Emanuele Pirro is best known for his stellar sports car career, including 5 wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans but most fans forget he had a brief stint in F1 from 1989 to 1991. He was present at 40 races over those years but only qualified to start 37. From his 40 presences he failed to finish or qualify 23 times.
Pirro started his motorsport career relatively late at the age 19 when he started competing in karts. Following three seasons in F3000 he joined the Benetton F1 team during the 1989 and competed in 10 races that season with a best finish of fifth at the Australian GP scoring him 3 points and the sum total of his points in F1.
In 1990 he joined BMS Scuderia Italia who was partnered with Dallara; the chassis manufacturer. He raced the entire season but failed to score any points and in 1991, again with Scuderia Italia, didn’t score points and failed to qualify for 3 races. The BMS team had raced in other series before F1 and have since gone on to become a successful team in sports car racing much like Pirro himself. In 2006 Scuderia Italia was chosen as one of the factory backed Aston Martin teams to compete in FIA GT and at Le Mans and renamed Aston Martin Racing BMS.
Despite his inauspicious career in F1, Emanuele Pirro has dominated sports car racing with wins at Le Man in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2007.