Bruno Giacomelli

Bruno Giacomelli

Born	10 September 1952
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Italian
Active years	1977–1983, 1990
Teams	McLaren, Alfa Romeo, Toleman, Life
Entries	82 (69 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	1
Career points	14
Pole positions	1
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1977 Italian Grand Prix
Last entry	1990 Spanish Grand Prix

Bruno Giacomelli (Italian pronunciation: [ˈbruno dʒakoˈmɛlli]; born 10 September 1952) is a former racing driver from Italy.

He won one of the two 1976 British Formula 3 Championships and the 1978 Formula Two championship. He participated in 82 Formula One grands prix, debuting on 11 September 1977. He achieved 1 podium, and scored a total of 14 championship points.

He was born at Poncarale, Brescia, Italy.

Early career

Giacomelli began his career in Formula Italia, graduated to Formula Three in 1976 with a March and finished runner up in his first season, to Rupert Keegan,^[1] in the B.A.R.C Championship and won the B.R.D.C. title. He also led from start to finish in a March-Toyota in the 1976 Monaco Grand Prix Formula Three support race. His average speed was 74.84 miles per hour.^[2]

Giacomelli moved into Formula Two in 1977 in close association with Robin Herd and the March factory.^[1] He retired from the Formula Two Pau Grand Prix in May 1977, after his car made contact with one driven by Jacques Laffite. However he managed to score three F2 wins in 1977,^[1] at Vallelunga, Mugello and Donington Park and finished fifth in the championship. He also made his Formula One World Championship debut in 1977 in a third works McLaren M23-Cosworth at the 1977 Italian Grand Prix at Monza retiring with an engine problem which caused him to spin off.^[1]

Giacomelli dominated the following F2 season, winning eight of the 12 races^[1] on his way to the title and beating runner up Marc Surer by 29 points. Giacomelli retained his Formula Two points lead with a third-place finish in the Mugello Grand Prix in May 1978. The race was won by Derek Daly in a Chevron Cars Ltd entry.^[3] At the 1978 Grand Prix de Rouen, Giacomelli solidified his lead in the Formula Two Championship. He drove a March to victory after starting from pole position.^[4] Giacomelli became the first Italian to win the European Formula Two Championship.^[1]

Formula One

After his sole F1 race in 1977, Giacomelli entered five races in 1978 for McLaren, when his Formula Two commitments allowed. He achieved his best finish of seventh in the 1978 British Grand Prix. After winning the European F2 title, he switched to Alfa Romeo for their return to building F1 cars in 1979. Alfa only entered their 177 and 179 cars in a handful of events that year, and Giacomelli could only achieve a best of 17th place in the 1979 French Grand Prix. However the following year the team looked more promising. Giacomelli earned a surprise 6th qualifying position for Alfa Romeo at Brands Hatch for the 1980 British Grand Prix.^[5] Giacomelli posted a third place qualifying time for the 1980 Italian Grand Prix at Imola. Three of his six mechanics sustained injuries on the Friday before the race, when their helicopter crashed en route to the track.^[6] He won the pole position for the 1980 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, New York in his Alfa Romeo. Giacomelli improved on his opening day time by 1.25 seconds, with a time of 1 minute 33.29 seconds over the 3.37 mile track.^[7] However, despite these flashes of speed the car was severely unreliable - Giacomelli only managed to finish three of the season's fourteen races, although two of his finishes were fifth places at the season-opening 1980 Argentine Grand Prix and the 1980 German Grand Prix, thus netting him four points and placing him 16th in the drivers' championship. In 1981 the car was somewhat more reliable, with Giacomelli being a classified finisher in eight of the season's 15 races - however he struggled to achieve good results until the end of the year, with a fourth and a third in the season-ending Canadian and Caesars Palace Grands Prix respectively - the latter was Giacomelli's only podium finish in F1, and he achieved his best ever championship finish by ending up 15th in the drivers' standings. For 1982 Alfa introduced their new Alfa Romeo 182 to replace the ageing 179, however the new chassis proved to be unreliable in the first half of the season. In the second half it was reliable enough to allow Giacomelli to finish all but two of the races, however the year only yielded one points finish for him with a fifth in Germany.Giacomelli was eliminated at the start of the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder when his Alfa Romeo collided with the two ATS cars of Eliseo Salazar and Manfred Winkelhock.^[8] Alfa recruited Mauro Baldi to partner Andrea de Cesaris for the 1983 Formula One season and Giacomelli joined Toleman. Giacomelli was outperformed by his team-mate Derek Warwick, though he did manage to pick up a final F1 point at the 1983 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.

