Giacomo Ricci (born 30 March 1985 in Baveno) is a former Italian racing driver.

Giacomo Ricci
NationalityItaly Italian
Born (1985-03-30) 30 March 1985 (age 39)
Baveno (Italy)
Previous series
2010, 12-13
20082010
2009–10
2009
2008–09
2008–09
2008
2008
2007
200407
2004
2003
2003
2002
2002
2001–02
2001
Auto GP
GP2 Series
GP2 Asia Series
Le Mans Series
GP2 Asia Series
International GT Open
Italian Formula Three
International Formula Master
Champ Car Atlantic
Euro/Italian Formula 3000
World Series by Nissan
Fran-Am
Formula Junior 1600 Spain
FR2000 Germany
FR2000 Eurocup
Formula BMW ADAC
Italian Formula Renault 2000
Championship titles
2006
2006
Euroseries 3000
Italian Formula 3000

Career

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Formula BMW

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Ricci began his car racing career by driving in the German-based Formula BMW ADAC series in 2001 and 2002, with a best finish of seventh in the drivers' championship.

Formula Renault

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Ricci also competed in one race of the Italian Formula Renault Championship in 2001, and competed in rounds of the two-litre German series and the European Cup in 2002. For 2003 he made a step down to the smaller engine category of the Spanish Formula Junior 1600 series, finishing fourth in the championship. He also drove in one race of the North American-based FRenault series during the year. In 2004 he drove in eight races of the World Series by Nissan (who share the same owners as Renault, the championship being rebranded as the World Series by Renault the following year).

Formula 3000

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From 2004 to 2007, Ricci drove in the F3000 series variously known as Euro Formula 3000, Italian Formula 3000 and the Euroseries 3000. After initially scoring no points from four races in 2004, he improved to third place in the standings in 2005. In 2006, driving for the Fisichella Motorsport team, he won the championship with five wins and thirteen podium finishes. For 2007 he only competed in selected rounds and finished fifth in the championship, opting to focus his intentions on North American-based motor racing that year.

 
Ricci (foreground) racing in the 2007 Champ Car Atlantic Houston race

Champ Car Atlantic

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Ricci duly drove in Champ Car Atlantic (the feeder series for the now-defunct Champ Car World Series) in 2007 for the Conquest Racing team. He finished in sixth place in the championship, despite not scoring any wins or podium finishes. He was the third-highest ranked rookie of 2007, behind Franck Perera and Robert Wickens.

GP2 Series

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Ricci received his GP2 Series call-up in 2008 to replace the injured Michael Herck in the David Price Racing team for the first few rounds of the championship, because the Belgian-Romanian driver had broken his wrist in the preceding GP2 Asia Series.[1] His team-mate was Brazilian Diego Nunes. He was replaced by Andy Soucek after the first two rounds of the championship as Herck continued to recover.[2]

Ricci then competed in the first round of the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season for the Trident Racing team. He was then replaced by Alberto Valerio, so he moved back to DPR for the second round onwards, where he in turn replaced Yuhi Sekiguchi.[3]

Ricci continued with DPR into the 2009 GP2 Series season, teaming up with Herck this time, as he did in the Asia Series. Ricci struggled with reliability, finishing only three of the seven races he started and was replaced for the Nürburgring rounds by ex-IndyCar Series racer Franck Perera.[4]

Ricci returned for the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season[5] and after a double retirement at the first Abu Dhabi round, Ricci scored his first ever GP2 points in either the main series or the Asia Series, after finishing fifth in the second Abu Dhabi feature race. He added his first podium the following day, finishing third behind team-mate Herck and race-winner Davide Valsecchi during the sprint race. His first victory came in the final race of the season, leading from lights-to-flag in Bahrain. With this result, he sealed third place in the championship both for himself, and his team.

Ricci remained with DPR for the 2010 main series, and scored his first points finish with second place in the first race of the season. He then endured an eleven-race, non-scoring streak, but a stronger weekend in Hungary culminated in his maiden main series win in the sprint race.[6] However, he was replaced by compatriot Fabrizio Crestani thereafter.[7] He still finished in thirteenth place in the drivers' championship despite missing the final six races on the calendar.

