Beppe Gabbiani
Giuseppe " Beppe " Gabbiani ( born January 2, 1957 in Piacenza, Italy ) is an Italian racing driver.
- 3.1 Le Mans results
The beginnings of the career
Originally from a wealthy family home Gabbiani began at the age of 14 years with the karting. After he won two Italian league titles in karting and two European Championships, moved Gabbiani 1977 in the Formula 3 The Italians already won the first race of the season in Le Castellet and finished the championship in fourth place overall.
In 1978, Gabbiani in the formula 2 He continued, without much success, for Trivellato Racing as team-mate Giacomo Agostini a chevron Ferrari. By 1983, Gabbiani remained of formula 2 with a one year break in 1981, in annually changing teams faithful. Real success he achieved this but only after the forcible end of his Formula 1 career, when he won in 1983 for Onyx total of four wins this season and third overall.
In Formula 1
1978 Surtees
In 1978, Gabbiani bought for the last two races in Canada and the United States in the financially weak Surtees team, as a replacement for the injured Vittorio Brambilla, a. At the wheel of a Surtees TS20 -Cosworth succeeded the Italians, however, not to qualify for one of the races.
1981 Osella
1981 Gabbiani tried again to establish themselves in Formula 1. He was engaged by the financially weak Turin team Osella for the entire season. Osella was a small Italian team of Volpiano in Turin, which was founded in the late 1960s by Enzo Osella on the basis of the sports car program of Abarth and had built in the 1970s, mainly sports prototypes for circuit racing and hill climbs. Financially has always been standing on thin legs, were the subsequent experiments in Formula 2 and - since 1980 - mostly coined in Formula 1 of privation and improvisation. Among suffered a significant extent the driver who could not repeatedly show their full potential. This is, ultimately, for Beppe Gabbiani.
For the year 1981 Osella undertook for the first time two drivers; next Gabbiani the young Argentinian Miguel Angel Guerra should be used. Breakfast was shown that the small team was overwhelmed staff, logistically and financially with the preparation and the use of two racing cars. A substantial part of the budget had to be taken to build a second car.
Both riders started first in an Osella FA1B Cosworth. This vehicle had been taken in the previous year on the occasion of the Grand Prix of Italy in September 1980 in operation and had since experienced little development. Overall, the Osella FA1B, which had been designed and built workshop with home remedies in Osellas, undoubtedly one of the weakest and least reliable cars of the grid.
First, it succeeded Gabbiani yet to qualify a few more times and in Imola, until his failure to hold the middle ground, so piled up later in the season the non- qualifications.
After the Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama his partner Miguel Angel Guerra left the team, could be found at short notice without compensation. This Gabbiani was the following race in France the only Osella - pilot. Despite this comfortable position Gabbiani could not qualify. He was rated as the second- slowest pilot in qualifying; behind him ranked only Derek Warwick Toleman - Hart in problematic Turbo. In the last place Gabbiani missing 2.5 seconds; overall he was more than 6.5 seconds slower than René Arnoux, who had reached the pole position at Renault.
From the race at Silverstone committed Enzo Osella unemployed veteran Jean -Pierre Jarier, who had run two races for Ligier beginning of the year, but had been there soon replaced by Jean -Pierre Jabouille. Since that time, Gabbianis situation in the team deteriorated progressively. Enzo Osella concentrated its very limited resources deliberately to the car of Jean -Pierre Jarier, as the Frenchman from Osellas sight brought a lot more experience and from him the better results were expected. For Gabbiani, this meant that he could deny no more testing after that date. In addition Jarier was the first new parts - if there were such - and ultimately the preparation of Gabbianis car was only tackled when Jariers car was completed. Multiple Gabbiani had to forego training runs because his car is not ready for use. Finally, it happened that Osella not let him because of financial reasons to the slopes, to save either the engine or tires or simply because no spare parts for car Gabbianis were present.
As in Monza, the new Osella FA1C debuted, only allowed Jarier drive the new car. Gabbianis situation in the team deteriorated thereby again. In Canada, he had an engine failure during free practice. Osella was only two mechanics to replace the engine off, and Gabbiani had, after a successful exchange, then only 15 minutes to qualify. The He failed ultimately.
At the last race of the season in Las Vegas is Gabbiani refused to contest the final training for Osella. He had lost more than nine seconds to the pole position in the first qualifying session and now of the opinion that the car " a chance and not sufficiently prepared and maintained " was.
During the winter break of the Italians still hoped to continue his Formula 1 career. But although he was able to convince quite during test drives for March and Brabham, there was no new Formula 1 involvement.
Career in Formula 1
Other races
After Gabbiani 1983, after four wins in the first five races of the season, almost certainly believed Formula 2 European Championship title because of an injury he incurred the race in Pau during training, but still lost, denied the Italians in the following years only sporadic race in Formula 3000, and the Italian sports car and touring car championship.
In 1999 Gabbiani returned to the international racing stage. Since then, he regularly takes part in races in the FIA GT Championship, the Le Mans Series and the 24 - hour race at Le Mans.