Seven years later, in 1990, Giacomelli returned to F1 with the Life outfit, taking over from Gary Brabham who left the team two races into the season. The car, saddled with an ineffectual and fragile W12 engine, struggled to get within 20 seconds of the pole time at many circuits and Giacomelli failed to even get out of pre-qualifying at any of the 12 Grands Prix he contested with the team. At the Italian Grand Prix the team reverted to a more conventional Judd V8 engine, but the car had not been adapted for the new engine and the team were unable to properly fit the engine cover,^[9] leading to them pulling out of the event without completing a single lap. When Giacomelli was able to drive the Judd-powered car in Spain he found himself 18 seconds off the pace despite the new engine. With money in short supply and few hopes of improving their desperately uncompetitive package the team folded before the final two races of the season, ending Giacomelli's F1 career.

CART

He made 11 starts in CART in 1984 and 1985, 10 of which were for Patrick Racing. His best finish was a 5th place on the Meadowlands street course in 1985. He attempted but failed to qualify for the 1984 Indianapolis 500.

Racing record

Complete British B.R.D.C. Formula 3 results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	Total	Points
1976	March Racing	SIL 3	SIL 1	SIL 1	SIL 2	SIL 3	1st	79

Complete British B.A.R.C. Formula 3 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	12	Total	Points
1976	March Racing	THR 3	THR 3	ZOL 9	THR Ret	BRH 1	SIL 1	OUL 1	SIL 1	MAL 2	THR 1	SNE 3	THR Ret	2nd	71

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	12	13	Pos	Pts
1977	Scaini-AFMP-Euroracing with March GB	March 772	Hart	SIL Ret	THR Ret	HOC Ret	NÜR 6										5th	32
	March Racing Ltd	March 772P	BMW					VAL 1	PAU Ret	MUG 1	ROU Ret	NOG 4	PER 7	MIS Ret	EST 14
		March 782														DON 1
1978	Polifac BMW Junior Team	March 782	BMW	THR 1													1st	82
	March Racing Ltd				HOC 1	NÜR Ret	PAU 1	MUG 3	VAL 2	ROU 1	DON Ret	NOG 1	PER 1	MIS 1	HOC 1

Complete BMW M1 Procar results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Points
1979	Osella	ZOL Ret	MON Ret	DIJ 10	SIL Ret	HOC 8	ZEL 9	ZAN	MOZ Ret	NC	0

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Points
1977	Marlboro Team McLaren	McLaren M23	Ford V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA Ret	USA	CAN	JPN	NC	0
1978	Marlboro Team McLaren	McLaren M26	Ford V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	MON	BEL 8	ESP	SWE	FRA Ret	GBR 7	GER	AUT	NED Ret	ITA 14	USA	CAN		NC	0
1979	Autodelta	Alfa Romeo 177	Alfa Romeo F12	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL Ret	MON	FRA 17	GBR	GER	AUT	NED						NC	0
		Alfa Romeo 179	Alfa Romeo V12													ITA Ret	CAN	USA Ret
1980	Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 179	Alfa Romeo V12	ARG 5	BRA 13	RSA Ret	USW Ret	BEL Ret	MON Ret	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER 5	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	CAN Ret	USA Ret				16th	4
1981	Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 179C	Alfa Romeo V12	USW Ret	BRA NC	ARG 10	SMR Ret	BEL 9	MON Ret	ESP 10	FRA 15	GBR Ret	GER 15		NED Ret	ITA 8	CAN 4	CPL 3			15th	7
		Alfa Romeo 179B	Alfa Romeo V12											AUT Ret
1982	Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 179D	Alfa Romeo V12	RSA 11																	22nd	2
		Alfa Romeo 182	Alfa Romeo V12		BRA Ret	USW Ret	SMR Ret	BEL Ret	MON Ret	DET Ret	CAN Ret	NED 11	GBR 7	FRA 9	GER 5	AUT Ret	SUI 12	ITA Ret	CPL 10
1983	Candy Toleman Motorsport	Toleman TG183B	Hart L4T	BRA Ret	USW Ret	FRA 13	SMR Ret	MON DNQ	BEL 8	DET 9	CAN Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED 13	ITA 7	EUR 6	RSA Ret			19th	1
1990	Life Racing Engines	Life F190	Life W12	USA	BRA	SMR DNPQ	MON DNPQ	CAN DNPQ	MEX DNPQ	FRA DNPQ	GBR DNPQ	GER DNPQ	HUN DNPQ	BEL DNPQ	ITA DNPQ						NC	0
			Judd V8													POR DNPQ	ESP DNPQ	JPN	AUS

