Close-up view of a 1964 Mercury Comet Cyclone race car, driven by Emanuele Pirro and Roger Wills, on display at the Regents Street Motor Show 2017.
Emanuele Pirro (born 12 January 1962, in Rome, Italy) is an Italian former Formula One driver and five time Le Mans 24-hour winner. 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 teammate 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
Size: 5438px × 3414px
Location: Regent Street, London, United Kingdom
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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