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Emanuele Pirro (born January 12, 1962 in Rome, Italy) is an Italian former Formula One driver and five time Le Mans 24 hour winner.
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Biography
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 F300, F2, F3. From 1989 to 1991, he was a Formula One driver and participated in 40 grands prix, first for Benetton and later for Scuderia Italia. He scored a total of 3 championship points.
After leaving Formula One, Pirro became involved in touring car winning the Macau Guia race twice 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.
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.
Emanuele 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.
Pirro, alongside teammates Dindo Capello and Allan McNish 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 will take on an ambassadorial role with Audi in 2009.
Appearances in Video Gaming
In 2007, the video game Race Driver: GRID was released with many, actual race car drivers including Pirro himself. He stars in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race featured at the end of every "season" the player finishes. He appears as the main opponent once you reach the LMP1 class of vehicle and drives the Audi R10 TDI.
Selected race results
24 Hours of Le Mans results
| Year | Result | Team | Car | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Ret | Martini Racing | Lancia Beta Monte Carlo | Gr.5 |
| 1998 | Ret | Gulf Team Davidoff / GTC Competition | McLaren F1 GTR | GT1 |
| 1999 | 3 | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi R8R | LMP |
| 2000 | 1 | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi R8 | LMP900 |
| 2001 | 1 | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi R8 | LMP900 |
| 2002 | 1 | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi R8 | LMP900 |
| 2003 | 3 | Champion Racing | Audi R8 | LMP900 |
| 2004 | 3 | ADT Champion Racing | Audi R8 | LMP1 |
| 2005 | 3 | ADT Champion Racing | Audi R8 | LMP1 |
| 2006 | 1 | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi R10 | LMP1 |
| 2007 | 1 | Audi Sport North America | Audi R10 | LMP1 |
| 2008 | 6 | Audi Sport North America | Audi R10 | LMP1 |
Formula One results
| 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 |
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| 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 15 |
ESP 15 |
JPN Ret |
AUS 7 |
18th | 1 |
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