Michele Alboreto

Michele Alboreto
Alboreto in 1987, driving for Scuderia Ferrari.
Born	(1956-12-23)23 December 1956 Milan, Italy
Died	25 April 2001(2001-04-25) (aged 44) EuroSpeedway Lausitz, Germany
Formula One World Championship career Nationality Italian Active years 1981–1994 Teams Tyrrell, Ferrari, Larrousse, Arrows, Footwork, Scuderia Italia, Minardi Entries 215 (194 starts) Championships 0 Wins 5 Podiums 23 Career points 186.5 Pole positions 2 Fastest laps 5 First entry 1981 San Marino Grand Prix First win 1982 Caesars Palace Grand Prix Last win 1985 German Grand Prix Last entry 1994 Australian Grand Prix
24 Hours of Le Mans career Years 1981–1983, 1996–2000 Teams Martini Racing, Joest Racing, Porsche AG, Audi Sport Team Joest Best finish 1st (1997) Class wins 1 (1997)

Michele Alboreto (Italian pronunciation: [miˈkɛːle alboˈreːto]; 23 December 1956 – 25 April 2001) was an Italian racing driver. He was runner-up to Alain Prost in the 1985 Formula One World Championship, as well as the winner of the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 2001 12 Hours of Sebring sports car races. Alboreto competed in Formula One from 1981 until 1994, racing for a number of teams, including five seasons (1984–88) for Ferrari.

His career in motorsport began in 1976, racing a car he and a number of his friends had built in the Formula Monza series. The car, however, achieved very little success and two years later Alboreto moved up to Formula Three. Wins in the Italian Formula Three championship and a European Formula Three Championship crown in 1980 paved the way for his entrance into Formula One with the Tyrrell team.

Two wins, the first in the final round of the 1982 season in Las Vegas, and the second a year later in Detroit, earned him a place with the Ferrari team. Alboreto took three wins for the Italian team and challenged Alain Prost for the 1985 Championship, eventually losing out by 20 points. The following three seasons were less successful, however, and at the end of the 1988 season, the Italian left Ferrari and re-signed with his former employers Tyrrell, where he stayed until joining Larrousse midway through 1989.

Further seasons with Footwork, Scuderia Italia and Minardi followed during the tail end of his F1 career. In 1995, Alboreto moved on to sportscars and a year later the American IndyCar series. He took his final major victories, the 1997 Le Mans 24 Hours and 2001 Sebring 12 Hours, with German manufacturers Porsche and Audi, respectively. In 2001, a month after his Sebring victory, he was killed testing an Audi R8 at the Lausitzring in Germany.^[1]