Emanuele Pirro

Emanuele Pirro Born (1962-01-12) 12 January 1962 Formula One World Championship career Nationality Italian Active years 1989 – 1991 Teams Benetton, Scuderia Italia Entries 40 (37 starts) Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Career points 3 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First entry 1989 French Grand Prix Last entry 1991 Australian Grand Prix

24 Hours of Le Mans career Participating years 1981, 1998 – 2008, 2010 Teams Martini Racing, GTC Competition, Audi Sport Joest, Champion Racing, Drayson Racing Best finish 1st (2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007) Class wins 6 (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007)

Emanuele Pirro (born 12 January 1962, in Rome, Italy) is an Italian former Formula One driver and five time Le Mans 24-hour winner.

Career

Pirro started his racing career in karts at the age of 11. At 18, he raced with the Formula Fiat Abarth, then moving on to European Formula Three (1981–83), Formula Two (1984) and Formula 3000 (1985–1986). In 1988, he was the official test driver for the all-conquering McLaren Formula One team. He seemed set to make his Formula One debut at the 1989 French Grand Prix for Larrousse in place of Philippe Alliot but instead was hired by Benetton in place of the unfit Johnny Herbert. While he ran 3rd at Hockenheim before crashing out, his season was generally something of a disappointment, only scoring a single points finish (for 5th at the wet Australian Grand Prix).

Pirro at the 1991 United States Grand Prix.

He then signed a two-year deal with the Scuderia Italia team to drive their Dallara chassis. His pre-season was affected by a bout of hepatitis and he missed the first two races of 1990, with Gianni Morbidelli taking his place. As it turned out the car wasn't competitive or reliable, though he often spun of his own accord too. Pirro finished only three times from 14 starts, with 10th place in Hungary his best result. 1991 was more promising with Judd V10 engines added to the package. Despite scoring a point at Monaco Pirro was largely outpaced by team-mate JJ Lehto and still had a habit of getting involved in accidents (notably qualifying well in 7th at the Hungaroring only to collide immediately with Stefano Modena). He was unable to find another Formula One drive for 1992.

After leaving Formula One, Pirro returned to touring car racing, having spent 1986–88 as part of the Schnitzer BMW team in the European Touring Car Championship, as well as the inaugural World Touring Car Championship in 1987. Pirro won the Macau Guia race in 1991 and 1992 at the wheel of a BMW M3 Evolution, and the Italian Touring car championship in 1994 and 1995 driving for Audi.

Pirro driving an Audi R10 at Laguna Seca in 2006.

Further success followed in sports car racing, with three wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in three consecutive years (2000 to 2002) partnered with Frank Biela and Tom Kristensen for Audi Sport Team Joest. Pirro, Frank Biela and Marco Werner made history by becoming the first drivers to win the Le Mans 24-hour race in a diesel-powered car. Pirro was driving the Audi R10 Diesel when it completed a record 380 laps of the La Sarthe circuit. The team repeated the feat the following year. Alongside teammates Dindo Capello and Allan McNish he won a historic race at Petit Le Mans in 2008, driving for Audi Sport North America.

Pirro retired from racing at the end of the 2008 season, having finished second in the American Le Mans series, and took an ambassadorial role with Audi in 2009. In 2010 he returned to race tracks as a third driver for private LMP1 Drayson Racing team. In 2011 he drove a V8 Supercar in Australia for Stone Brothers Racing at the Gold Coast 600, alongside New Zealander Shane Van Gisbergen.

Pirro will take part in the 2012 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona at the wheel of an Audi R8 for APR Motorsport.

Race results

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1981	Martini Racing	Beppe Gabbiani	Lancia Beta Monte Carlo	Gr.5	47	DNF	DNF
1998	Gulf Team Davidoff GTC Competition	Dr. Thomas Bscher Rinaldo Capello	McLaren F1 GTR-BMW	GT1	228	DNF	DNF
1999	Audi Sport Team Joest	Frank Biela Didier Theys	Audi R8R	LMP	360	3rd	2nd
2000	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Frank Biela	Audi R8	LMP900	368	1st	1st
2001	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Frank Biela	Audi R8	LMP900	321	1st	1st
2002	Audi Sport Team Joest	Tom Kristensen Frank Biela	Audi R8	LMP900	375	1st	1st
2003	Champion Racing	Stefan Johansson JJ Lehto	Audi R8	LMP900	372	3rd	1st
2004	ADT Champion Racing	JJ Lehto Marco Werner	Audi R8	LMP1	368	3rd	3rd
2005	ADT Champion Racing	Frank Biela Allan McNish	Audi R8	LMP1	364	3rd	3rd
2006	Audi Sport Team Joest	Frank Biela Marco Werner	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	380	1st	1st
2007	Audi Sport Team Joest	Frank Biela Marco Werner	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	369	1st	1st
2008	Audi Sport North America	Frank Biela Marco Werner	Audi R10 TDI	LMP1	367	6th	6th
2010	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	Pos	Pts
1984	Onyx Race Engineering	March 842	BMW	SIL 6	HOC 4	THR 4	VAL 12	MUG 4	PAU Ret	HOC Ret	MIS Ret	PER 6	DON 2	BRH 6	6th	18

