David Cleto Fumanelli (21 April 1992,

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

) is an Italian racing driver and racing coach.

Single Seater Career

Formula Renault 2.0

Fumanelli, after just two years of national karting races, made his

single-seater An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have the ...

debut in 2008 in his native Italian Formula Renault 2.0 series, driving for

RP Motorsport RP Motorsport was an auto racing team based in Italy in Piacenza. The Italian team won many times the EuroFormula Open Championship, becoming one of the most successful outfit in the series. In February 2022 the team assets were sold to Irish ra ...

Formula 3

In September 2008, Fumanelli made his Formula 3 debut in the Spanish Formula 3 series, competing for last 2 rounds of the championship. During the last event in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

he was involved in a violent airborne accident with

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

driver Carmen Jordá, which resulted in a vertebra trauma which forced him to a 6 months stop. Fumanelli remained in the series for 2009, the first of three full seasons in the category with RP Motorsport. He finished his first full-season in eighth place and "Best Rookie" after recording two late-season victories at

Jerez Jerez de la Frontera (), or simply Jerez (), is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cádiz Mountains. , the c ...

and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. In 2010, he took three race wins to finish the year 3rd overall, showing an impressive progression and speed. In 2011 Fumanelli finished as F3 European Open Vice - Champion. After a slow start to the season, which saw just one podium finish in the first eight races, he took four race victories in the final eight races, to finish eight points behind the Swiss driver Alex Fontana.

GP3 Series

Following a successful test at Jerez in December 2011, Fumanelli graduated to the

GP3 Series The GP3 Series, or GP3 for short, was a single-seater motor racing series launched in 2010 as a feeder series for the GP2 Series, introduced by GP2 organiser Bruno Michel. GP3 followed the entire European leg of the Formula One series and th ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

, racing for MW Arden Team. His rookie season was very strong, many top-5 qualifyings brought him to a podium finish at the European GP in

Valencia Street Circuit The Valencia Street Circuit ( ca-valencia, Circuit Urbà de València, es, Circuito Urbano de Valencia, links=no) was a street circuit in Valencia, Spain which hosted the Formula One European Grand Prix for five years (2008–2012). The fir ...

and a 4th place in Monaco Gran Prix. He was forced to miss the Silverstone round due to family matters and he finished the season 11th overall in the championship. In 2013 he continued in the series with the Italian Team

Trident Racing Trident Racing is a motor racing team that competes in single-seater formula racing. It was founded in 2006 in order to compete in the GP2 championship, which was Europe's second highest-ranking single-seater formula below Formula One. Trident is ...

. Despite some very strong winter tests, the Italian duo struggled with performance during the season and they decided to split up one round to the end of the championship. Best result of the season was in the first round at the Spanish Gran Prix with a 7th place. He finished the season 19th overall.

GT career

Blancpain GT Series

In 2014 Fumanelli switched to GT racing and made his debut in the Blancpain GT Sprint Series with

Roal Motorsport ROAL Motorsport (previously known as Ravaglia Motorsport) is an Italian auto racing team, which operated the BMW Team Italy-Spain team in the World Touring Car Championship, and currently competes as BMW Team Italia in the Italian GT Championshi ...

with a

BMW Z4 GT3 The BMW Z4 (E89) is the second generation of the BMW Z4 range of two-door roadster (automobile), roadsters, and was produced from 2009 to 2016. The E89 replaced the BMW Z4 (E85), E85/E86 Z4 and is the fourth model in the BMW Z Series. The E89 ...

, sharing the box with the great

Alex Zanardi Alessandro "Alex" Zanardi (; born 23 October 1966) is an Italian professional racing driver and paracyclist. He won the CART championship in 1997 and 1998, and took 15 wins in the series. He also raced in Formula One from 1991 to 1994 and aga ...

. He finished the season as Silver Cup Vice-Champion with his mate Stefano Colombo. In 2016 he was called to compete in the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps by Scuderia Praha with the new

Ferrari 488 GT3 The Ferrari 488 (Type F142M) is a mid-engine sports car produced by the Italian automobile manufacturer Ferrari. The car replaced the 458, being the first mid-engine Ferrari to use a turbocharged V8 since the F40. It was succeeded by the Ferra ...

. In 2017 Fumanelli was selected by

McLaren GT The McLaren GT is a sports car designed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer McLaren Automotive. It is the company's first dedicated grand tourer and is based on the same platform underpinning the 720S with the addition of a car ...

as Junior Driver to race for the factory team Strakka Racing with a

McLaren 650S GT3 The McLaren 650S is a British sports car designed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer McLaren Automotive. It was announced in February 2014 as a new model, but based on the existing MP4-12C with 25% new parts, and was formally ...

. He competed in the Endurance series, plus some spot races in the Sprint Series alongside Lewis Williamson. He was forced to leave McLaren at the end of the year due to a company restructuring. Strakka Racing decided to keep Fumanelli for his 2018 campaign, where they switched from McLaren to Mercedes AMG. They debuted together at Bathurst 12 hours, first round of the

Intercontinental GT Challenge The Intercontinental GT Challenge is a sports car racing series developed by the SRO Group in 2016. It consists of international endurance races for grand tourer racing cars complying with the FIA's GT3 regulations. Format The series is aimed ...

with a Mercedes AMG GT3 finishing 3rd in Pro Am class. He was involved in both Intercontinental GT Challenge and Blancpain GT Endurance races, where he was selected to race in the Mercedes AMG factory car for the Silverstone round, alongside the two german aces Max Buhk and Maximilian Goetz. The highlights of the year, together with Bathurst podium, were the 2nd place in Pro Am class at the 24 hours of Spa-Francorchamps and 1st place in Pro Am in the California 8 hours, Laguna Seca. In 2019 he did two races for Strakka Racing, finishing 3rd in Pro Am at the 24 hours of Spa-Francorchamps alongside Christina Nielsen, Richard Heidstand and Jack Hawksworth. He raced for Mercedes Black Falcon Team in the last round of Blancpain GT Endurance, finishing 2nd in Silver class and 7th overall.

Ferrari Challenge Europe

In 2017 Fumanelli won the Ferrari Master Show race during Bologna Motor Show, with a Ferrari 488 Challenge with Rossocorsa Racing. In 2018 he did three races in

Ferrari Challenge The Ferrari Challenge is a single-marque motorsport championship that was created in 1993 for owners of the 348 Berlinetta who wanted to become involved in racing. The series was proposed by Ferrari Club Nederland founder and President Hans ...

Europe with Rossocorsa Racing, finishing second in the World Finals at Monza.

Renault Sport Trophy

Between 2015 and 2016 Fumanelli competed for Oregon Team in the Renault Sport Trophy, a one-make sports-car series made by

Renault Sport Renault Sport () or Renaultsport, was the motorsport, performance and special vehicles division for Renault-badged cars. Renault Sport was officially established in 1976 as a merger between the Alpine (automobile), Alpine and Gordini competition ...

. He won the Endurance title in 2015 with his team mate Dario Capitanio and finished 3rd in Pro class standings.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete GP3 Series results

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

Complete Blancpain Sprint Series results

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

References

External links

Official website

Career details from Driver Database
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fumanelli, David 1992 births Living people Racing drivers from Milan Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Italian Formula Three Championship drivers Euroformula Open Championship drivers Italian GP3 Series drivers Arden International drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers Asian Le Mans Series drivers International GT Open drivers RP Motorsport drivers Strakka Racing drivers Trident Racing drivers Mercedes-AMG Motorsport drivers McLaren Racing drivers 24H Series drivers Le Mans Cup drivers Ferrari Challenge drivers