Valentino Nicchi

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Valentino Nicchi
Nationality Flag of the Vatican City svg.png Vaticani
Born 30 October 1956
Vatican City
Formula One World Championship career
Debut Season 1987
Final Season 1989
Teams West Zakspeed Racing
Races 48 (37 starts)
Championships 0
Victories 0
Podiums 1
Points 11
Pole Positions 0
Fastest Laps 0
First Race 1987 Australian Grand Prix
First Victory N/A
Final Victory N/A
Final Race 1989 Mexican Grand Prix
Best Finish 8th (1987)
Life GP career
Debut Season 1991
Final Season 1992
Teams The Crusaders
Races 10 (3 starts)
Championships 0
Victories 0
Podiums 0
Points 0
Pole Positions 0
Fastest Laps 0
First Race 1991 Life 日本グランプリ
First Victory N/A
Final Victory N/A
Final Race 1992 Life SuperPrix de Suisse
Best Finish 48th (1991)


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.

Early Career

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.

Formula One

Nicchi made his Formula One debut in 1979 at the British Grand Prix, replacing René Arnoux at the Warsteiner Arrows North Star Racing Team for the remainder of the year. Nicchi scored his and the team's first F1 point a race later at the German Grand Prix.

By 1987, Nicchi was driving for the West Zakspeed Team alongside Stefan Johansson. Nicchi scored his only points finish in a attrition-hit Monaco Grand Prix with a shock third place.

The following season, Nicchi was joined by Alessandro Nannini- having signed a two year deal with the German team. Nicchi scored a number of good points finishes which were enough for eighth place in the World Driver's Championship.

1989 was set to be Nicchi's last in the series - having announced his retirement at the end of the year. Nicchi was the only constant in a team that was floundering at this point with the other seat being filled by five other drivers over the course of the season. Nicchi struggled with the car and only managed to make the finish on three occasions - failing to pre-qualify for a vast majority of the season.

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. For the next race, a non-championship round at Brazil, Valentino's reserve driver for the upcoming season Marcus Kun was entered in a 2nd car. The race saw both cars running well in 11th and 13th before Kun retired with suspension problems and was then hit by Frédéric-Maxime Voeckler and Valentino. Valentino recovered to finish the race in 7th.

For '92 Nicchi immediately decided to pour almost all off the team's money into engine reliability. Because of this the car lacked qualifying pace and failed to make the grid for the first 9 races, fortunately the car finally made it for the Swiss SuperPrix as all cars could automatically qualify for the race on the big Le Mans grid, despite supposedly having the most reliable car, he retired.

IndyCar

By now, Nicchi was bored of the LGPS, lacking motivation after failing to qualify for race after race. He decided to move to the IndyCar series with his own team using a Lola chassis. He qualified a fine 13th in Nazareth before crashing out on lap 65 in an accident with Michael Andretti. In Laguna Seca he started a brilliant 2nd but dropped to 8th by the end.

The Crusaders

Valentino originally founded The Crusaders to allow him to compete in the Life GP Series. Since then it's expanded to many other motorsports. Full Article

Complete racing results

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 WDC Points
1987 West Zakspeed Racing Zakspeed 871 Zakspeed 1500/4 1.5 L4t AUS
11
SMR
Ret
BEL
Ret
MON
3
CAN
Ret
DET
Ret
FRA
Ret
GBR
Ret
GER
Ret
HUN
8
YUG
Ret
ITA
Ret
POR
Ret
EUR
8†
JAP
10
MEX
Ret
22nd 4
1988 West Zakspeed Racing Zakspeed 881 Zakspeed 1500/4 1.5 L4t BRA
13
SMR
8
MON
Ret
MEX
Ret
CAN
9
DET
9
FRA
4
GBR
8
GER
9
HUN
9
YUG
10
SOV
8
ITA
4
BEL
16
JPN
6
AUS
Ret
8th 7
1989 West Zakspeed Racing Zakspeed 891 Yamaha OX88 3.5 V8 BRA
15
SMR
Ret
MON
15
FRA
Ret
USA
DNPQ
CAN
DNPQ
GBR
DNPQ
GER
DNPQ
HUN
14
SOV
DNPQ
POR
DNPQ
ITA
DNPQ
BEL
DNPQ
JPN
DNPQ
AUS
DNPQ
MEX
DNPQ
0

Complete WTCM Results

Year Team Car Class WDC Pts Class Pts
1990 Philips Car Systems Racing Nissan Skyline R32 A Flag of Japan svg.png Flag of the United States svg.png Flag of Nigeria svg.png Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Flag of France svg.png Flag of the Czech Republic svg.png Flag of Italy svg.png Flag of France svg.png Flag of the United Kingdom svg.png Flag of Belgium svg.png Flag of Germany svg.png Flag of Australia svg.png 62nd 4 33rd 7
E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E S E
BIR
Ret
BIR
9
BAT
Ret

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 19 NC DC Pts
1991 The Crusaders ESP AND FRA ITA AUT CZE GER SWE BEL SUI LUX EUR GBR ENG POR USE USW JPN
Ret
BRA
7
48th 0
1992 The Crusaders ARG
DNQ
BRA
DNQ
ESP
DNQ
FRA
DNQ
ITA
DNQ
AUT
DNQ
CZE
DNQ
FIN
DNQ
GER
DNQ
SUI
Ret
BEL NED ENG GBR CAN USE USW JPN AUS 47th 0

American Open-Wheel racing results

CART

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Rank Points
1992 The Crusaders SRF PHX LBH INDY DET POR MIL NHA TOR MCH CLE ROA VAN MDO NAZ
Ret
LAG
8
25th 5