After spending most of 2011 without a drive, Ricci returned to the GP2 Series for the non-championship races in Abu Dhabi that concluded the season. Driving for Super Nova Racing alongside compatriot Fabio Onidi, he finished 11th and 23rd in the two races.

International GT Open

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Ricci also competed in the GTA and GTS classes of the International GT Open championship in 2008.

Auto GP

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The withdrawal of the Super Nova team from the GP2 Series hampered Ricci's hopes to remain in the category, so for 2012 he returned to the Euroseries 3000 (now rebranded as the Auto GP) to compete in selected events for the Austrian Zele Racing team.

He is currently the team manager of Trident Racing.

Racing record

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Career summary

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Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2001 Formula BMW ADAC CTS-Motorsport 20 1 0 ? 3 94 7th
Formula Renault 2.0 Italia Toby Fortec Racing 1 0 0 0 0 0 NC
2002 Formula Renault 2000 Germany SL Formula Racing 8 0 0 0 0 26 28th
Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup KUG Motorsport 6 0 0 0 0 0 NC
Formula BMW ADAC KUG/Dewalt Racing 6 0 0 0 0 15 18th
2003 Formula Junior 1600 Spain ? ? ? ? ? ? 106 4th
Fran-Am 2000 Winter World Championship Team Italia 1 0 0 0 0 30 29th
2004 World Series by Nissan Vergani Formula 6 0 0 0 0 4 19th
GD Racing 2 0 0 0 0
Euro Formula 3000 Series Power Tech 4 0 0 0 0 0 14th
2005 Italian Formula 3000 Championship Team Astromega 8 0 0 1 4 33 3rd
2006 Euroseries 3000 FMS International 18 5 1 7 13 106 1st
2007 Euroseries 3000 G-Tec 2 1 0 0 1 37 5th
ELK Motorsport 4 1 0 2 4
Champ Car Atlantic Conquest Racing 12 0 0 0 0 188 6th
2008 GP2 Series DPR 4 0 0 0 0 0 31st
International GT Open - GTA GPC Sport 6 0 0 0 2 19 12th
International GT Open - GTS Villois Racing 4 1 0 0 3 26 10th
Italian Formula 3 Championship BVM - Target Racing 2 0 0 0 0 5 16th
International Formula Master Euronova Racing 2 0 0 0 0 0 34th
2008–09 GP2 Asia Series Trident Racing 2 0 0 0 0 0 27th
DPR 9 0 0 0 0
2009 GP2 Series DPR 7 0 0 0 0 0 27th
International GT Open - Super GT Advanced Engineering 12 1 0 0 6 50 5th
Le Mans Series - GT2 FBR 1 0 0 0 0 3 20th
2009–10 GP2 Asia Series DPR 8 1 0 1 3 29 3rd
2010 GP2 Series DPR 14 1 0 0 2 16 13th
Auto GP Series RP Motorsport 2 0 0 0 1 8 12th
Superleague Formula Galatasaray S.K. 3 0 0 0 0 358‡ 13th‡
2011 GP2 Final Super Nova Racing 2 0 0 0 0 0 15th
2012 Auto GP World Series Zele Racing 4 0 0 0 1 40 11th
Team MLR71 2 0 0 0 0
2013 Auto GP Series Team MLR71 2 0 0 0 0 0 24th
2014 MW-V6 Pickup Series Team Italy 3 0 0 3 3 51 7th

‡ Team standings.

