Mauro Baldi

Mauro Baldi
Baldi at the 1982 Dutch Grand Prix
Born	Mauro Giuseppe Baldi (1954-01-31) 31 January 1954 Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	Italian
Active years	1982–1985
Teams	Arrows, Alfa Romeo, Spirit
Entries	41 (36 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Career points	5
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1982 South African Grand Prix
Last entry	1985 San Marino Grand Prix
World Sportscar Championship career
Years active	1982, 1984–1992
Teams	Momo, Martini, Jolly Club, RLR, Sauber, Peugeot
Starts	69
Championships	1 (1990)
Wins	17
Podiums	34
Poles	20
Fastest laps	10
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years	1984–1986, 1988–1989, 1991–1994, 1997–2000
Teams	Martini, Porsche, Sauber, Peugeot, Konrad, Moretti, JB, Panoz
Best finish	1st (1994)
Class wins	1 (1994)

Mauro Giuseppe Baldi (born 31 January 1954) is an Italian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1982 to 1985. In endurance racing, Baldi won the World Sportscar Championship in 1990 with Sauber, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1994 with Porsche; he won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1998 and is a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona with Doran.

Baldi is one of 11 drivers to complete the informal Triple Crown of endurance racing, achieving the feat at the 1998 12 Hours of Sebring.

Mauro Giuseppe Baldi was born on 31 January 1954 in Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna.^[1]

Baldi started his career in rallying in 1972 and turned to circuit racing in 1975 with the Italian Renault 5 Cup. By 1980 he had become a top Formula 3 driver, winning the Monaco F3 Grand Prix and the 1981 European Formula 3 Championship with eight victories. In 1982 he signed to drive for Arrows before moving to Alfa Romeo in 1983, scoring a fifth place in Zandvoort. When Benetton became Alfa Romeo's team sponsor in 1984, Baldi lost his drive, and joined the underfunded Spirit team until 1985.

After retiring from Formula One he went to enjoy a successful career in sports car racing, driving for the works Martini-Lancia team in 1984 and 1985. In 1986, he switched to a Porsche 956 from Richard Lloyd Racing's outfit, returning to a works drive in 1988 with the Sauber-Mercedes team, with whom Baldi won the 1990 FIA World Sports Prototype Championship for Drivers, sharing the car with Jean-Louis Schlesser. In 1991 and 1992 he was a driver for Peugeot.

He came very close to making a return to F1 in 1989, when he agreed with Coloni to take over one of the team's cars from Enrico Bertaggia for the Italian Grand Prix. The move was blocked by Jochen Neerpasch, the sporting director of Mercedes, his then sportscar team.^[2] Later he had a brief return to F1 in 1990, doing most of the test driving for the Modena Lambo project.

Returning to sports cars, he won the Le Mans 24 Hours race in 1994, sharing the Dauer 962 Le Mans (a modified Porsche 962) with Yannick Dalmas and Hurley Haywood. He also won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1998 and 2002, and the 12 Hours of Sebring, again in 1998, with Arie Luyendyk and Didier Theys.

^† As Baldi was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key)

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1984	Martini Racing	Paolo Barilla Hans Heyer	Lancia LC2-Ferrari	C1	275	DNF	DNF
1985	Martini Lancia	Henri Pescarolo	Lancia LC2-Ferrari	C1	358	7th	7th
1986	Liqui Moly Equipe	Price Cobb Rob Dyson	Porsche 956 GTi	C1	318	9th	7th
1988	Team Sauber Mercedes	James Weaver Jochen Mass	Sauber C9-Mercedes	C1	-	DNS	DNS
1989	Team Sauber Mercedes	Kenny Acheson Gianfranco Brancatelli	Sauber C9-Mercedes	C1	384	2nd	2nd
1991	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Philippe Alliot Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Peugeot 905	C1	22	DNF	DNF
1992	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Philippe Alliot Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Peugeot 905 Evo 1B	C1	345	3rd	3rd
1993	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Philippe Alliot Jean-Pierre Jabouille	Peugeot 905 Evo 1B	C1	367	3rd	3rd
1994	Le Mans Porsche Team Joest Racing	Yannick Dalmas Hurley Haywood	Dauer 962 Le Mans	GT1	344	1st	1st
1997	Konrad Motorsport	Franz Konrad Robert Nearn	Porsche 911 GT1	GT1	138	DNF	DNF
1998	Moretti Racing	Gianpiero Moretti Didier Theys	Ferrari 333 SP	LMP1	311	14th	3rd
1999	JB Racing	Jérôme Policand Christian Pescatori	Ferrari 333 SP	LMP	71	DNF	DNF
2000	Team Den Blå Avis	John Nielsen Klaus Graf	Panoz LMP-1 Roadster-S-Élan	LMP900	205	NC	NC
Sources:[4][6]

(key)

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