 HUN2 ALG1 ALG2 CUR1 CUR2 11th 40 Team MLR71 SON1 SON2 2013 Team MLR71 MNZ1 MNZ2 MAR1 MAR2 HUN1 HUN2 SIL1 SIL2 MUG1 MUG2 NÜR1 NÜR2 DON1 DON2 BRN1 BRN2 24th 0

Complete GP2 Series 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 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2008 DPR CATFEA CATSPR ISTFEA ISTSPR MONFEA MONSPR MAGFEA MAGSPR SILFEA SILSPR HOCFEA HOCSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR VALFEA VALSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR 31st 0 2009 DPR CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR ISTFEA ISTSPR SILFEA SILSPR NÜRFEA NÜRSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR VALFEA VALSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR ALGFEA ALGSPR 27th 0 2010 DPR CATFEA CATSPR MONFEA MONSPR ISTFEA ISTSPR VALFEA VALSPR SILFEA SILSPR HOCFEA HOCSPR HUNFEA HUNSPR SPAFEA SPASPR MNZFEA MNZSPR YMCFEA YMCSPR 13th 16

Complete GP2 Asia Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete GP2 Final results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 DC Points 2011 Super Nova Racing YMCFEA YMCSPR 15th 0