Complete International Formula 3000 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	DC	Points
1985	Onyx Racing	March 85B	Cosworth	SIL 7	THR 1	EST 4	VAL 1	PAU 2	SPA Ret	DIJ Ret	PER 2	ZEL 4	ZAN 5	DON Ret	3rd	38
1986	Onyx Racing	March 86B	Cosworth	SIL 2	VAL 3	PAU 2	SPA 19	IMO Ret	MUG 6	PER 13	ZEL Ret	BIR Ret	BUG 1	JAR 1	2nd	32

Complete Japanese Formula 3000 Championship 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	DC	Points
1988	Team LeMans	SUZ 9	FUJ 5	MIN 2	SUZ 4	SUG 2	FUJ 4	SUZ 3	SUZ 4				3rd	25
1989	Team LeMans	SUZ 5	FUJ Ret	MIN Ret	SUZ 1	SUG	FUJ	SUZ	SUZ				6th	11
1991	Team Hayashi	SUZ	AUT	FUJ	MIN	SUZ	SUG	FUJ	SUZ	FUJ C	SUZ	FUJ	NC	0

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Yr	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1989	Benetton Formula Ltd	Benetton B188	Cosworth V8	BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	USA	CAN	FRA 9	GBR 11									23rd	2
		Benetton B189										GER Ret	HUN 8	BEL 10	ITA Ret	POR Ret	ESP Ret	JPN Ret	AUS 5
1990	Scuderia Italia	BMS Dallara 190	Cosworth V8	USA	BRA	SMR Ret	MON Ret	CAN Ret	MEX Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 11	GER Ret	HUN 10	BEL Ret	ITA Ret	POR 15	ESP Ret	JPN Ret	AUS Ret	NC	0
1991	Scuderia Italia	BMS Dallara 191	Judd V10	USA Ret	BRA 11	SMR DNPQ	MON 6	CAN 9	MEX DNPQ	FRA DNPQ	GBR 10	GER 10	HUN Ret	BEL 8	ITA 10	POR Ret	ESP 15	JPN Ret	AUS 7	18th	1

