Pasquale Di Sabatino

Pasquale Di Sabatino (born 20 January 1988, in Atri) is an Italian former professional racing driver. He has previously competed in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series where he was a race winner. He drove in the World Touring Car Championship for bamboo-engineering in 2012.

Career

Formula Junior After an early career in karting, Di Sabatino stepped up to single–seaters in 2005, racing in the Italian Formula Junior 1600 series. Driving for the Tomcat Racing team, he secured ten podium places in twelve races, including five victories, to comfortably win the title ahead of Mihai Marinescu and former Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One driver Jaime Alguersuari.

Formula Renault 2.0 In November 2005, Di Sabatino graduated to Formula Renault, taking part in the Italian Formula Renault 2.0 Winter Series held at Adria International Raceway. In the four races he contested he took one podium place to finish tenth in the standings.

The following year, he raced in the full Italian Formula Renault 2.0 championship, but failed to score a point in the twelve races he entered.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series In July 2006, Di Sabatino made his debut in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, replacing Miloš Pavlović at Italian team Cram Competition. He failed to score a point in the ten races he contested, with his best result being a pair of 16th-place finishes.

Di Sabatino driving for Comtec at the Silverstone round of the 2008 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season. For 2007, Di Sabatino took part in a full season with another Italian team, GD Racing. He took one points finish during the season, a ninth place at Spa–Francorchamps, to finish 26th in the championship. During the off–season, he tested for both RC Motorsport and Comtec Racing before signing for the latter in January 2008.

At the first race of the 2008 season in Monza, Di Sabatino finished second to Dutchman Giedo van der Garde, scoring his best Formula Renault 3.5 Series finish at the time. He followed that up with a tenth-place finish in the second race and then an eighth place at Spa–Francorchamps a week later. However, Di Sabatino was forced to vacate his seat after the Le Mans round after encountering sponsorship issues.

In March 2009, Di Sabatino tested again for RC Motorsport at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain before signing for the team early the following month. After scoring points in three of the first four races, Di Sabatino finally claimed his maiden series victory in the second race of the Hungaroring event in mid–June. Before the end of the season, Di Sabatino ran out of funding and had to give up his seat at RC. Despite this, he finished twelfth in the championship.

Formula Three For the 2010 season, Di Sabatino returned to his native Italy to compete in the Italian Formula Three Championship for Alan Racing. After failing to score a point in any of the opening four races, he left the team after the second round of the year at Hockenheim. He missed the following round of the series at Imola before being signed by RC Motorsport to replace Francesco Castellacci at Mugello, who missed the event due to illness.

However, Di Sabatino, along with his teammate Frédéric Vervisch, failed to start either race of the meeting after encountering engine problems during practice.

Auto GP Di Sabatino competed in the Auto GP series in 2011, replacing Samuele Buttarelli at Ombra Racing, with Buttarelli moving to fellow Italian team TP Formula. Di Sabatino followed him after the first round, he completed the season with TP Formula and finished 12th in the championship.

World Touring Car Championship Di Sabatino driving the Engstler Motorsport BMW 320TC at Spa-Francorchamps during the 2014 World Touring Car Championship season. In February 2012, it was confirmed that Di Sabatino would switch to touring cars, racing in the World Touring Car Championship for Bamboo Engineering. He raced a Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T alongside fellow newcomer Alex MacDowall. He was replaced by Michel Nykjær for the Race of Brazil having suffered from bronchitis and pneumonia and not being able to fly. Di Sabatino did not return to the championship in 2012 and was not classified in the drivers' championship having scored no points.

Racing record

Career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position 2005 Italian Formula Junior 1600 Tomcat Racing 12 5 3 ? 10 268 1st Italian Formula Renault 2.0 - Winter Series 4 0 0 0 1 12 10th 2006 Italian Formula Renault 2.0 Tomcat Racing 12 0 0 ? 0 0 36th Formula Renault 3.5 Series Cram Competition 10 0 0 0 0 0 39th 2007 Formula Renault 3.5 Series GD Racing 17 0 0 0 0 2 26th 2008 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Comtec Racing 13 0 0 0 1 16 20th 2009 Formula Renault 3.5 Series RC Motorsport 15 1 0 0 2 39 12th 2010 Italian Formula Three Championship Alan Racing 4 0 0 0 0 0 30th RC Motorsport 2011 Auto GP Ombra Racing 14 0 0 0 0 38 12th 2012 World Touring Car Championship bamboo-engineering 14 0 0 0 0 0 NC

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Pos Pts 2006 Cram Competition ZOL1 ZOL2 MON1 IST1 IST2 MIS1 MIS2 SPA1 SPA2 NÜR1 NÜR2 DON1 DON2 LMS1 LMS2 CAT1 CAT2 39th 0 2007 GD Racing MNZ1 MNZ2 NÜR1 NÜR2 MON1 HUN1 HUN2 SPA1 SPA2 DON1 DON2 MAG1 MAG2 EST1 EST2 CAT1 CAT2 26th 2 2008 Red Devil Comtec Racing MNZ1 MNZ2 SPA1 SPA2 MON1 SIL1 SIL2 HUN1 HUN2 NÜR1 NÜR2 LMS1 LMS2 EST1 EST2 CAT1 CAT2 20th 16 2009 RC Motorsport CAT1 CAT2 SPA1 SPA2 MON1 HUN1 HUN2 SIL1 SIL2 LMS1 LMS2 ALG1 ALG2 NÜR1 NÜR2 ALC1 ALC2 12th 39

Complete Auto GP results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos Pts 2011 Ombra Racing MNZ1 MNZ2 12th 38 TP Formula HUN1 HUN2 BRN1 BRN2 DON1 DON2 OSC1 OSC2 VAL1 VAL2 MUG1 MUG2

Complete World Touring Car Championship 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 2012 bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T ITA1 ITA2 ESP1 ESP2 MAR1 MAR2 SVK1 SVK2 HUN1 HUN2 AUT1 AUT2 POR1 POR2 BRA1 BRA2 USA1 USA2 JPN1 JPN2 CHN1 CHN2 MAC1 MAC2 NC 0 2014 Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC MAR1 MAR2 FRA1 FRA2 HUN1 HUN2 SVK1 SVK2 AUT1 AUT2 RUS1 RUS2 BEL1 BEL2 ARG1 ARG2 BEI1 BEI2 CHN1 CHN2 JPN1 JPN2 MAC1 MAC2 20th 2