Drivers

Gabriele Tarquini

Tarquini's father ran a kart track and he began to compete at the age of eight. He was an accomplished kart racer, winning World, European and Italian titles. In 1983 he attended the CSAI racing school at Vallelunga and went straight into Formula 3, competing in six races in a Spreafico March-Toyota 803. The following year he did a couple of F3 races with Coloni, but went back to karting and won the World, European and Italian Championships. He won the Italian Marlboro Challenge and was immediately promoted into Formula 3000, in which he finished sixth in his first year. He also competed at Le Mans, sharing a Porsche 956B with Larrauri and Sigala, and was given a test drive by Benetton. In 1986 he competed once again in the F3000 Championship but there were few results. In 1987 he did a third season in F3000 with First Racing. That year he made his F1 debut at San Marino with an Osella-Alfa. He also drove in the WTCC, sharing a Beretta Brixia Motor Sport Alfa 75 Turbo with Rinaldo Drovandi.In 1988 he joined the Coloni F1 team. It was a poor season and Gabriele was without a drive for 1989 until Philippe Streiff crashed his AGS in testing at Rio. Gabriele took over and three times he finished in the top 10 but, as AGS foundered, he stuck by the team, until the end of 1991 when he was hired by Fondmetal. He stayed with Fondmetal until it closed down in 1992. The same year he drove for BMW in the Italian Touring Car Championship (finishing sixth in the championship) before signing up with Alfa Romeo for the Italian Touring Car Championship, in which he finished third with five wins. In 1994 Alfa sent him to Britain and he won the title with eight victories. After a guest outing in a Tyrrell-Yamaha in the 1995 European Grand Prix he continued his career driving for Alfa Romeo in touring car racing.