Career
Martini's uncle, Giancarlo, raced during the 1970s, including some non-championship races in a Ferrari 312T entered by Scuderia Everest, a team owned by Giancarlo Minardi. Pierluigi's younger brother, Oliver, is also a racing driver.
Martini participated in 124 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 9 September 1984, driving for Toleman in place of suspended Ayrton Senna at the 1984 Italian Grand Prix. He scored a total of 18 championship points and was synonymous with the Minardi team (run by the same Giancarlo Minardi who had previously owned Scuderia Everest). Indeed, aside from a single outing with Toleman and a one-season dalliance with Scuderia Italia, Martini's entire career was spent with the Italian outfit. He raced with the minnow team in three different stints, drove for them on their debut in 1985, scored their first point in the 1988 Detroit Grand Prix, their only front-row start at the 1990 United States Grand Prix (aided by special Pirelli tyres; several of their other drivers had surprise qualifying results that day), their only lap leading a race in the 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix, and their joint-best F1 result of 4th.
After Formula One, Martini started a successful sportscar career. His first race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans was in 1996 with a Porsche run by Joest Racing. 1997 brought a fourth place finish in a Porsche 911 GT1 which he also raced in the FIA GT Championship that year. In 1998, he joined the brand new Le Mans program of BMW Motorsports.
In 1999, Martini, Yannick Dalmas and Joachim Winkelhock won the Le Mans 24 Hours. The trio drove for BMW. The team had to fight both Toyota and Mercedes works cars and won the race by a lap from the runner-up Toyota.
Martini returned to motorsports in 2006, competing in the Grand Prix Masters series for retired Formula One drivers.
Read more about this topic: Pierluigi Martini
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