Gianni Morbidelli

Gianni Morbidelli
Morbidelli at the 2014 FIA WTCC Race of Belgium.
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1968-01-13) 13 January 1968 Pesaro, Italy
World Touring Car Championship career
Debut season	2006
Current team	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport
Car no.	10
Former teams	N. Technology
Starts	42
Wins	1
Poles	1
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	9th in 2014
Previous series
2010–2012 2009–2013 1998 1990–1997	V8 Supercars Superstars Series BTCC Formula One

Formula One World Championship career
Active years	1990–1992, 1994–1995, 1997
Teams	Scuderia Italia (Dallara), Minardi, Ferrari, Footwork, Sauber
Entries	70 (67 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	1
Career points	8.5
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1990 United States Grand Prix
Last entry	1997 Japanese Grand Prix

Gianni Morbidelli (born 13 January 1968^[1]) is an Italian racing driver. He is the son of Giancarlo Morbidelli, the founder of Morbidelli motorcycle company which had success in Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Morbidelli participated in 70 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 11 March 1990. He achieved one podium, and scored a total of 8.5 championship points. He currently competes in the TCR International Series.

Racing career

Early career

Morbidelli starting karting in 1980, spending six years until he became the EUR-AM championship winner, before moving to Italian Formula Three.^[2] He became Italian Formula 3 and Formula 3 European Cup champion in 1989, as well as winning two races in Italian Touring Cars.^[3] He then moved to the Scuderia Italia Formula One team, doing the first 2 races of the 1990 F1 season as stand-in for Emanuele Pirro, before concentrating on Formula 3000. He won 1 race and finished 5th in the 1990 championship, as well as undertaking test driver duties for Scuderia Ferrari for that year.^[4]

Formula One

Resuming his F1 career at the end of the 1990 season, Morbidelli competed in the final two races of the season with Minardi, where he remained until the end of 1992.^[2] He briefly joined Ferrari for the 1991 Australian Grand Prix, drafted in after Alain Prost left the team, where Morbidelli earned his first Formula One points, earning half a point for 6th after a rain-shortened race. A lack of sponsorship led to him leaving Minardi to rejoin Italian Touring Cars for 1993, where he drove an Alfa Romeo 155 to two wins for Alfa Corse, before being hired by Footwork Arrows for 1994.^[3] He managed four-point-scoring positions in two years with the team, including his only podium place finish in the 1995 Australian Grand Prix, earning third place in a race of high attrition. Morbidelli became Footwork Arrows' most successful driver, with a total of eight points for the team.

Morbidelli also competed in the Italian Superturismo Championship for 1995, scoring two race wins, and, after spending a year out in 1996 testing for Jordan, gained another podium that year.^[2] Back in Formula One for 1997, he raced in several mid-season events for Sauber as a replacement for Nicola Larini.^[3] He scored no points and was not classified in the championship for that year. His unsuccessful season, and two injuries by separate testing accidents, led to Morbidelli retiring from Formula One racing.^[2]

Post-Formula One

Morbidelli driving for Volvo in the 1998 British Touring Car Championship.

In 1998 he drove for Volvo in the British Touring Car Championship, but was not as competitive as his team-mate Rickard Rydell, who won that year's title. His only competitive showing was in the summer meeting at Thruxton, where he charged from near the back of the back to finish fourth, passing many cars in the process. Morbidelli then spent several years in various European touring car series', with a high point in the 2001 European Touring Car Championship, where he raced the BMW 320i to fifth place in the championship, winning the last race at Estoril.^[5] Morbidelli raced in the Italian round of the 2004 season in a SEAT Toledo, but scored no points and did not contest in further meetings.

Morbidelli competing in the 2014 World Touring Car Championship

Morbidelli drove a Lamborghini in several grand tourer races in 2005, and moved back to touring cars for 2006. Competing in the World Touring Car Championship for N-Technology, he managed two second places in an Alfa Romeo 156.^[6] Not as competitive as when he was driving the BMW, he moved back to GT racing for 2007, winning two races in the ADAC GT Masters series. He has had considerable success in the Italian Superstars Championship, where Morbidelli won the title with both Audi RS4 and BMW M3 three years in a row from 2007.^[2] The short-lived Speedcar Series gave him another championship title, where he won the 2008–09 championship. The season featured a close fight with defending champion Johnny Herbert, with Morbidelli finishing one place ahead in the final round to win the title.^[7]

He is making his WTCC return in 2014, driving a Chevrolet Cruze for Münnich Motorsport. He made his debut in the FIA World Rallycross Championship with the same team at his home round in 2015.

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 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
1990	Forti Corse	DON 8	SIL Ret	PAU 3	JER Ret	MNZ 4	PER 1	HOC Ret	BRH Ret	BIR Ret	BUG 7	NOG 3	5th	20

Complete Formula One results

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1990	BMS Scuderia Italia	Dallara F190	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8	USA DNQ	BRA 14	SMR	MON	CAN	MEX	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	ESP				NC	0
1990	SCM Minardi	Minardi M190	Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8															JPN Ret	AUS Ret		NC	0
1991	Minardi Team	Minardi M191	Ferrari 037 3.5 V12	USA Ret	BRA 8	SMR Ret	MON Ret	CAN Ret	MEX 7	FRA Ret	GBR 11	GER Ret	HUN 13	BEL Ret	ITA 9	POR 9	ESP 14	JPN Ret			24th	0.5
1991	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 643	Ferrari 037 3.5 V12																AUS 6		24th	0.5
1992	Minardi Team	Minardi M191B	Lamborghini 3512 3.5 V12	RSA Ret	MEX Ret	BRA 7	ESP Ret														NC	0
1992	Minardi Team	Minardi M192	Lamborghini 3512 3.5 V12					SMR Ret	MON Ret	CAN 11	FRA 8	GBR 17	GER 12	HUN DNQ	BEL 16	ITA Ret	POR 14	JPN 14	AUS 10		NC	0
1994	Footwork	Footwork FA15	Ford HBE7/8 3.5 V8	BRA Ret	PAC Ret	SMR Ret	MON Ret	ESP Ret	CAN Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 5	HUN Ret	BEL 6	ITA Ret	POR 9	EUR 11	JPN Ret	AUS Ret		22nd	3
1995	Footwork	Footwork FA16	Hart 830 3.0 V8	BRA Ret	ARG Ret	SMR 13	ESP 11	MON 9	CAN 6	FRA 14	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	EUR	PAC Ret	JPN Ret	AUS 3	14th	5
1997	Red Bull Sauber Petronas	Sauber C16	Petronas SPE-01 3.0 V10	AUS	BRA	ARG	SMR	MON	ESP 14	CAN 10	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN Ret	BEL 9	ITA 12	AUT 9	LUX 9	JPN DNS	EUR	NC	0

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded all races) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) (* signifies that driver lead feature race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded)

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	25	26	Pos	Pts
1998	Volvo S40 Racing	Volvo S40	THR 1 6	THR 2 11	SIL 1 8	SIL 2 5	DON 1 12	DON 2 Ret	BRH 1 13	BRH 2 10	OUL 1 6	OUL 2 9*	DON 1 6	DON 2 7	CRO 1 10	CRO 2 7*	SNE 1 7	SNE 2 11	THR 1 8	THR 2 4	KNO 1 11	KNO 2 Ret	BRH 1 Ret	BRH 2 Ret	OUL 1 Ret	OUL 2 9	SIL 1 17	SIL 2 Ret	11th	56