Enrico Molinaro
Enrico Molinaro (born 19 April 1995) is an Italian professional racing driver, who currently drives for Racing Team Solvalou in the GT-Rejects World Championship.
History
Enrico Molinaro started off in karting, quickly moving up to the Italian F3 Championship.
He started 2014 well, winning two races in the Italian F3 Championship, but after his team folded was left with nowhere to go. However, Scuderia Alitalia's young driver programme swiftly picked him up and promoted him to F3RWRS, driving car #98 for the rest of the season. He brought with him sponsorship from Peroni and Parmalat.
He was one of three drivers in Scuderia Alitalia's F3RWRS programme in 2014, alongside Alessandro Lucarelli and Gianluigi Pazzini. Towards the end of the year, rumours began circulating that Molinaro would be dropped by the Scuderia Alitalia Giovanile Squadra due to poor performances - while his team-mates had podium finishes to their names, Molinaro had failed to score a single point. These rumours intensified when Hydook Racing signed him up on a trial basis for the 2014 F2RWRS season finale at Indianapolis, with an optional extension for the 2015 season. Despite ultimately retiring, he was running near the front of the field in the race, and this was enough to convince Hydook team principal Anton Bosevic to hire him for the following year.
A change of management followed, being dropped by the Scuderia Alitalia Giovanile Squadra, and becoming a member of Niko Nurminen's management portfolio. His 2015 season in the F2RWRS started off slowly with a retirement and three low-key finishes, but in France he scored his debut points with 7th after a strong drive. However, his performance soon tapered off, with a retirement in Britain. When Hydook Racing dropped to prequalifying from the German round onwards, Molinaro didn't do well and was the slowest of all drivers.
Despite this Nurminen still had some faith in him, and as Nurminen Racing Engineering were granted an entry for the F3RWRS Round of Germany held at the same track, he was picked as the lead driver. However, in both races he was the victim of a number of collisions, finishing them in 24th and 18th respectively.
Back in F2RWRS, Molinaro qualified for the Belgian round, but was anonymous in the race and finished second-last in 14th place. At the next race in Austria he was again much slower than his team mate and failed to prequalify. At his home turf in Italy he again qualified, but lacked pace and finished 13th. This would be the last time he would be on the F2RWRS starting grid, as he failed to prequalify for the remaining five races of the season.
With no offers from single-seater teams, Molinaro decided to instead take the offer to drive for Racing Team Solvalou in the newly-founded GT-Rejects World Championship, sharing a Lamborghini Murciélago with Antonio Fazio. In the first race held at Sepang, they were running in a points-scoring position before the engine on the Lamborghini failed. They also retired at the next race held at Bathurst for the same reason, while at Monza they picked up a puncture immediatedly after a pitstop, only managing a 16th place finish in the process. Their first points came in France with an 8th place finish, before a pitlane accident ended their race in Canada. A streak of points finishes followed from USA to Belgium, before a dismal 19th place finish in Argentina. They then reached their best finish yet with a 3rd in Brazil, before more car problems put them out of the race in China. Their last points of the season came at Fuji Speedway with a 4th place finish before engine troubles put them out from the season-ending Super GP.
Lacking other options, Molinaro decided to stay with the same team for another season.
Results
F2RWRS
| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | DC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Hydook Racing Team | TUR |
MON |
FRA |
GBR |
AUT |
GER |
NED |
BEL |
HUN |
CZE |
ITA |
POR |
ESP |
CAN |
USA Ret |
=26th | 0 |
| 2015 | Hydook Racing Team | TAS Ret |
RSA 12 |
TUR 10 |
MON 10 |
FRA 7 |
GBR Ret |
GER DNPQ |
BEL 14 |
AUT DNPQ |
ITA 13 |
NED DNPQ |
SIN DNPQ |
JPN DNPQ |
USA DNPQ |
100 DNPQ |
28th | 2 |
F3RWRS
| Year | Team | DC | Pts | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Scuderia Alitalia | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 37th | 0 | ||||||||||||
| AUS | USA | GBR | GER | BEL | CHN | SUR | ||||||||||||||||
| 11 | Ret | Ret | 22 | 10 | Ret | 16 | 26 | DNS | 15 | |||||||||||||
| 2015 | Nurminen Racing Engineering | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | NC | 0 | |||||||||
| AUS | TUR | MON | USA | GBR | GER | SPA | ITA | JPN | SUR | |||||||||||||
| 24 | 18 | |||||||||||||||||||||
GT-Rejects World Championship
| Season | Team | Car | Class | Number | Co-driver(s) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Points | Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Racing Team Solvalou | Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT | M | 02 |  Antonio Fazio
|
MAL Ret |
AUS Ret |
ITA 16 |
FRA 8 |
CAN Ret |
USA 10 |
GER 7 |
GBR 7 |
BEL 9 |
ARG 19 |
BRA 3 |
CHI Ret |
JAP 4 |
HSR Ret |
32 | 14th |
| 2017 | Racing Team Solvalou | Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT | M | 03 | Antonio Fazio
|
ARG Ret |
BRA Ret |
GBR Ret |
FRA Ret |
ITA 10 |
USA 3 |
CAN 4 |
GER 2 |
BEL 13 |
MAL 5 |
CHN 10 |
JAP 9 |
HSR | 41* | 7th* |
- * Season in progress