Valentino Nicchi
Valentino Nicchi (born October 30, 1956 in Vatican City) is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver. He is well known for being Vatican City's first racing driver aswell as being one of the few people to have raced in both motorcycle and Formula One Grand Prix.
Contents
Automobile racing history
After the 1978 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, Valentino decided to quit motorcycling to pursue an auto racing career. He made his 4-wheel racing debut in the 1979 Formula Two Championship, scoring 5 podiums and finishing his first season in 5th. He was probably best known that year for a huge crash at Hockenheim where he went into a barrel roll. His performances impressed enough that he was offered a test/reserve role at Restov Racing in Formula One for the 1980 season and he immediately signed.
Formula One
On his first F1 test at Silverstone, Valentino performed respectively, finishing the session just under 3 tenths slower than one of the regular drivers.
Nicchi made his debut on March 30, 1980 for the Restov Racing team at the Brazilian Grand Prix, driving car number 37 as a replacement for the banned Beppe Gabbiani. He qualified an impressive 16th on his debut, outqualifying his more experianced teammate Gianfranco Brancatelli, before retiring with brake failure.
Life GP
On October 1991, Valentino bought a Life L190 to compete in the Life GP Series after watching the series on TV. His team was entered as a non-championship entry for the last round at Japan.
Present
Nicchi currently spends most of his team managing his own racing team and his son, Terenzio's racing career. He also does motorsports commentary for Italian TV.
Nicchi Motori
Nicchi Motori is a motor racing team founded by Valentino. Nicchi Motori has appeared in Life GP in 1991, the BTC Development Series in 2004 and the F1 Rejects Nations Cup in 2015 under the name NM Squadra Europea Micro.
Racing record
Motorcycle Grand Prix Results
Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
Points | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
(Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Class | Team | Machine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Points | Rank | Wins |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1976 | 250cc | Yamaha | TZ250 | FRA - |
NAT 2 |
IOM 2 |
NED 2 |
BEL 3 |
SWE 1 |
FIN 2 |
CZE 3 |
GER 7 |
ESP - |
73 | 2nd | 1 | |||
350cc | Yamaha | TZ350 | FRA 4 |
AUT - |
NAT 10 |
YUG 3 |
IOM 9 |
NED - |
FIN - |
CZE 11 |
GER 4 |
ESP - |
28 | 7th | 0 | ||||
500cc | Yamaha | TZ500 | FRA - |
AUT WD |
NAT - |
IOM 4 |
NED - |
BEL - |
SWE - |
FIN - |
CZE - |
GER - |
8 | 26th | 0 | ||||
1977 | 250cc | Yamaha | TZ250 | VEN - |
GER - |
NAT 8 |
ESP 1 |
FRA 8 |
YUG 2 |
NED 6 |
BEL 2 |
SWE 4 |
FIN - |
CZE - |
GBR - |
58 | 4th | 1 | |
350cc | Yamaha | TZ350 | VEN - |
GER 1 |
NAT 3 |
ESP 3 |
FRA 1 |
YUG 1 |
NED - |
SWE 1 |
FIN 1 |
CZE - |
GBR - |
95 | 1st | 5 | |||
1978 | 350cc | Yamaha | TZ350 | VEN 1 |
AUT 3 |
FRA - |
NAT 3 |
NED - |
SWE 3 |
FIN 2 |
GBR - |
GER 1 |
CZE - |
YUG - |
77 | 2nd | 2 | ||
500cc | Yamaha | TZ500 | VEN - |
ESP 3 |
AUT - |
FRA - |
NAT - |
NED 4 |
BEL 6 |
SWE 3 |
FIN 2 |
GBR 9 |
GER 5 |
53 | 5th | 0 |
Complete European Formula Two Championship results
(Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pos | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1979 | San Remo Racing | March/792 | BMW | SIL 6 |
HOC 6 |
THR 5 |
NÜR 3 |
VAL Ret |
MUG Ret |
PAU 2 |
HOC Ret |
ZAN 3 |
PER Ret |
MIS 3 |
DON 2 |
5th | 28 |
Complete Formula One Results
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | WDC | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1980 | Gazprom Restov Racing | Restov RS11 | Lada Turbo | AUS | RSA | BRA Ret |
BEL | FRA | MON | SUI | USA | CAN | IRE | GBR | GER | EUR | AUT | ITA | JAP | USE | N/A | 0 |
Complete Life GP Series Results
Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | DC | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1991 | Nicchi Motori | ESP | AND | FRA | ITA | AUT | CZE | GER | SWE | BEL | SUI | LUX | EUR | GBR | ENG | POR | USE | USW | JPN Ret |
NC | 0 |