Lamberto Leoni

Lamberto Leoni

Leoni in 1974
Born	(1953-05-24) 24 May 1953
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Italian
Active years	1977–1978
Teams	Surtees, Ensign
Entries	5 (1 start)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1977 Italian Grand Prix
Last entry	1978 United States Grand Prix West

Lamberto Leoni (born 24 May 1953 in Argenta) is a former racing driver from Italy. He participated in five Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, failing to qualify for three of them. He scored no championship points.

Career

After racing in Italian Formula 3, Leoni graduated to European Formula 2 in 1976. He had a promising start, finishing third in his first race with Massimo Ciccozzi's team Scuderia del Passatore at Autódromo do Estoril. He then raced for Giancarlo Minardi's Scuderia Everest, with mixed results. His best result came the following season, when he won at Misano with a car fielded by Scuderia Trivellato.

In 1977 Leoni made his Formula One debut with Surtees at the 1977 Italian Grand Prix, replacing Vern Schuppan, but failed to qualify. The following year he joined Morris Nunn's Ensign. Leoni qualified for the opening event, the 1978 Argentine Grand Prix, but was forced to retire the car after 28 laps because of an engine failure. At the following race in Brazil, Leoni once again managed to qualify but was prevented from starting the race after his transmission broke down during the formation lap. After failing to qualify the car in the following two races in South Africa and the United States, Leoni departed from the team and was replaced by Jacky Ickx.

Leoni returned to Formula 2 and then Formula 3000. In 1987 he formed his own First Racing team. Following a few moderately successful seasons, with wins for drivers Marco Apicella and Pierluigi Martini, in 1989 Leoni made an abortive attempt to enter Formula One with a car designed by Richard Divila and Gabriele Tarquini at the wheel. The car, however, was poorly assembled and although Leoni commissioned a second chassis, he eventually elected to end the team experience in Formula One. The second chassis was then purchased by Ernesto Vita for his unsuccessful Life outfit.

Leoni subsequently managed the career of Apicella, who ended up winning the Super Formula Championship in 1994 and have an outing in Formula One with Jordan Grand Prix in 1993.

In the early 1990s, Leoni resumed his racing career by becoming involved in powerboat racing. He was able to win several races and narrowly missed the 1993 World Championship.

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key) (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	13	14	Pos.	Pts
1975	Scuderia del Passatore	March 752	BMW	EST 3	THR Ret	HOC NC	NÜR 14	PAU	HOC Ret	SAL	ROU	MUG Ret	PER Ret	SIL	ZOL	NOG	VAL	18th	4
1977	Scuderia Everest	Ralt RT1	Ferrari	SIL	THR Ret	HOC DNQ	NÜR	VAL Ret	PAU DNQ	MUG 7	ROU DNQ	NOG 9						11th	9
	Trivellato Racing Team	Chevron B40	BMW										PER 8	MIS 1	EST 9	DON
1979	Lamberto Leoni	March 782	Amaroli	SIL	HOC	THR	NÜR	VAL DNQ	MUG Ret	PAU	HOC	ZAN	PER	MIS	DON			NC	0
1982	Team Merzario	Merzario 282	BMW	SIL	HOC	THR	NÜR	MUG	VAL	PAU	SPA	HOC	DON	MAN	PER	MIS 14		NC	0
1983	Schweizer Automobil Rennsport	March 832	BMW	SIL 6														20th	1
	James Gresham Racing				THR 11	HOC 7	NÜR Ret	VAL 9	PAU Ret	JAR	DON	MIS	PER	ZOL	MUG
1984	Emco Sports	Minardi M283	BMW	SIL Ret	HOC Ret													NC	0
	Minardi Team					THR 9	VAL	MUG	PAU	HOC	MIS 10	PER 9	DON 11	BRH

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (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
1985	PMC Motorsport	Williams FW08C	Cosworth	SIL NC	THR 16	EST	NÜR	VAL Ret	PAU 3	SPA Ret	DIJ 15					11th	8
	Corbari Italia	March 85B										PER Ret	ÖST 3	ZAN 11	DON 11
1986	ITI 3000	March 86B	Cosworth	SIL 11	VAL Ret	PAU 7	SPA Ret	IMO 9	MUG DNQ	PER 15	ÖST DNS	BIR	BUG	JAR		NC	0
1987	First Racing	March 87B	Cosworth	SIL 8	VAL 8	SPA 13	PAU 6	DON Ret	PER 5	BRH 11	BIR Ret	IMO 4				9th	12
			Judd										BUG 4	JAR 4

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	WDC	Pts
1977	Team Surtees	Surtees TS19	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	MON	BEL	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA DNQ	USA	CAN	JPN	NC	0
1978	Team Tissot Ensign	Ensign N177	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG Ret	BRA DNS	RSA DNQ	USW DNQ	MON	BEL	ESP	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN		NC	0

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1988	Italya Sport Team Le Mans	Akio Morimoto Anders Olofsson	March 88S-Nissan	C1	69	DNF	DNF
Source:

Sources

• Profile at www.grandprix.com