Gianmaria Bruni

Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni (born 30 May 1981) is an Italian Porsche factory auto racing driver who drove in the 2004 Formula One World Championship for Minardi. He is a GP2 Series race winner and is now racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, in which he gained the 2013 and 2014 GT Drivers' Titles whilst driving as a factory Ferrari driver. He won the 2008 FIA GT Championship, 2011 Le Mans Series and 2012 International GT Open and took three class victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in 2008, 2012 and 2014. He also was successful at the 2009 and 2015 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, 2010 12 Hours of Sebring and 2011 Petit Le Mans.

Career

First wins in single-seaters

Born in Rome, at the age of ten, Bruni lied about his age to the director of La Pista d'Oro, a go kart track in Italy, in order to begin an amateur karting career (twelve was the minimum age to compete). His first experience with racing cars was in the Italian Formula Renault Campus in 1997; he won the championship in 1998. For the following season, he moved on to the European Formula Renault Eurocup 2.0, taking another title. Then he entered the British Formula 3, where he came fifth in 2000 and fourth in 2001. After he had raced in various similar European series like the Euro Formula 3000, finishing third in 2003, he caught the attention of Minardi.

Formula 1

Bruni driving for Minardi during the 2004 British Grand Prix. Bruni started testing for Minardi in 2003. However, the biggest struggle of his career was finding enough sponsorship to compete for them in Formula 1 in 2004.

In fact, Bruni did join Minardi for the 2004 Formula 1 season, though he struggled in a car which was considerably less developed than the rest of the grid. He was one of only two drivers to contest the majority of the season without scoring any points.

GP2 Series

In 2005, Bruni competed in the GP2 Series, the single-seater Championship which is part of the Formula 1 support package and which is intended to be its feeder series. He won the first race at Barcelona and took second at Monaco, driving for Coloni. Bruni left the team in September before the Monza weekend. Joining up with Durango, he started on pole position at Spa-Francorchamps and finished tenth in the Drivers' Classification.

In 2006, Bruni competed again in the GP2 Series, this time with the new Trident Racing squad. He scored two victories, the first at Imola and the second at Hockenheim. At the end of the season, he was seventh in the Drivers' Classification.

GT competitions

For 2007, Bruni switched to sports car racing as he joined the FIA GT Championship with Team AF Corse Motorole in a Ferrari 430 GT3. He and his teammate Stéphane Ortelli finished the season second in the GT2 class with three wins.

After competing in the American Le Mans Series for Risi Competizione, Bruni shifted focus to Europe for 2011, teaming with Giancarlo Fisichella in an AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia, winning the driver's and team's championship in the LM GTE Pro class of the Le Mans Series and helping win the team's championship in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. Bruni finished second at the Le Mans 24hrs and won the Petit Le Mans.

At the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring, Bruni disqualified his car by attempting to shunt off the BMW M3 GT of Joey Hand on the last lap to help the sister car of Olivier Beretta to win the overall grand touring classification, though the BMW was in a different class and the car would not have classified anyway because it did not make 70% of the race leader's distance.

In the 80th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2012, Bruni and the AF Corse Team scored first place in the GTE-Pro class along with his co-drivers Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella; their Ferrari 458 Italia covered a total of 336 laps (2,845.53 miles) of the Circuit de la Sarthe.

Bruni scored three wins and two second places at the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship, so he won the GTE-Pro teams trophy and the GTE drivers and manufacturers cups.

In February 2017, Ferrari and Bruni announced that, by mutual consent, they had early terminated their relationship. After a collaboration that started in 2007, Bruni would leave Ferrari at the end of June of that year. He then signed a contract with Porsche.

As a result of the contract termination settlement, Bruni sat out the first half of the 2017 racing season, making his Porsche debut in July at Watkins Glen. In 2018, he raced for Porsche in the WEC, replacing Frédéric Makowiecki.

