Maurizio Mediani

Maurizio Mediani (born 21 September 1968) is an Italian racing driver who last competed in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup for AF Corse. A long-term Ferrari specialist and Michelotto test driver, he raced in the FIA World Endurance Championship from 2013 to 2016, primarily in LMP2 for SMP Racing. In 2023, he became the first man to drive Isotta Fraschini's Le Mans Hypercar.

Career Mediani made his single-seater debut in 1992, racing in the Italian Formula Three Championship. Racing until 1998 in the series, Mediani won five times and most notably finished third overall in his last season in the series for Venturini Racing. Mediani spent three years in Russian F3, winning the 2001 edition and finishing runner-up in the other two seasons. In 2003, Mediani made his sportscar debut by racing part-time in the N-GT class of the FIA GT Championship for Porsche-fielding Autorlando Sport. The following year, Mediani joined Ferrari customer team JMB Racing for part-time campaigns in the Rolex Sports Car Series, Italian GT and FIA GT Championships. In his first year with the team, Mediani won on his Italian GT debut at Imola, as well as scoring a lone GT podium in the Rolex Sports Car Series at Homestead–Miami.

After a full season in Italian GT for JMB in 2005, Mediani returned to the series the following year, primarily competing for Victory Engineering, and took four wins en route to fourth in the GT2 standings. as well as scoring a pair of second-place finishes for Risi Competizione on a limited schedule in the American Le Mans Series. Following part-time campaigns in the American Le Mans Series and FIA GT Championship in 2007, which yielded a podium at Zolder in FIA GT, Mediani returned to Italian GT for 2008 with Racing Team Edil Cris, taking three podiums to secure fifth in the GT2 standings. Towards the end of the year, Mediani scored his only 6 Hours of Vallelunga win alongside Marco Cioci and Piergiuseppe Perazzini aboard Advanced Engineering's Ferrari F430 GTC.

A one-off appearance in International GT Open for Vittoria Competizioni then ensued in 2009, before Mediani remained with the team to compete in the Superstars GTSprint Series in 2010 alongside Alessandro Bonetti. Starting off the season with wins at Monza and Imola, Mediani then won again at the Hockenheimring, Le Castellet and Vallelunga to secure the GT2 title. After a one-year hiatus, Mediani finished second at the 24 Hours of Barcelona for Russian Bears Motorsport, as well as racing for Ferrari-affiliated AF Corse in a one-off appearance in the Blancpain Endurance Series and the Gulf 12 Hours.

Mediani made his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut in 2013 for Krohn Racing.

In 2013, Mediani joined Krohn Racing to compete in the LMGTE Am class of the FIA World Endurance Championship, thus making his 24 Hours of Le Mans debut at 44 years old. Mediani, Niclas Jönsson and team owner Tracy Krohn could only muster a best finish of fifth at Interlagos, as the No. 57 Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 finished last in the LMGTE Am standings. In parallel, Mediani also raced with AF Corse–run SMP Racing on a part-time basis in the Blancpain Endurance Series, and featured in both the GTC and LMP2 classes of the European Le Mans Series.

Mediani driving SMP Racing's Oreca 03R LMP2 at Austin in 2014.

Continuing with SMP Racing for 2014, Mediani raced with them in the LMP2 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship and the GTC class of the European Le Mans Series. Between the two campaigns, Mediani found more success in WEC, taking five podiums en route to a fifth-place points finish in points together with Nicolas Minassian. During 2014, Mediani also raced in the first two rounds of the United SportsCar Championship in GTD for SMP-backed Extreme Speed Motorsports and AIM Autosport, most notably finishing second at the 12 Hours of Sebring with the latter.

Mediani's SMP-built BR Engineering BR01 at the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Remaining with SMP for 2015, Mediani partnered David Markozov and Minassian in the LMP2 class of the European Le Mans Series and 24 Hours of Le Mans, as the team transitioned from the Oreca 03R to the homebuilt BR Engineering BR01. In 2016, Mediani and SMP made their full-season return to the FIA World Endurance Championship, placing tenth with a best result of fourth at the Circuit of the Americas. Mediani also assisted the BR01's IMSA debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona, which saw Mikhail Aleshin take a shock pole position in the rain.

Scaling back to GT racing for 2017, Mediani began the year driving a Ferrari 488 GT3 for AF Corse–owned Spirit of Race at the 24 Hours of Daytona in GTD. Continuing with the team for the rest of the year in the Le Mans Cup, Mediani finished third on his series debut at Monza in LMP3, before competing in the next two rounds in GT3, in which he scored a pair of second-place finishes.

In 2018, Mediani stayed with Spirit of Race for his first full season in the Le Mans Cup, winning the second race at Road to Le Mans and taking two other podiums to secure runner-up honours in GT3 with Christoph Ulrich. Mediani and Ulrich stuck together in 2019, as they took three podiums en route to a fourth-place points finish. After being out of a seat for much of 2020, Mediani made a brief racing return towards the end of the year, competing for AF Corse at the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup season finale at Le Castellet.

In 2023, as part of his Michelotto Engineering test duties, Mediani became the first person to drive Isotta Fraschini's new Hypercar, the Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6 LMH-C, at the car's shakedown at Vallelunga in April.

Karting record Karting career summary

Complete FIA GT Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete American Le Mans Series results Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rank Points 2006 Risi Competizione GT2 Ferrari F430 GTC Ferrari F136 GT 4.0 L V8 SEB REL MOH LIM MIL POR RDA MOS PET LGA 14th 152007 Corsa/White Lightning GT2 Ferrari F430 GTC Ferrari F136 GT 4.0 L V8 SEB STP LBH REL 42nd 8 Corsa Motorsports MIL LIM MOH RDA MOS DET PET LGA

Complete Superstars GTSprint Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Class Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DC Points 2010 Vittoria Competizioni GT2 Ferrari F430 MNZ1 MNZ2 IMO1 IMO2 ALG1 ALG2 HOC1 HOC2 LEC1 LEC2 VAL1 VAL21st204

Complete GT World Challenge Europe results GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2013 Krohn Racing Tracy Krohn Niclas Jönsson Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 GTEAm 111 DNF DNF 2014 SMP Racing Kirill Ladygin Nicolas Minassian Oreca 03R-Nissan LMP2 9 DNF DNF 2015 SMP Racing David Markozov Nicolas Minassian BR Engineering BR01-Nissan LMP2 340 14th 6th 2016 SMP Racing Mikhail Aleshin Nicolas Minassian BR Engineering BR01-Nissan LMP2 347 11th 7th

Complete European Le Mans Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Le Mans Cup results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)