Giorgio Vinella (born 22 August 1973 in

Putignano Putignano ( Barese: ) is an Italian town of 26 644 inhabitants located in the Murgia of the Metropolitan City of Bari, in Apulia, southern Italy. It is known for its ancient Carnival, for textile manufacturing companies and for karst caves. Phy ...

) is an Italian racing driver.

Career history

Giorgio Vinella’s racing career starts in the early ‘90s driving

go-kart A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performance Kart rac ...

in the category 100cc National, while in 1993 he debuted with Henry Morrogh’s single-seater car. The brilliant debut was highlighted being rewarded by Autosprint as most promising driver in the race and in Giorgio Vinella started racing in the

British Formula Ford Championship The British Formula Ford Championship was an entry level single seater motor racing category, designed to give racing drivers their first step into car racing after karting. Drivers from around the world were attracted to the United Kingdom to ...

. In 1995 Giorgio won races in the French Formula Ford Championship with his Vector 95, came second in the prestigious

Formula Ford Festival The Formula Ford Festival is an annual meeting of Ford-powered single-seat racing cars which is held at the end of the British racing season, at the Brands Hatch motor racing circuit in the county of Kent, in Southern England. The events are hel ...

and finished third in the European Championship. In 1996 and 1997 he moved to Formula Renault, and a year later joined the Coloni team in

Formula 3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines. Formula 3000 championships ...

. In 1999 he became champion in the

Italian Formula 3000 Auto GP, sometimes referred to as the Auto GP World Series and formerly known as both Euro Formula 3000 and the Euroseries 3000, was a European formula racing series. The series' roots can be traced back to 1999 and the Italian Formula 3000 serie ...

championship racing for Team Martello. The victory in the championship allowed him to test the

Minardi Minardi was an Italian automobile racing team and constructor founded in Faenza in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal followin ...

and in December 1999 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 ...

will make an impressive test that earned him the position of test driver for year 2000. In 2000, follows the Minardi Team as test driver doing aerodynamic testing at the

Mugello The Mugello is a historic region and valley in northern Tuscany, in Italy, corresponding to the course of the River Sieve. It is located to the north of the city of Florence and includes the northernmost portion of the Metropolitan City of Flo ...

and Vairano. Also in 2000 will do one race in

with Team Da Vinci and a race in the Grand Am series at Elkhart Lake in

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

with a

Riley & Scott Riley & Scott Cars Inc. was an American racing constructor and racing team that primarily provided chassis for various forms of motorsport, but worked primarily in sports car racing. It was founded in 1990 by Bob Riley and Mark Scott. History Sp ...

with a

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

engine. After 8 years of non racing, he returns to the 500 Italian Championship winning the race in

Vallelunga Vallelunga (Italian for ''long valley'') is a valley, or plateau,Tonino Floris, Marco Spada, ''Pedalando nel Lazio''p. 97 Edizioni Mediterranee, 1996 . near Campagnano di Roma, Italy. See also * Vallelunga Circuit The Autodromo Vallelunga P ...

. In 2009 he wins the Italian Touring Car Endurance Championship together with Marco Baroncini, driving a BMW 320i E36 run by Pai Technosport. In the year 2010 Giorgio Vinella makes 2 races in Czech Republic in Brno and Most with a

Porsche 996 GT3 The Porsche 911 GT3 is a high-performance homologation model of the Porsche 911 sports car. It is a line of high-performance models, which began with the 1973 911 Carrera RS. The GT3 has had a successful racing career in the one-make national ...

, makes a test with the

Audi R10 TDI The Audi R10 TDI, usually abbreviated to R10, is a diesel-powered racing car from the German car manufacturer Audi. The car dominated Le Mans, winning each year from its 2006 introduction until it was replaced by the R15 in 2009. It was design ...

with the Team Kolles for candidacy of a seat for the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

, wins his Class in the 6 hours of Misano, wins a race at the Mugello circuit in the Italian CITS with the Mini of the

Roberto Ravaglia Roberto Ravaglia (born 26 May 1957 in Venice, Italy) is a former auto racing driver, who currently runs ROAL Motorsport, who operate a Chevrolet operation in the World Touring Car Championship. Before retiring in 1997, he was one of the most succ ...

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 Championship ...

team. At the end of the 2010 disputes a race in the European Sports Prototype with the prototype Wolf of BF Motorsport Team coming third at the finish. In 2011 he won another title in the Italian Endurance Touring Car Championship Ibiza Cup with Marco Baroncini winning 4 races and finishing on the podium 8 times. The year 2012 began with the third place in their class at the 12 Hours of Abu Dhabi driving the prototype Wolf. After some years of absence from racing Giorgio got a great victory at the 3 hours of Imola with a Wolf prototype together with the Italian driver Luca Pirri, in the LP Racing Team. In 2021 he made only one race with the Ferrari 458 GT Cup with the SR&R Team in the Italian 3 hours GT held in Mugello arriving third in his class. Outside of racing, Giorgio continues with his job as Driving Instructor, Drivers Coaching and he also created and developed an ONLINE course to allow anyone to learn how to drive correctly following all the driving techniques used by racing drivers, called Drivers Masterclass. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vinella, Giorgio 1973 births Living people People from Putignano Italian racing drivers Sportspeople from the Metropolitan City of Bari Scuderia Coloni drivers International Formula 3000 drivers