Complete American Le Mans Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	Tyres	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
1999	Audi Sport Team Joest	LMP	Audi R8R	Audi 3.6 L Turbo V8	M	SEB ovr:5 cls:5	ATL	MOS	SON	POR	PET	MON	LSV					52nd	20
2000	Audi Sport North America	LMP	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	M	SEB ovr:1 cls:1			NÜR ovr:3 cls:3	SON ovr:2 cls:2	MOS ovr:Ret cls:Ret	TEX ovr:1 cls:1	ROS ovr:4 cls:4	PET ovr:2 cls:2	MON ovr:2 cls:2	LSV ovr:1 cls:1	ADE ovr:15 cls:5	3rd	232
			Audi R8R				CHA ovr:6 cls:6	SIL ovr:5 cls:5
2001	Audi Sport North America	LMP900	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	M	TEX ovr:2 cls:2	SEB ovr:2 cls:2	DON ovr:2 cls:2	JAR ovr:2 cls:2	SON ovr:2 cls:2	POR ovr:2 cls:2	MOS ovr:1 cls:1	MID ovr:4 cls:4	MON ovr:1 cls:1	PET ovr:1 cls:1			1st	202
2002	Audi Sport North America	LMP900	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	M	SEB ovr:5 cls:5	SON ovr:14 cls:8	MID ovr:1 cls:1	AME ovr:2 cls:2	WAS ovr:3 cls:3	TRO ovr:2 cls:2	MOS ovr:Ret cls:Ret	MON ovr:1 cls:1	MIA ovr:1 cls:1	PET ovr:6 cls:6			4th	206
2003	ADT Champion Racing	LMP900	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	M	SEB ovr:2 cls:2	ATL	SON	TRO	MOS	AME	MON	MIA	PET				18th	22
2004	ADT Champion Racing	LMP1	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	M	SEB ovr:2 cls:2	MID	LIM	SON	POR	MOS	AME	PET	MON				13th	22
2005	ADT Champion Racing	LMP1	Audi R8	Audi 3.6L Turbo V8	M	SEB ovr:2 cls:2	ATL ovr:3 cls:3	MID ovr:3 cls:3	LIM ovr:2 cls:2	SON ovr:1 cls:1	POR ovr:1 cls:1	AME ovr:1 cls:1	MOS ovr:3 cls:3	PET ovr:1 cls:1	MON ovr:2 cls:2			1st	182
2006	Audi Sport North America	LMP1	Audi R10 TDI	Audi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	M	SEB	TEX	MID	LIM	UTA ovr:1 cls:1	POR ovr:2 cls:2	AME ovr:1 cls:1	MOS ovr:4 cls:4	PET ovr:7 cls:5	MON ovr:2 cls:2			5th	80
2007	Audi Sport North America	LMP1	Audi R10 TDI	Audi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	M	SEB ovr:1 cls:1	STP ovr:2 cls:2	LNB ovr:9 cls:2	TEX ovr:12 cls:2	UTA ovr:6 cls:2	LIM ovr:23 cls:4	MID ovr:3 cls:1	AME ovr:3 cls:2	MOS ovr:4 cls:2	DET ovr:2 :cls:1	PET	MON	4th	175
2008	Audi Sport North America	LMP1	Audi R10 TDI	Audi 5.5L Turbo V12 (Diesel)	M	SEB	STP ovr:Ret cls:Ret	LNB ovr:2 cls:2	UTA ovr:Ret cls:Ret	LIM ovr:21 cls:3	MID ovr:2 cls:2	AME ovr:2 cls:2	MOS ovr:2 cls:2	DET ovr:DSQ cls:DSQ	PET ovr:1 cls:1	MON ovr:2 cls:2		3rd	156
2010	Drayson Racing	LMP1	Lola B09/60	Judd GV5.5 S2 5.5 L V10	M	SEB ovr:12 cls:4	LNB	MON ovr:Ret cls:Ret	UTA ovr:2 cls:2	LIM	MID	AME	MOS	PET				12th	46

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen 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	Pos	Points
2004	Audi Sport Team Joest	Audi A4 DTM 2004	HOC 7	EST 11	ADR 9	LAU 6	NOR 9	SHA1 Ret	NÜR 11	OSC 15	ZAN 7	BRN 5	HOC Ret	11th	11

¹ – A non-championship one-off race was held in 2004 at the streets of Shanghai, China.

Complete Porsche Supercup 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	DC	Points
2013	Porsche AG	ESP	MON	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA 23†	UAE	UAE	NC‡	0‡

† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
‡ As Pirro was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

Sources

• Profile at www.grandprix.com

External links

• Official website
• Emanuele Pirro on Twitter
• Emanuele Pirro career summary at DriverDB.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Masahiro Hasemi	Guia Race winner 1991–1992	Succeeded by Charles Kwan
Preceded by Roberto Ravaglia	Italian Touring Car Champion 1994–1995	Succeeded by Rinaldo Capello
Preceded by Joachim Winkelhock	Super Tourenwagen Cup Champion 1996	Succeeded by Laurent Aiello
Preceded by Pierluigi Martini Yannick Dalmas Joachim Winkelhock	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2000 with: Frank Biela Tom Kristensen	Succeeded by Frank Biela Tom Kristensen Emanuele Pirro
Preceded by Frank Biela Tom Kristensen Emanuele Pirro	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2001 with: Frank Biela Tom Kristensen	Succeeded by Frank Biela Tom Kristensen Emanuele Pirro
Preceded by Allan McNish	American Le Mans Series champion 2001	Succeeded by Tom Kristensen
Preceded by Frank Biela Tom Kristensen Emanuele Pirro	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2002 with: Frank Biela Tom Kristensen	Succeeded by Tom Kristensen Rinaldo Capello Guy Smith
Preceded by Marco Werner J.J. Lehto	American Le Mans Series champion 2005 with Frank Biela	Succeeded by Allan McNish Rinaldo Capello
Preceded by J.J. Lehto Marco Werner Tom Kristensen	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2006 with: Frank Biela Marco Werner	Succeeded by Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro Marco Werner
Preceded by Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro Marco Werner	Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2007 with: Frank Biela Marco Werner	Succeeded by Allan McNish Rinaldo Capello Tom Kristensen