Fabrizio Giovanardi

Fabrizio Giovanardi (born 14 December 1966 in Sassuolo) is an Italian racing driver.

During his career he has won ten touring car titles, including European and British crowns making him the most successful touring car driver worldwide.

He has spent the majority of his career racing for Alfa Romeo and Vauxhall.

After winning both the Italian and World Formula C karting titles for 125cc karts in 1986, Giovanardi stepped up to the Italian Formula Three Championship in 1987, driving a Reynard 873 powered by Alfa Romeo for PreMa Racing, where he scored a podium en route to thirteenth position in the championship.

He stayed in the series in 1988, where he secured two wins at Vallelunga and Enna-Pergusa and finished third overall in the championship, a point behind runner-up Mauro Martini and two points behind season champion Emanuele Naspetti.

In 1989, Giovanardi switched to International Formula 3000 to compete with First Racing and won the race at Vallelunga.

Those were his only points however, as he ended up tenth in the final championship standings; failing to qualify for races at Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Le Mans.

He returned to the series in 1990, competing in a single round.

He continued in the series in 1990 with First Racing, and again ended up tenth in the championship with a best result of second place at Pau.

1991 was his final season, and finished in a three-way tie for eleventh place.

Giovanardi dabbled into the Superturismo in the 1991 season, competing in a Peugeot 405.

He took five Class S2 victories which set him up for a full campaign in the 1992 season.

In his first full season, he was champion in the S2 class taking eight race wins and being crowned champion, his first touring car title.

He moved into the main class of the championship with Peugeot in 1993, finishing in the top three overall twice (second in 1993 and third in 1994), and winning five races before moving to Nordauto Engineering Alfa Romeo in 1995.

In his début season with Alfa, Giovanardi again finished in third place, beating his team-mate Antonio Tamburini in a tie.

He also contested one round of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft at the Norisring, driving an Alfa Romeo 155 for the factory Alfa Corse team.

In 1996 he continued to race in Superturismo and he also participated to some rounds of CET always with Nordauto Engineering.

He finished fifth in Italy, and one place lower in Spain, taking five wins over the two series.

In 1997 he continued in both championship Superturismo and CET driving for the last time Alfa Romeo 155 Ts.

He won all four races of CET before that serie was cancelled due to lack of cars and he finished second in Superturismo with five victories behind Naspetti.

He got the better of Naspetti in 1998, dominating the Italian championship in the new Alfa Romeo 156 with nine victories and eighteen podium on twenty races.

Giovanardi and team-mate Nicola Larini made a guest appearance in the STW at the Norisring, where they both finished outside the top ten placings in both races.

He became again Italian champion in 1999, again beating his BMW rival Naspetti in a thrilling last race in Vallelunga; Giovanardi's advantage at the end of the season was only fourteen points after ten rounds.

Giovanardi and Larini made a return to the STW at the series' Italian round at Misano, and the Alfa drivers finished 1–2 in the sprint race before both retired in the feature race.

The Superturismo was promoted to become the Euro STC in 2000, and again Giovanardi won the title with Nordauto.

Consistency was the key to become again champion in the new European Championship Euro STC in 2001, winning just three races and ten podium.

Giovanardi also got his first Formula One test as a test driver for Ferrari on February 1 in 2001, replacing the injured Luca Badoer, who crashed heavily several weeks before.

He was the official test driver of the team until September of that year, when Badoer healed and returned to his testing duties.

In 2002, the European Touring Car Championship returned as a complete entity using the Super 2000 regulations.

The regulation change did not hinder Giovanardi as he won a touring car title for the fifth successive season, again at the wheel of an Alfa Romeo.

However, he switched to a Ravaglia Motorsport-run BMW for the 2003 season, but struggled with the rear-wheel-drive car taking only three podiums en route to ninth in the championship.

Unsurprisingly, Giovanardi returned to the wheel of an Alfa in 2004 as part of a four-car team by Autodelta, the new name for Nordauto.

Giovanardi took a single victory at Valencia as he finished sixth in the championship, finishing behind team-mate Gabriele Tarquini, the first such occasion of Giovanardi being beaten by a team-mate.

With the European series becoming the World Touring Car Championship in 2005 – the first such championship season since 1987 – Giovanardi was part of the Alfa factory outfit, alongside Tarquini, James Thompson and Augusto Farfus, with André Couto joining the quartet at his home round in Macau.

Giovanardi took a season-high four victories, as he finished as the highest-placed Alfa Romeo driver in the championship, finishing behind the BMWs of champion Andy Priaulx and Dirk Müller.

In late 2005 Giovanardi tested a Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch for the Triple Eight BTCC team at Pembrey in Wales.

His final appearance in the series to date came in 2006, when he replaced Pierre-Yves Corthals in Curitiba, Brazil and joined Corthals in Macau for JAS Motorsport; taking a best result of fourth in the opening Macau race.

With Alfa Romeo pulling out of the WTCC, Giovanardi began searching for a replacement drive for the 2006 season.

In 2011, Giovanardi won the European Touring Car Cup at the Salzburgring in Austria.

He clinched Hartmann Racing's third consecutive European Touring Car Cup, in a Honda Accord.