Racing record Career summary SeasonSeriesTeamRacesWinsPolesF/LapsPodiumsPointsPosition 1997 Formula Renault Campus Italy ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 1998 Formula Renault Campus Italy ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 1st 1999 Formula Renault Eurocup JD Motorsport ? 4 ? ? ? 216 1st 2000 British Formula Three Championship Fortec Motorsports 14 0 0 1 2 95 5th 2001 British Formula Three Championship Fortec Motorsports 26 1 0 1 7 156 5th 2002 Euro Formula 3000 Championship Scuderia Coloni 2 0 0 0 1 5 12th ADM Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 FIA Sportscar Championship - SR1 Durango 2 0 0 0 0 8 21st 2003 Euro Formula 3000 Series ADM Motorsport 7 3 1 1 3 30 3rd Formula One Trust Minardi Cosworth Test Driver 2004 Formula One Wilux Minardi Cosworth 18 0 0 0 0 0 25th 2005 GP2 Series Coloni Motorsport 17 1 0 2 2 35 10th Durango 4 0 1 0 0 2006 GP2 Series Trident Racing 21 2 2 1 2 33 7th 2007 FIA GT Championship - GT2 Virgo Motorsport 12 3 ? ? 8 66 2nd Le Mans Series - GT2 1 0 0 0 0 10 12th American Le Mans Series - GT2 Risi Competizione 4 0 0 0 0 48 16th 2008 FIA GT Championship - GT2 AF Corse 13 5 ? ? 13 93 1st Le Mans Series - GT2 Virgo Motorsport 4 3 2 0 3 30 3rd American Le Mans Series - GT2 Risi Competizione 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC 24 Hours of Le Mans - GT2 1 1 0 0 1 N/A 1st 2009 FIA GT Championship - GT2 AF Corse 8 3 ? ? 5 54 2nd Le Mans Series - GT2 JMW Motorsport 5 2 1 1 4 35 2nd American Le Mans Series - GT2 Pecom Racing Team 1 0 0 0 0 26 27th 24 Hours of Le Mans - GT2 AF Corse 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 6th 2010 Le Mans Series - GT2 AF Corse 4 2 1 0 3 50 4th American Le Mans Series - GT Risi Competizione 9 1 0 0 2 140 2nd 24 Hours of Le Mans - GT2 1 0 0 0 0 N/A N/A 2011 Le Mans Series - GTE Pro AF Corse 5 2 0 0 4 60 1st American Le Mans Series - GT 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC 24 Hours of Le Mans - GTE Pro 1 0 0 0 1 N/A 2nd 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship - GTE Pro AF Corse 7 3 0 1 5 3 62nd International GT Open - GT 16 2 4 5 7 195 1st 24 Hours of Le Mans - GTE Pro 1 1 0 0 1 N/A 1st 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship - GTE Pro AF Corse 8 3 1 1 5 145 1st 24 Hours of Le Mans - GTE Pro 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 6th 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship - GTE Pro AF Corse 8 4 4 1 5 168 1st 24 Hours of Le Mans - GTE Pro 1 1 0 0 1 N/A 1st 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship - GTE Pro AF Corse 8 2 3 2 4 131.5 2nd 24 Hours of Le Mans - GTE Pro 1 0 0 0 1 N/A 3rd 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship - GTE Pro AF Corse 9 1 1 1 7 128 3rd 24 Hours of Le Mans - GTE Pro 1 0 0 0 0 N/A N/A 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTLM Porsche GT Team 6 0 1 0 2 186 10th 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTLM Porsche GT Team 2 0 0 0 1 55 15th 24 Hours of Le Mans - GTE Pro Porsche GT Team 1 0 0 0 1 N/A 2nd 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship - GTE Pro Porsche GT Team 8 1 1 1 4 131 3rd 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans - GTE Pro Porsche GT Team 1 0 0 0 1 N/A 2nd 2019–20 FIA World Endurance Championship - GTE Pro Porsche GT Team 8 1 3 0 3 111 7th 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans - GTE Pro Porsche GT Team 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 5th 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship - GTE Pro Porsche GT Team 6 0 0 1 3 111 3rd 24 Hours of Le Mans - GTE Pro 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 4th 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship - GTE Pro Porsche GT Team 6 1 1 1 2 125 4th 24 Hours of Le Mans - GTE Pro 1 1 0 0 1 N/A 1st 2023 European Le Mans Series - LMP2 Pro-Am Proton Competition 4 0 0 0 0 26 15th IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTP 3 0 0 0 1 814 15th FIA World Endurance Championship - Hypercar 3 0 0 0 0 4 20th 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTP Proton Competition 9 0 0 1 0 2372 9th 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship - GTP JDC–Miller MotorSports 7 0 0 0 0 1680 14th European Le Mans Series - LMGT3 JMW Motorsport 6 0 0 0 0 11 18th

Complete British Formula Three Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 DC Points 2000 Fortec Motorsport Dallara F399 Mugen-Honda Championship THR CRO OUL DON DON SIL BRH DON DON CRO SIL SNE SPA SIL 5th 95 2001 Fortec Motorsport Dallara F301 Renault Sodemo Championship SIL1 SIL2 SNE1 SNE2 DON1 DON2 OUL1 OUL2 CRO1 CRO2 ROC1 ROC2 CAS1 CAS2 BRH1 BRH2 DON1 DON2 KNO1 KNO2 THR1 THR2 THR3 BRH1 BRH2 SIL1 SIL2 5th 156

Complete Euro Formula 3000 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 DC Points 2002 Scuderia Coloni VLL NÜR PERMNZDON 12th 5 ADM Motorsport SPABRNDIJJERCAG 2003 ADM Motorsport NÜR MAG PER MNZ SPA DON BRNJERCAG 3rd 30

Complete Formula One results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) † Did not finish the race, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Complete GP2 Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) † Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP2 Championship.

Complete 24 Hours of Daytona results