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.

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.

Gabbiani was banned again after the Belgian Grand Prix for six races, he was fired from the team and Valentino was promoted to the second race seat with immediate effect.

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. Valentino lined up 29th his debut in Suzuka before crashing off at 130R.

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	NC	DC	Pts
1991	Nicchi Motori	ESP	AND	FRA	ITA	AUT	CZE	GER	SWE	BEL	SUI	LUX	EUR	GBR	ENG	POR	USE	USW	JPN Ret	BRA	NC	0