Fabrizio Barbazza

Born in Monza, Italy, on the 2nd April 1963, he began competing in motocross and won the Italian junior motocross title in 1981 then switched to car racing and entered the Formula Monza series in 1982. The season was a success and in 1983 he moved into the Italian F3 series, driving a Genoa Racing Ralt RT3. His first race in March was a European F3 round at Vallelunga but he did not qualify but went on to finish fifth at Misano, seventh at Monza and Vallelunga, eighth at Varano and Imola and tenth and eleventh at Varano and Magione.

Then came a switch to Venturini Racing for 1984 and he finished sixth in the series with Venturini’s Dallara F384. Results included second at Imola, third at Mugello and Monza, fourth at Magione, fifth at Monza and Misano (and fastest lap) plus sixth at Mugello. He was disqualified at Enna-Pergusa and Varano then was tenth in an International F3 drive at Monaco.

Continuing with Venturini the following year he battled for the title against his team mate Franco Forini. Racing their Dallara F385 the season started well with victory (and fastest lap) at Vallelunga then fourth at Varano (and fastest lap) and eighth at Mugello. There were two victories in May and June at Magione and Monza then in three consecutive races he had second place finishes at Mugello and Santa Monica (from pole) plus another victory at Monza. He followed it with sixth at Vallelunga and second at Varano and finished third in the Championship behind Forini and Alex Caffi.

Frustrated at the lack of opportunities in Europe, he moved to the USA to contest the newly created American Racing Series (later known as Indy Lights) where he won five races and took the title in his first attempt. Driving Arciero Racing’s Buick powered March Wildcat, in his first three races he was third at Phoenix then had victories (from pole) at Meadowlands and Toronto. He followed this with second and seventh at Lexington and Elkhart Lake and took victory in the final three races at Laguna Seca, Phoenix and Miami (from pole). After this success, the team moved up to CART in 1987 and, running a Cosworth powered March 87C, he was fourth and sixth at Portland and Michigan, eighth at Elkhart Lake, twelfth and thirteenth at Phoenix and Nazareth and fourteenth at Milwaukee and Pocono. At the Indianapolis 500 he spun during the race but recovered to finish third and was named as the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year. He was twelfth in the final standings though also received the PPG Rookie of the Year Award. Away from CART, there was one F3000 race with Genoa Racing’s March 87B but he did not qualify at the Autodromo Dino Ferrari.

Despite his success he was unable to find a CART drive for 1988 and only contested five F3000 races with Luciano Pavesi’s Team Ralt RT22. There were further races with Arciero in 1989 back in CART though he retired the Penske PC17 at four races due to mechanical issues and an accident at Portland, with his best results eighth and twelfth at Toronto and Elkhart Lake. He also drove for the Motor Sport Developments team in Japanese F3000 and his best results were sixth at Sugo, seventh and eleventh at Suzuka and ninth at Mine.

He was back in Europe in 1990 contesting F3000 with Crypton Engineering’s Leyton House 90B, where results included fourth place finishes at Monza and Jerez plus ninth at Hockenheim. This led to a drive in F1 in 1991 with AGS (Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives) and thanks to Yannick Dalmas’s ninth place finish in Spain in 1990 the team started the year as automatic qualifiers, though Dalmas had left the team. The JH26 was supposed to be the team’s new car for this season but at the end of 1990 rumours suggested they would not be racing in 1991. Owner Cyril de Rouvre had been negotiating with Gerard Larrousse to merge the AGS and Larrousse teams, in the belief that as both teams were struggling to find financial partners and sponsors, joining forces would give them a better chance at this. However, AGS managed to raise enough money to enter the new season, with Gabriele Tarquini staying on and Stefan Johansson joining as his team mate. The lack of finance in the winter meant they were unable to build the planned JH26, despite a model having been built and wind-tunnel tested. Tarquini and Johansson had to make do with updated versions of 1990’s JH25, and Tarquini was able to qualify for both races at Phoenix (starting twenty second and finishing eighth, which was the last ever finish of an AGS car) and Interlagos. Shortly after Brazil the team folded and was sold to Gabriele Rafanelli and Patricio Cantu (who were active in F3000 with the Crypton team) and Fabrizio replaced Johansson. The new owners decided to scrap the JH26 and concentrate on the development of the JH25, plus the new JH27 was at the point of being designed and created. San Marino was Fabrizio’s first race though neither driver qualified and though Tarquini made into the race at Monaco he retired early with gearbox failure and both failed to qualify at Montreal and Mexico. An upgraded JH25B was introduced at France in July but both drivers failed to qualify and it was the same situation at Silverstone, with the cars’ 1.5 seconds slower than the nearest rivals in qualifying. However, following the British race they then had to pre-qualify for the second half of the season. Neither driver made it into the race in Hungary and both had accidents in pre-qualifying at Belgium. After a tremendous amount of work by the team the new JH27 was introduced at Portugal but though Fabrizio did not pre-qualify he was closer to the pace than in previous events. After Tarquini left the team and joined Fondmetal, Olivier Grouillard replaced him in Spain but neither pre-qualified and AGS did not contest the final two races in Japan and Australia.

