Massimo Sigala

In 1979, Sigala won his second Cup championship with an Alfa Romeo Alfasund Sprint (left)

Sigala had his first sports car use in the Lancia LC1

Brun-Porsche 962C with the original start number 17; Sigala's emergency vehicles in 1990 and 1991

Massimo Sigala (born January 7, 1951 in Messina ) is a former Italian racing driver .

Career

Massimo Sigala was one of the most famous international sports car drivers in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Sicilian's career began in 1976 in the Italian Renault 5 Cup , which he won in 1978. In 1979 he moved to the Alfasud Cup , where he won the European championship. In the following years he developed into a specialist for brand cups . He drove in the Procar series and was second overall in the European Renault 5 Turbo Cup in 1982 behind Joël Gouhier. Although he had long been active in sports car racing in the following years, he remained loyal to the one-make cups until the end of his career. This enabled him to win five more championships. In 1986 he won the European Renault Alpine V6 Championship , a success that he repeated in 1987 and 1988. In 1989 and 1990 he won this brand cup again, which at that time was driven out with the Renault 21 chassis with open bodies.

He had the following outings in sports cars in 1983: As partner of Oscar Larrauri , he made his debut in a Lancia LC1 at the 1000 km race at Silverstone , which ended in a retirement. Three weeks later, at the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring , there was the first finish. The race, which by Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass in work - Porsche 956 was recovered, he ended with partner Larrauri fifth.

In the same year he also made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans , where he competed a total of seven times until 1995 , five of which as a Brun Motorsport driver . The best placements were the seventh places in 1984 and 1988 .

He was also successful in North American sports car racing. He finished third in the Sebring 12-hour race twice , in 1991 together with Bernd Schneider and Bob Wollek in the Joest - Porsche 962C and again in 1992 with Oscar Larrauri and Giampiero Moretti for Joest Racing.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1983	Scuderia Sivama engine	Lancia LC1	Max Cohen-Olivar	Oscar Larrauri	not classified
1984	Brun Motorsport	Porsche 956	Joël Gouhier	Oscar Larrauri	Rank 7
1985	Brun Motorsport	Porsche 956	Gabriele Tarquini	Oscar Larrauri	failure	Engine failure
1986	Brun Motorsport	Porsche 962C	Frank Jelinski	Walter Brun	failure	Valve damage
1988	Repsol Brun Motorsport	Porsche 962C	Jesús Pareja	Uwe Schäfer	Rank 7
1990	Brun Motorsport	Porsche 962C	Harald Huysman	Bernard Santal	Rank 10
1995	Euromotorsport Racing	Ferrari 333SP	René Arnoux	Jay Cochran	failure	Engine failure

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1989	Momo Gebhardt Racing	Porsche 962	Michael Roe	Giampiero Moretti	Derek Bell	Rank 4
1991	Joest Porsche Racing	Porsche 962C	Bernd Schneider	Bob Wollek		Rank 3
1992	Joest Racing	Porsche 962C	Oscar Larrauri	Giampiero Moretti		Rank 3
1995	Euromotorsport Racing Inc.	Ferrari 333SP	Elton Julian	Fabrizio Barbazza		Rank 22

literature

• Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans, 1923–1992. 2 volumes. Éditions d'Art, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909-413-06-3 .

Web links

Commons : Massimo Sigala  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Results at Racing Sports Cars
• Massimo Sigala at the Driver Database

Individual evidence

1. ^ Italian Renault 5 Cup 1978
2. ↑ European Alfasud Cup 1979
3. ↑ Renault 5 Turbo Eurocup 1982
4. ^ Renault Alpine V6 Championship 1986
5. ↑ Renault Alpine V6 Championship 1987
6. ↑ Renault Alpine V6 Championship 1988
7. ↑ 1000 km race on the Nürburgring 1983