Giampiero Moretti

Giampiero Moretti at the wheel of an Alba AR3, at the IMSA GT race in Laguna Seca in 1984

Giampiero Moretti (born March 20, 1940 in Milan ; † January 14, 2012 ibid) was an Italian racing driver and entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur

Giampiero Moretti came from a wealthy Milanese family. With financial help and security from his family, he founded a company in the early 1960s that specialized in the production of steering wheels for motorsport - MOMO . The name is also composed of the two first letters of the name Moretti and the two first letters of the place Monza . In the future, the special steering wheels were manufactured near the Autodromo Nazionale Monza . The connection between MOMO and Scuderia Ferrari , which was initiated by the then Ferrari racing director Eugenio Dragoni, was one of the decisive factors for the company's success . Enzo Ferrari wanted for Formula 1 - Ferrari 158 of 1964 steering wheels made of leather, which were ultimately provided by Giampiero Moretti.

In the 1980s, the company expanded and Moretti supplied steering wheels to US motorsport. Moretti remained managing director of the company until his death in January 2012.

Career in motorsport

Giampiero Moretti began his racing career in 1961 in hill climbs in Italy. In the early 1960s he became a works driver for Bizzarrini and competed in hill climbs with Giotto Bizzarrini vehicles . He celebrated his first international successes in 1969. At the Targo Florio , he and Everardo Ostini finished tenth overall in a Porsche 911T and fourth in a Porsche 907 at the 6-hour race in Vila Real . His team partner was his longtime friend Corrado Manfredini .

In 1970 he bought a Ferrari 512S with which he and Manfredini competed in the 1970 World Sports Car Championship . At this year's Daytona 24-hour race , the duo had to retire after damage to the suspension. A few weeks later, the car was almost completely destroyed during a test drive, but with great technical help from Ferrari, the vehicle was completely repaired by the 1000 km race in Monza . In this long-distance race , Moretti and Manfredini achieved ninth place overall. Moretti also celebrated two race victories with the Ferrari this year; in May won the well-manned hill climb from Trieste to Opicina , which was part of the Italian sports car championship, and in September the 200-mile race at Fuji . In 1970 he also made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans . There his Ferrari 512S was registered and looked after by the Scuderia Filipinetti . The race ended prematurely for Moretti and Manfredini after damage to the drive shaft.

For professional reasons, racing activities declined in the further course of the 1970s. Moretti was entered in many races, but took part in very few.

IMSA-GTO and IMSA-GTP series

In 1978 his career got going again. Moretti joined the IMSA GT series as driver and team principal. This was mainly for marketing reasons. The US market was extremely interesting for his company. The first few years he contested the races with a Porsche 935 , his team mate was the US American Hurley Haywood . In the second year of the IMSA GTP series in 1982, he switched to a March 82G . He also competed in Europe with the Porsche. He contested races in the German racing championship and was together with Mauro Baldi , seventh in the 1000 km race in Spa , eighth in the 1000 km race in Mugello and fifth in the 9-hour race in Kyalami .

In 1983 he came close to his first race win in the IMSA series when he was beaten only by Bob Tullius and Doc Bundy in the Jaguar XJR-5 in the Pocono 500 mile race . His partner in this race was the South African Sarel van der Merwe . Until the late 1980s, he drove almost exclusively in the United States. From 1989 a Porsche 962 was used, with which he also had rare appearances in the European interseries .

He celebrated his greatest successes in motorsport with a racing car that was developed and built on his initiative - the Ferrari 333SP . From 1994 he became the defining factor in the IMSA series and celebrated an abundance of race victories with Eliseo Salazar , Wayne Taylor and Massimiliano Papis . His greatest international success dates back to 1998, when he won both the Daytona 24-hour race and the Sebring 12-hour race . His last race win was also his last race as a driver; with Didier Theys and Mauro Baldi he won the 6-hour race at Watkins Glen in August 1998 .

