Enrique Mansilla (born February 14, 1958) is an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

former racing driver born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. He was a fierce rival and teammate of

Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver who won the Formula One List of Formula One World Drivers' Champions, World Drivers' Championship in , , and . Senna is one of three Formula One drivers fro ...

in British

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

1600 in 1981. In 1982 he drove in

British Formula Three The British Formula Three Championship was an international motor racing series that took place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It was a junior-level feeder formula that used small single seat ...

for

West Surrey Racing West Surrey Racing is a UK-based motorsport team run by New Zealander Dick Bennetts. He is responsible for masterminding the careers of such names as Ayrton Senna, Mika Häkkinen, Jonathan Palmer, Rubens Barrichello, Maurício Gugelmin and Eddie ...

, nearly winning the championship despite much of his funding disappearing due to tensions resulting from the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

. In 1983 he competed in European Formula Two for

Gresham Racing Gresham may refer to: Places Australia *Gresham County, New South Wales United Kingdom *Gresham, Norfolk United States *Gresham, Chicago, Illinois * Gresham, Missouri * Gresham, Nebraska *Gresham, Oregon * Gresham, Texas *Gresham, Wisconsin ...

, but only managed to score two championship points. In 1984 he raced in several

Can-Am The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an Sports Car Club of America, SCCA/Canadian Auto Sport Clubs, CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1987. History Can-Am started out as a race series for group 7 sports racers with two r ...

races in a

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...

and a

Toleman Toleman Motorsport was a Formula One constructor based in the UK. It was active between 1981 and 1985 and participated in 70 Grands Prix. Origins The Toleman company was formed in 1926 by Edward Toleman for the purpose of delivering Ford c ...

. In 1985 he raced in 3

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

races for

Hemelgarn Racing Hemelgarn Racing is an American auto racing team owned by Ron Hemelgarn. The team debuted in 1985, and competed in the CART and Indy Racing League ranks until the team originally shut down in 2010. The team returned to competition in 2015, and cur ...

with a best finish of 9th in his debut at

Road America Road America is a motorsport road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, United States on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, WeatherTech SportsCar Champ ...

. After he retired from racing he became a gold and diamond hunter in

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

and was kidnapped for five months during a civil war and held as "exchange currency". After he was released he stayed in Liberia and continued to work in the gold and diamond industries, before returning to Argentina. He currently works in motorsport in Argentina in many roles, including as a driver and team consultant, as well as running his own PMO Racing touring car team. He is also head of the Argentinian Porsche GT4 Championship.

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

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

PPG Indycar Series

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

References

1958 births 1980s missing person cases Argentine sportspeople of Spanish descent Argentine racing drivers British Formula Three Championship drivers Champ Car drivers European Formula Two Championship drivers Formerly missing people Formula Ford drivers Kidnapped Argentine people Kidnapped businesspeople Living people Missing person cases in Africa {{Argentina-autoracing-bio-stub Racing drivers from Buenos Aires

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

PPG Indycar Series

See also

References