Cesare Fiorio
Cesare Fiorio ( born May 5, 1939 in Turin) was team manager of Lancia Rally Team and Formula 1 Race Director at Ferrari, Ligier and Minardi.
Through his father, who headed the advertising department of Lancia in the 1950s, Fiorio came early in contact with the motor sport. Fiorio aimed initially at a racing career and started in the early 1960s with the racing. In 1961, he won on a Fiat, the Italian GT Championship. After a start in the Rally Monte Carlo in 1962, where the retired early due to an accident, he finished his short career and moved into management of Lancia. There he began to build up a rally team mid -1960s and to establish. Lancia had made ten years earlier very fast in international motorsport foot. With the Lancia D50 in Formula 1 and in international sports car race, the factory team was able to achieve some success. End of 1955, the racing department but was sold to Ferrari.
Fiorio was first rebuilt Lancia Flavia to rally cars. Quickly turned out that the big sedans were only partially suitable for rallying. Therefore, it was decided for the new Lancia Fulvia HF coupe that was built from 1966, when emergency vehicle.
Already in 1967 a first successes. Ove Andersson won the Rally of Spain and Sandro Munari won the Tour de Corse. After winning the European Rally Championship in 1969 by Harry Kallstrom a long era of success began, culminating in overall victories in the constructors' title in the World Rally Championship. Under the leadership of Fiorio Lancia won seven times this item. Also for the sports car program of Lancia - Lancia LC used the prototypes came - Fiorio was responsible.
In the meantime, were also taken over by Fiat Alfa Romeo Lancia and Fiorio both rose in the hierarchy. In 1988, he was next to his tenure at Lancia also sports director at Alfa Romeo. A year earlier, he joined the board of the football club Juventus Turin - which is also part of the Fiat Group - appointed.
After another Fiat subsidiary, Scuderia Ferrari, who won the Formula 1 World Championship since 1979 no title, the successful Lancia team boss Fiorio was 1989 New Race Director at Ferrari. The time of Fiorio at the Scuderia was marked by intrigue and missed chances. The Frenchman Alain Prost lost the 1990 World Cup, although just short of Ayrton Senna in 1991 after sustained criticism of the racing cars of Scuderia but was released prematurely. Since Fiorio was no longer race director. He resigned after the Grand Prix of San Marino 1991, when Prost and Jean Alesi had failed after a few rounds.
Fiorio left the Fiat group in 1994 and was team leader at Ligier, a function he held intermittently until the takeover of the racing team by Alain Prost in 1997.
After three years as race director at Minardi he joined in 2000 back from the motorsport and has been in the Italian state broadcaster RAI worked as a commentator.
His son Alex Fiorio found its way into motor racing and from 1986 to 2002 in the World Rally Championship active.