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1970	Scuderia Filipinetti	Ferrari 512S	Corrado Manfredini		failure	drive shaft
1990	MOMO Gebhardt Racing	Porsche 962C	Nick Adams	Günther Gebhardt	failure	Gearbox damage
1997	Moretti Racing Inc.	Ferrari 333SP	Didier Theys	Massimiliano Papis	Rank 6
1998	Moretti Racing Inc.	Ferrari 333SP	Didier Theys	Mauro Baldi	Rank 14

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1979	Desperado Racing	Porsche 935	Clif Kearns			failure	no petrol
1980	Electrodyne Moretti	Porsche 935J	Giorgio Pianta	Renzo Zorzi		failure	Engine failure
1981	Momo penthouse	Porsche 935J	Mauricio de Narváez	Charles Mendez		Rank 6
1986	Momo Joest Racing	Porsche 962	Randy Lanier	Louis Krages		failure	Engine failure
1988	Momo Racing	March 86G	Michael Roe			failure	Engine failure
1989	Momo Gebhardt Racing	Porsche 962	Michael Roe	Massimo Sigala	Derek Bell	Rank 4
1991	Momo Gebhardt Racing	Porsche 962C	Hellmut Mundas	Stanley Dickens		Rank 10
1992	Joest Racing	Porsche 962C	Oscar Larrauri	Massimo Sigala		Rank 3
1993	Momo	Nissan NPT-90	John Paul Junior	Derek Bell		Rank 2
1995	Momo	Ferrari 333SP	Wayne Taylor	Didier Theys		Rank 33
1996	Momo Corse	Ferrari 333SP	Massimiliano Papis	Didier Theys		Rank 3
1997	Momo Racing	Ferrari 333SP	Antonio de Azevedo Hermann	Didier Theys	Andrea Montermini	failure	accident
1998	Momo Doran Racing	Ferrari 333SP	Mauro Baldi	Didier Theys		Overall victory

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th
1965	Scuderia St. Ambroeus	Abarth-Simca 1300 Bialbero	DAY	SEB	BOL	MON	MON	RTT	TAR	SPA	ONLY	MUG	ROS	LEM	REI	BOZ	FRE	CCE	OVI	ONLY	BRI	BRI
						DNF
1969	Everardo Ostini Scuderia Picchio Rosso	Porsche 911 Porsche 907	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
							10					DNF
1970	Squadra Picchio-Rosso Antonio Nicodemi Scuderia Filipinetti	Ferrari 512S Porsche 907	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	TAR	SPA	ONLY	LEM	WAT	ZEL
			DNF			9	12			DNF
1971	Herbert Müller Ugo Locatelli	Ferrari 512S AMS	BUA	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
							8th		DNF
1972	Ecurie Bonnier	Lola T212	BUA	DAY	SEB	BRH	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
			DNF
1973	Momo	De Tomaso Pantera	DAY	VAL	DIJ	MON	SPA	TAR	ONLY	LEM	ZEL	WAT
						DNF
1974	Jolly Club Switzerland	Lola T294	MON	SPA	ONLY	IMO	LEM	ZEL	WAT	LEC	BRH	KYA
												DNF
1977	Jolly Club	Porsche 934	DAY	MUG	DIJ	MON	SIL	ONLY	VAL	BY	WAT	EST	LEC	MOS	IMO	SAL	BRH	HOK	VAL
							7th						14th						DNF
1978	Electrodyne Inc.	Porsche 935	DAY	SEB	MUG	VALLEY	DIJ	SIL	ONLY	LEM	MIS	DAY	WAT	VAL	ROD
						DNF
1979	Jolly Club Desperado Racing Electrodyne	Porsche 935	DAY	SEB	MUG	VALLEY	DIJ	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	BY	DAY	WAT	SPA	BRH	ROA	VAL	ELS
			45	DNF				DNF
1980	Electrodyne	Porsche 935	DAY	BRH	SEB	MUG	MON	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	DAY	WAT	SPA	MOS	ROA	VAL	DIJ
			59		DNF			DNF					DNF			15th
1981	Momo	Porsche 935	DAY	SEB	MUG	MON	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	BY	DAY	WAT	SPA	MOS	ROA	BRH
			DNF	6th			14th						6th		DNF	5
1982	Momo Giampiero Moretti	Porsche 935	MON	SIL	ONLY	LEM	SPA	MUG	FUJ	BRH
				7th			7th	8th
1988	Memorex Telex Racing Team	Porsche 962	JER	JAR	MON	SIL	LEM	BRÜ	BRH	ONLY	SPA	FUJ	SAN
												DNF
1991	Joest Racing	Porsche 962	SUZ	MON	SIL	LEM	ONLY	LIKE	MEX	AUT
									5

Web links

Commons : Giampiero Moretti  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Information about Giampiero Moretti

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Addio "Momo", pilota gentleman del Cavallino - Omnicorse.it (Italian)
2. ↑ In 1969 Moretti finished fourth in the 6-hour race at Vila Ral
3. ↑ Victory in the 1970 Fuji 200 Mile Race
4. ↑ Last race win in 1998 in Watkins Glen