Career
Pirro started his racing career in karts at the age of 11. At 18, he raced with the Formula Fiat Abarth, then moving on to F300, F2, F3. From 1989 to 1991, he was a Formula One driver and participated in 40 grands prix, first for Benetton and later for Scuderia Italia. He scored a total of 3 championship points.
After leaving Formula One, Pirro became involved in touring car winning the Macau Guia race twice in 1991 and 1992 at the wheel of a BMW M3 Evolution and the Italian Touring car championship in 1994 and 1995 driving for Audi.
Further success followed in sports car racing, with three wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in three consecutive years (2000 to 2002) partnered with Frank Biela and Tom Kristensen for Audi Sport Team Joest.
Emanuele Pirro, Frank Biela and Marco Werner made history by becoming the first drivers to win the Le Mans 24-hour race in a diesel-powered car. Pirro was driving the Audi R10 Diesel when it completed a record 380 laps of the La Sarthe circuit. The team repeated the feat the following year.
Pirro, alongside teammates Dindo Capello and Allan McNish won a historic race at Petit Le Mans in 2008, driving for Audi Sport North America.
Pirro retired from racing at the end of the 2008 season having finished second in the American Le Mans series, and took an ambassadorial role with Audi in 2009. In 2010 he returned to race tracks as a third driver for private LMP1 Drayson Racing team. In 2011 he drove for Stone Brothers Racing at the Gold Coast 600, alongside Shane Van Gisbergen.
Pirro will take part in the 2012 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona at the wheel of an Audi R8 for APR Motorsport.
Read more about this topic: Emanuele Pirro
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