About – Gian Carlo Minardi

Gian Carlo has grown among cars: his family ran a business as Fiat dealer from 1927 to 1999. No doubt, the passion for racing was passed on to him by his father Giovanni, who built the GM75 in 1948. It was a small two-seater car, powered by a 6-cylinder and 750 hp engine, whose design was carried out together with Sir Oberdan Golfieri, the Engineer. After a short period spent as an uphill racer, a rally driver behind the wheel of a Fiat 124 and historical cars meetings attendee, the young Minardi decided to hang up his helmet to deal with a new-born racing squad named “Scuderia del Passatore”, a team from Romagna engaged in lower Formulas Championships. From 1972 to 1974 the team got good results in Formula Italia: the driver Giancarlo Martini finished 2^nd in the 1972 Championship and was 1973 Championship winner.

The team was renamed “Scuderia Everest” and took part in the 1975 and 1976 Formula 2 European Championships with a BMW March. These are the racing seasons in which racers such as Martini and Leoni made their debut alongside the team. In 1975 he simultaneously started to collaborate with the Ferrari. The deep admiration and respect cherished by the Commendatore Enzo Ferrari for Gian Carlo Minardi resulted in putting a F.1 Ferrari 312/B3 available for the Scuderia Everest, to wean Italian motorsport young drivers.

In 1977 the Ferrari made the Dino V6 engines available for the team from Faenza. The F.2 Ralts first and the Chevrons then, were all equipped with those engines. Drivers: Brancatelli, Leoni, Guerra and De Angelis.

Minardi himself became a constructor in 1979, when he founded the Minardi Team. The Team ran 4 brilliant F.2 racing seasons, characterized by good results and a win scored by the driver Michele Alboreto in the 1981 European Championship in Misano.

In 1985 the Minardi Team made his debut in Formula 1. In 1991 the Ferrari announced it would have equipped the Minardi with its V12 engines. It was the first time a private team was allowed to be equipped with Ferrari engines and we don’t have to be surprised about Mr Ferrari decision, since he deeply admired Minardi.

In 1994 Minardi reached an agreement with the “Scuderia Italia”, in order to ensure the survival of his team. Two years later the team’s majority stake was bought by Gabriele Rumi and Flavio Briatore . Gian Carlo Minardi worked closely to Gabriele Rumi as the Team Managing Director until the end of the 2000 racing season.

In January 2001, the Minardi Team’s majority stake was bought by Paul Stoddart.

In 2005, after running 340 GP and being a F.1 Team for 21 years, the Team itself was assigned to the Red Bull. This is the year that marks the end of Gian Carlo Minardi’s adventure in the world of Formula 1.

He is currently an ACI-CSAI (Italian motorsport commission) advisor and a sport analyst for several newspapers and TV programs.