First Racing (sometimes written as FIRST Racing) was an Italian motor racing team founded by

Lamberto Leoni Lamberto Leoni (born 24 May 1953 in Argenta) is a former racing driver from Italy. He participated in five Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, failing to qualify for three of them. He scored no championship points. Career After racin ...

, which competed in

International Formula 3000 The Formula 3000 International Championship was a motor racing series created by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 1985 to become the final preparatory step for drivers hoping to enter Formula One. Formula Two had become t ...

from

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

and the Italian Formula 3 Championship in 1990. The team built a car for entry into the 1989

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

series, designed by

Richard Divila Ricardo Ramsey "Richard" Divila (30 May 1945 – 25 April 2020) was a Brazilian motorsports designer. He worked in Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Three, Formula 3000 and sports car racing. Life and career Divila was born in São Paulo. He ...

, and powered by a Judd V8 engine. Italian

Gabriele Tarquini Gabriele Tarquini (born 2 March 1962) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 78 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on May 3, 1987. He scored a single championship point, and holds the record for the most failed attempts to qualify. He ...

was signed to drive the lone entry, giving it a run at the 1989

Attilio Bettega Attilio Bettega (19 February 1953 – 2 May 1985) was an Italian rally driver.''Autosport'' 50th Anniversary Issue Celebrating 50 years of the Best in Motorsport. page 173. 13 July 2000. Haymarket Specialist Magazines Biography Bettega was born ...

Memorial event in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

and the

Formula One Indoor Trophy The Formula One Indoor Trophy or Trofeo Indoor Formula One was a non-championship Formula One sprint held at the Bologna Motor Show between 1988 and 1996. Despite having ''Indoor'' in the name of the race, the race was staged outside. The first race ...

. However, the chassis itself was poorly manufactured due to a temperature mistake in the autoclave, with the result that a second chassis had to be re-commissioned. Having realized that the delay would cost the team a penalty for missing the first two races of the season, Divila and his engineers tried to reinforce the chassis with injections of a material called Redus 410 NA. Although the car passed the mandatory

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

pre-season crash test in

Cranfield Cranfield is a village and civil parish in the west of Bedfordshire, England, situated between Bedford and Milton Keynes. It had a population of 4,909 in 2001. increasing to 5,369 at the 2011 Census. The parish is in Central Bedfordshire uni ...

, it was now significantly overweight. Divila himself claimed that the car as it was, was good for nothing but being "an interesting flowerpot". Faced with the perspective of racing an uncompetitive car in a packed field (the

1989 Formula One World Championship The 1989 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 43rd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It began on 26 March and ended on 5 November. Alain Prost won his third Drivers' Championship, and McLaren won the Constructors' Championship ...

counted over forty participants with pre-qualifying sessions), Leoni decided to withdrew before the opening

Brazilian Grand Prix The Brazilian Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prêmio do Brasil), currently held under the name São Paulo Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prêmio de São Paulo), is a Formula One championship race which is currently held at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace ...

and concentrate his efforts on the Formula 3000 season; the effort lasted until 1991. The second chassis commissioned by Leoni would be later purchased by Ernesto Vita and used in the for his

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

L190.

Competition record

Complete Formula 3000 results

†

Éric Hélary Éric Hélary (born 10 August 1966) is a professional racing driver from Paris. His career has encompassed single seater formulae, endurance sports car racing, and touring cars. He won the French Formula Three Championship in 1990 and is best ...

finished season with Cobra Racing

References

Article on the First 189 with photos (archived, in Italian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:First Formula One constructors Italian racecar constructors International Formula 3000 teams