Complete World Touring Car Championship results

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

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos	Pts
1987	Pro-Team Imberti	Maserati Biturbo	MOZ 4	JAR DNQ	DIJ Ret	NÜR Ret	SPA Ret	MAS 11	SIL Ret	PAN	CAP	WEL	FUJ	30th	43

American open–wheel racing results

(key)

CART

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Rank	Points
1984	Theodore Racing	LBH Ret	PHX1 DNQ	INDY DNQ	MIL	POR	MEA	CLE	MIS1	ROA	POC	MDO	SAN	MIS2	PHX2			33rd	5
	Patrick Racing															LS 8	LVG
1985	Patrick Racing	LBH Ret	INDY	MIL	POR Ret	MEA 5	CLE 10	MIS1	ROA Ret	POC	MDO 6	SAN 16	MIS2	LS 6	PHX	MIA Ret		19th	32

Complete World Endurance/World Sports Protype Championship results

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

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos	Points
1985	Porsche Kremer Racing	Porsche 956B	MUG	MON 8	SIL	LMS	HOC	MOS	SPA	BRH	FUJ	MAL		NC	0
1986	Martini Racing	Lancia LC2-85	MON DNS											44th	10
	Sponsor Gest Team	Lancia LC2		SIL DNS	LMS	NOR Ret	BRH Ret	JER	NÜR DNS
	Porsche Kremer Racing	Porsche 962C								SPA 12	FUJ 4
1987	Richard Lloyd Racing	Porsche 956B	JAR	JER	MON Ret	SIL	LMS							NC	0
	Mussato Action Car	Lancia LC2						NOR Ret	BRH	NÜR	SPA	FUJ
1988	Porsche Kremer Racing	Porsche 956B	JER	JAR	MON 6	SIL	LMS	BRN	BRH	NÜR 10	SPA DNS	FUJ 16	SAN	37th	20
1989	Porsche Kremer Racing	Porsche 956B	SUZ Ret	DIJ	JER									NC	0
	Mussato Action Car	Lancia LC289				BRH Ret	NÜR NC	DON Ret	SPA Ret	MEX Ret
1990	Spice Engineering	Spice SE90C	SUZ Ret	MON DSQ	SIL 3	SPA	DIJ	NÜR	DON	MNT	MEX			15th	6

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1988	C1	10	Y	Porsche 962CK6 Porsche Type-935 2,8L Turbo Flat-6	Team Kenwood Kremer Racing	Kunimitsu Takahashi Hideki Okada	370	9th	9th
1989	C1	10	Y	Porsche 962CK6 Porsche Type-935 3,0L Turbo Flat-6	Team Kenwood Kremer Racing	Kunimitsu Takahashi Giovanni Lavaggi	303	21st Ret	13th Ret
1990	C1	44	G	Porsche 962C Porsche Type-935 3,0L Turbo Flat-6	Team Richard Lloyd Racing	John Watson Allen Berg	335	11th	11th

References

1. Small, Steve (1994). The Guiness Complete Grand Prix Who's Who. Guinness. p. 156. ISBN 0851127029.
2. Auto Racing, Syracuse Herald Journal, May 30, 1976, Page 72.
3. Auto Racing, Syracuse Herald Journal, May 29, 1978, Page 21.
4. Sports Briefs, Syracuse Herald Journal, June 19, 1978, Page 25.
5. French teams dominate, Syracuse Herald Journal, July 13, 1980, Page 46.
6. Andretti May Drive for a New Team, Syracuse Post Standard, Page 15.
7. Formula Ones Go crazy at the Glen, Syracuse Herald-American, October 5, 1980, Page D13.
8. Watson Wins Grand Prix, Syracuse Post Standard, May 10, 1982, Page 25.
9. "Life - Profile". f1rejects.com. 2001-01-13. Archived from the original on September 26, 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-20.