In three CART outings in 1992 with Arciero’s Lola T9000 he was twelfth at Surfers Paradise though retired due to mechanical issues at Long Beach and Phoenix. He drove Alfa Laval’s Lola T9000 at Indianapolis but did not qualify and this would be his final year in CART then he returned to F1 in 1993 with Minardi, bringing backing from Beta Tools. Racing the Coworth powered M193 (after two seasons using Ferrari and Lamborghini engines) he retired in the first race in South Africa after a collision and did not finish due to a crash in Brazil. He had consecutive sixth place results at Donington Park and Imola but retired in Spain while Monaco saw an eleventh place finish. He retired due to gearbox issues in Canada and France though this would be his last drive for the team as Pierluigi Martini returned to the team and took over his seat. Fittipaldi had a lucky escape at Monza, when the two Minardis were running nose-to-tail in seventh and eighth. The cars were just a few hundred metres ahead of the finish line but, after he hit Martini’s car, Fittipaldi was launched into the air, made a full 360 degrees backward flip though fortunately landed on all four wheels and skidded across the line to claim eighth place. The team collected points thanks to Fabrizio’s two sixth place finishes plus Fittipaldi’s fourth and fifth place results and finished eighth in the Championship.

Out of a drive in 1994, he began developing an idea for impact absorbing barriers to be manufactured by his father’s company and used in F1. In 1995 he headed to America to race in IMSA with Euromotorsport Racing’s Ferrari 333SP. At the Daytona 24 Hours, he, Massimo Sigala, Gianfranco Brancatelli and Elton Julian finished eighth (and second in class) while sharing with Julian and Sigala at the Sebring 12 Hours they were twenty second (and seventh in class). Unfortunately, in his next race he was seriously injured in an accident at Road Atlanta, which destroyed his car. The race had a mix of GTS2, GTS1 and WSC vehicles and there were concerns from the drivers about the pace of GTS2 cars versus the WSC cars plus worries involving the tyre barriers. Twenty minutes into the race, two cars made contact, causing them both to spin into the tyre wall and scatter debris and tyres. Immediately behind them were three WSC cars and though the first one made it past the accident Fabrizio spun out while trying to avoid debris. Jeremy Dale came around just as the Ferrari was sliding backwards across the track and had no time to react before hitting it broadside, which ripped the car in half. Fabrizio sustained head injuries and a collapsed lung plus broken arm and leg and was put into a medically induced coma. During their rehabilitation, Dale told how Fabrizio visited him six weeks after the accident and “was doing fine. He was up walking around. He had some memory loss because of his head injury. He had no recollection of the accident.” In the 1999 Road Atlanta round of the Women’s Global GT series, Kiki Wolfkill’s car carried a ‘Racing for Fabrizio’ sticker in his honour. He spent a year recuperating before deciding to retire from racing as he admitted that he was not able to concentrate properly after that.

His impact protection system barriers (IPS) concept was eventually used in F1 and first seen at Imola in 2000, where they were used along a 60-metre stretch at the Rivazza corner. Fabrizio ran a kart circuit at Monza and later moved to Cuba where he set up a fishing resort called La Villa Clara and it is believed he raced again at a local karting track in Cuba, where he re-discovered his love for the sport.