Michele Alboreto

Alboreto finished the year 52nd in the Drivers' Championship, the highest ranked Lancia driver.

Michele Alboreto (23 December 1956 – 25 April 2001) was an Italian racing driver.

His career in motorsport began in 1976, racing a car he and a number of his friends had built in the Formula Monza series.

The car, however, achieved very little success and two years later Alboreto moved up to Formula Three.

Michele Alboreto started his career in 1976 racing in Formula Monza with a car he and his friends built, known as the "CMR".

The car itself proved to be uncompetitive and in 1978 Alboreto, now in a more competitive March, moved over to Formula Italia where he began to take race wins.

Two years later Alboreto moved up to Formula Three, racing in a Euroracing-entered March-Toyota in both the European and Italian series.

In his début Formula Three season, Alboreto finished 6th and 2nd respectively in the two championships, scoring three wins in the Italian series.

Wins in the Italian Formula Three championship and a European Formula Three Championship crown in 1980 paved the way for his entrance into Formula One with the Tyrrell team.

Two wins, the first in the final round of the season in Las Vegas, and the second a year later in Detroit, earned him a place with the Ferrari team.

In 1980 he took the European crown and finished third in the Italian championship, taking five wins between the two series.

An appearance in the British Championship was also made that year.

Alboreto's European title earned him a move into Formula Two, a feeder series for Formula One, with the Minardi team.

He shared the Group 5 category Lancia Beta Montecarlo with Walter Röhrl or Eddie Cheever on four occasions during the 1980 season, scoring three second-place finishes and a fourth.

He scored Minardi's only F2 victory, at Misano, during the 1981 season where he finished eighth in the championship.

Despite his career in open wheel racing, Alboreto was chosen by Lancia to be part of their official squad in the World Championship for Makes, running in rounds which did not conflict with his other races.

Alboreto again ran a partial schedule in 1981 even though he was also running Formula Two and Formula One.

This season included his first participation in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

He earned an eighth-place finish overall, second in class, and was the highest finishing Lancia.

He followed this with his first win in the championship, at the Six Hours of Watkins Glen with co-driver Riccardo Patrese.

When Lancia chose to move to a new class of competition with the Lancia LC1 as the championship concentrated solely on endurance races in 1982, further success came for Alboreto.

A small schedule for the championship, as well as an emphasis on European circuits allowed him to compete in every race that year.

Although the LC1 suffered from mechanical problems on its debut, Alboreto and teammate Patrese were able to rebound to earn a victory at the 1000 km of Silverstone.

Teo Fabi joined the duo for the 1000 km of the Nürburgring, where they once again earned a victory.

He was not able to repeat his previous success at Le Mans when the LC1's engine failed, and was unable to complete an event at Spa when the car broke in the closing laps.

A third victory was earned by Alboreto and new teammate Piercarlo Ghinzani at their home circuit, Mugello.

The final two races of the World Championship season had Alboreto's car eliminated from contention due to accidents.

At the end of the season, he had secured fifth in the Drivers' Championship.

Lancia changed classes and cars once again in 1983 World Sportscar Championship season, but Alboreto remained as one of the team's primary drivers.

He brought the new Lancia LC2 to a ninth-place finish in its debut at the 1000 km of Monza, but the new car struggled to finish the next few races of the season.

His entries would not finish another race until round five, where he earned eleventh.

While Lancia chose to skip later rounds of the championship, he would not return to the team in order to concentrate fully on his commitments to Formula One.

Alboreto competed in Formula One from until, racing for a number of teams, including five seasons (1984–88) for Ferrari.

He was runner up to Alain Prost in the 1985 Formula One World Championship, as well as winning the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and 2001 12 Hours of Sebring sports car races.

Alboreto took three wins for the Italian team and challenged Alain Prost for the 1985 Championship, eventually losing out by 20 points.

The following three seasons were less successful, however, and at the end of the season, the Italian left Ferrari and re-signed with his former employers Tyrrell, where he stayed until joining Larrousse midway through.

Further seasons with Footwork, Scuderia Italia and Minardi followed during the tail end of his F1 career.

In 1995, Alboreto moved on to sportscars and a year later the American IndyCar series.

He took his final major victories, the 1997 Le Mans 24 Hours and 2001 Sebring 12 Hours, with German manufacturers Porsche and Audi, respectively.

In 2001, a month after his Sebring victory, he was killed testing an Audi R8 at the Lausitzring in Germany.