Renzo Zorzi

Renzo Zorzi

Nation:	Italy
Automobile world championship
First start:	1975 Italian Grand Prix
Last start:	1977 Spanish Grand Prix
Constructors
1975  Frank Williams Racing Cars  1977  Walter Wolf Racing 1977  Shadow Racing Team
statistics
World Cup balance:	WM-19. ( 1977 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 7th - - -
World Cup points :	1
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Renzo Zorzi (born December 12, 1946 in Ziano di Fiemme , † May 15, 2015 in Magenta ) was an Italian racing driver . He contested seven Formula 1 races for poorly financed teams.

Career

Renzo Zorzi worked for the Italian tire manufacturer Pirelli since the late 1960s . He began his motorsport career in Formula 3 in 1972 . He started for Scuderia Mirabella and in the first two years used different cars from Tecno , Brabham and some small Italian manufacturers, initially without achieving regular success. In 1974 and 1975 Zorzi worked for the Fiat subsidiary Lancia , which developed a Formula 3 engine together with Repetto. In 1975, Zorzi drove the engine in a GRD car ; with this combination he won the Formula 3 Grand Prix of Monaco and was third in the Formula 3 European Championship.

With the support of his sponsor Francesco Zorzi Ambrisio subsequently received a Formula 1 cockpit in the financially troubled team of Frank Williams , for which he in outdated Williams FW03 the Italian Grand Prix in 1975 denied. On his Formula 1 debut, he finished 14th and last, six laps behind the winner. In 1976 Zorzi started once for the Williams successor Walter Wolf Racing . The opening race in Brazil was Zorzi's only Formula 1 outing this year.

In 1977 Zorzi switched to the Shadow team, for which he competed in the first five races of the season. At the Brazilian Grand Prix he finished 6th, the only World Cup point in his career.

As a Shadow pilot, Zorzi was indirectly involved in the fatal accident of his teammate Tom Pryce in Kyalami at the South African Grand Prix . Zorzi was left on the home stretch with an engine failure. The marshals Frederik Jansen Van Vuuren wanted to put out the fire on Zorzi's car, but crossed the route without paying attention to the driver and was recorded by Tom Pryce at full speed. He could not see the place due to a crest of the road. Pryce died from the fire extinguisher of the marshal that hit his head in the accident. The marshals were also dead instantly.

After the fifth race of the season, Zorzi was replaced by Riccardo Patrese , who was also supported by Franco Ambrisio. After that there was no more opportunity for him to contest a Formula 1 race.

After his time in monoposto sport , he competed in sports car races . Among other things, he won in 1979 together with Marco Capoferri at the 1000 km race in Monza . He later returned to Pirelli to work as a test driver.

After the end of his racing career, Zorzi set up a racing school in Binetto in the Apulia region . He died on May 15, 2015 at the age of 68 after a long and serious illness.

statistics

Statistics in the automobile world championship

These statistics include all of the driver's participations in the World Automobile Championship, which is now known as the Formula 1 World Championship .

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1975	Frank Williams Racing Cars	Williams FW03	Ford-Cosworth 3.0 V8	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1976	Frank Williams Racing Cars	Williams FW04	Ford-Cosworth 3.0 V8	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1977	Shadow racing cars	Shadow DN5B	Ford-Cosworth 3.0 V8	2	-	-	-	-	-	1	19th
		Shadow DN8		3	-	-	-	-	-
total				7th	-	-	-	-	-	1

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th
1975
													14th
1976
	9
1977
	DNF	6th	DNF	DNF	DNF

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1980	Electrodyne Moretti	Porsche 935J	Giorgio Pianta	Giampiero Moretti	failure	Engine failure

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
1974	Monzeglio	GRD S73	MON	SPA	ONLY	IMO	LEM	ZEL	WAT	LEC	BRH	KYA
			DNF
1976	Jolly Club	Ford Escort Lancia Stratos HF	MUG	VAL	ONLY	MON	SIL	IMO	ONLY	ZEL	BY	WAT	MOS	DIJ	DIJ	SAL
			DNF	8th
1977	Giuseppe Piazzi	Chevron B36	DAY	MUG	DIJ	MON	SIL	ONLY	VAL	BY	WAT	EST	LEC	MOS	IMO	SAL	BRH	HOK	VAL
									8th						5
1978	Giuseppe Piazzi	Fiat X1 / 9	DAY	SEB	MUG	VALLEY	DIJ	SIL	ONLY	LEM	MIS	DAY	WAT	VAL	ROD
											10			DNF
1979	Giuseppe Piazzi	Fiat X1 / 9	DAY	SEB	MUG	VALLEY	DIJ	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	BY	DAY	WAT	SPA	BRH	ROA	VAL	ELS
										DNF		DNF						10
1980	Giuseppe Piazzi Moretti Renzo Zorzi	Fiat X1 / 9 Porsche 935 Capoferri M1	DAY	BRH	SEB	MUG	MON	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	DAY	WAT	SPA	MOS	ROA	VAL	DIJ
				DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF										DNF
1981	Italian sponsor	Lola T286	DAY	SEB	MUG	MON	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	BY	DAY	WAT	SPA	MOS	ROA	BRH
						DNF
1984	John Fitzpatrick Racing	Porsche 956	MON	SIL	LEM	ONLY	BRH	MOS	SPA	IMO	FUJ	KYA	SAN
			DNF
1985	Brun Motorsport	Porsche 956	MUG	MON	SIL	LEM	HOK	MOS	SPA	BRH	FUJ	SEL
				6th

Web links

Commons : Renzo Zorzi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Obituary dated May 18, 2015 on the website www.speedweek.com
• Renzo Zorzi. www.motorsportmemorial.org, accessed on May 15, 2020 (English). 
• Image: Renzo Zorzi

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Obituary on the website www.omnicorse.it (accessed on May 16, 2015)
2. ↑ Obituary on the website www.ladige.it
3. ^ ^{A b} Biography of Renzo Zorzi on the website www.grandprix.com (accessed on May 16, 2015).
4. ↑ obituary on the website www.gazzetta.it (accessed on 16 May 2015).