Complete Euroseries 3000/Auto GP results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Points
2004 Power Tech BRN
10
EST
7
JER
Ret
MNZ
8
SPA DON DIJ ZOL NÜR1 NÜR2 14th 0
2005 Team Astromega ADR
Ret
VAL
3
BRN
2
IMO
9
MUG
3
MAG
7
MNZ
5
MIS
3
3rd 33
2006 FMS International ADR
1

5
ADR
2

1
IMO
1

1
IMO
2

1
SPA
1

2
SPA
2

1
HUN
1

2
HUN
2

4
MUG
1

3
MUG
2

3
SIL
1

3
SIL
2

11
CAT
1

2
CAT
2

Ret
VAL
1

5
VAL
2

3
MIS
1

1
MIS
2

2
1st 106
2007 ELK Motorsport VAL
1
VAL
2
HUN
1
HUN
2
SIL
1
SIL
2
MUG
1
MUG
2
NÜR
1
NÜR
2
SPA
1

1
SPA
2

Ret
MNZ
1

2
MNZ
2

2
CAT
1

3
CAT
2

1
5th 37
2010 RP Motorsport BRN
1
BRN
2
IMO
1
IMO
2
SPA
1
SPA
2
MAG
1
MAG
2
NAV
1

6
NAV
2

2
MNZ
1
MNZ
2
12th 8
2012 Zele Racing MNZ
1

6
MNZ
2

14
VAL
1
VAL
2
MAR
1

5
MAR
2

3
HUN
1
HUN
2
ALG
1
ALG
2
CUR
1
CUR
2
11th 40
Team MLR71 SON
1

5
SON
2

11†
2013 Team MLR71 MNZ
1

Ret
MNZ
2

12
MAR
1
MAR
2
HUN
1
HUN
2
SIL
1
SIL
2
MUG
1
MUG
2
NÜR
1
NÜR
2
DON
1
DON
2
BRN
1
BRN
2
24th 0

Complete GP2 Series results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points
2008 DPR CAT
FEA

16
CAT
SPR

Ret
IST
FEA

Ret
IST
SPR

11
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
MAG
FEA
MAG
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HOC
FEA
HOC
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
VAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
31st 0
2009 DPR CAT
FEA

Ret
CAT
SPR

15
MON
FEA

14
MON
SPR

Ret
IST
FEA

Ret
IST
SPR

Ret
SIL
FEA

17
SIL
SPR

DNS
NÜR
FEA
NÜR
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
VAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
ALG
FEA
ALG
SPR
27th 0
2010 DPR CAT
FEA

2
CAT
SPR

8
MON
FEA

17
MON
SPR

Ret
IST
FEA

Ret
IST
SPR

17
VAL
FEA

Ret
VAL
SPR

Ret
SIL
FEA

13
SIL
SPR

12
HOC
FEA

16†
HOC
SPR

11
HUN
FEA

8
HUN
SPR

1
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
13th 16

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DC Points
2008–09 Trident Racing SHI
FEA

13
SHI
SPR

Ret
27th 0
David Price Racing DUB
FEA

13
DUB
SPR

C
BHR1
FEA

Ret
BHR1
SPR

16
LSL
FEA

Ret
LSL
SPR

13
SEP
FEA

16
SEP
SPR

15
BHR2
FEA

11
BHR2
SPR

10
2009–10 David Price Racing YMC1
FEA

Ret
YMC1
SPR

Ret
YMC2
FEA

5
YMC2
SPR

3
BHR1
FEA

4
BHR1
SPR

2
BHR2
FEA

5
BHR2
SPR

1
3rd 29

Complete GP2 Final results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant 1 2 DC Points
2011 Super Nova Racing YMC
FEA

11
YMC
SPR

23
15th 0

References

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  1. ^ "Ricci to replace Herck at DPR". autosport.com. 2008-04-22. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
  2. ^ "Soucek to stand in for Herck at DPR". autosport.com. 2008-05-19. Retrieved 2008-05-23.
  3. ^ "Driver changes aplenty in Dubai". crash.net. 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2008-12-04.
  4. ^ Glendenning, Mark (2009-07-07). "Perera to replace Ricci at DPR". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2009-07-07.
  5. ^ "La lista dei piloti che saranno ad Abu Dhabi per la GP2 Asia". ItaliaRacing.net (in Italian). Inpagina. 2009-10-22. Archived from the original on 2011-08-18. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
  6. ^ Glendenning, Mark (2010-08-01). "Ricci takes first GP2 main series win". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
  7. ^ "Spa: Official Preview". pitpass.com. Pitpass. 2010-08-26. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
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Sporting positions
Preceded by Euroseries 3000 champion
2006
Succeeded by