Mirko Bortolotti (born 10 January 1990) is an Italian

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

from

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th centu ...

. He has won the Italian Formula 3 Championship in 2008, the

FIA Formula 2 Championship The FIA Formula 2 Championship is a second-tier single-seater championship organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Held on racing circuits, the championship was introduced in 2017, following the rebranding of the lo ...

in 2011, the Eurocup Megane Trophy in 2013 and the Blancpain GT Series Endurance and Overall Championship in 2017. He competed as a factory driver for

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. () is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi. Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916–1993) ...

between 2016 and 2019, before moving to

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

for 2020 and rejoining Lamborghini in 2021. He competed in the

2022 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters The 2022 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters will be the thirty-sixth season of premier German touring car championship and also the twenty-third season under the moniker of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since the series' resumption in 2000. It will be th ...

with

GRT Grasser Racing Team Gottfried Grasser GmbH racing as GRT Grasser Racing Team is an Austrian racing team. The team has raced in various Group GT3 based racing series with support from Lamborghini since 2015. Gottfried Grasser Team founder Ing. Gottfried Grasser (bor ...

, a factory-backed Lamborghini team based in Austria.

Career

Italian series

After karting for several years, Bortolotti began his

formula racing Formula racing (known as open-wheel racing in North America) is any of several forms of open-wheeled single-seater motorsport. The origin of the term lies in the nomenclature that was adopted by the FIA for all of its post-World War II single- ...

career in 2005 by competing in the Italian Formula Renault Winter Series and Formula Gloria. He competed in the Winter Series for a further two years, with a best finish of fourth in 2006. He also drove in the Italian

Formula Junior Formula Junior is an open wheel formula racing class first adopted in October 1958 by the CSI (''International Sporting Commission'', the part of the FIA that then regulated motorsports). The class was intended to provide an entry level class ...

1600 championship for this year, in addition to the Formula Azzurra championship. In the latter series he finished as runner-up in the drivers' championship, behind winner Giuseppe Termine. In 2007, Bortolotti moved up to

Italian Formula Three The Italian Formula Three Championship was the Formula Three racing competition in Italy. History Formula Three has traditionally been regarded as the first major stepping stone for F1 hopefuls - it is typically the first point in a driver's care ...

, finishing fourth in the championship at his first attempt. He remained in the series for 2008, driving for the Lucidi Motors team, and won the championship with nine wins and six

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...

s from the sixteen races.

FIA Formula Two Championship

Bortolotti obtained backing from

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...

following his championship win; the company opted to place him in the relaunched

FIA Formula Two Championship The FIA Formula 2 Championship is a second-tier single-seater championship organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Held on road racing, racing circuits, the championship was introduced in 2017, following the rebrandi ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. He drove car number 14 in the series, and finished fourth. During the break between the final two rounds of the season, Bortolotti returned to Formula Three to compete for

Carlin Motorsport Carlin, formerly Carlin Motorsport, is a motor racing team based in the United Kingdom. It currently competes in five championships: FIA Formula 2 Championship, FIA Formula 3 Championship, F4 British Championship, BRDC British Formula 3 and E ...

in the

Formula 3 Euro Series The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The ...

season finale at

Hockenheim Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" () and Bertha Benz M ...

, finishing on the podium in the second race.

GP3 Series

Bortolotti's next move was to the newly created

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 the ...

. He drove in the 2010 season for

Addax Team Addax, or Barwa Addax was a Spanish motorsport team owned by the bank Addax Capital, which competed in the GP2, GP3 and GP2 Asia Series. Team history GP2 Series Barwa Addax was formed as a result of Alejandro Agag purchase of the Campos Rac ...

alongside teammates

Felipe Guimarães Felipe "Lopes" Guimarães (born March 22, 1991, in Anápolis, Goiás) is a Brazilian racing driver. After a childhood in karting, Guimarães transitioned to the extremely competitive Formula Three Sudamericana series at the age of 16 and finishe ...

and

Pablo Sánchez López Pablo is a Spanish form of the name Paul. People * Pablo Alborán, Spanish singer *Pablo Aimar, Argentine footballer *Pablo Armero, Colombian footballer * Pablo Bartholomew, Indian photojournalist *Pablo Brandán, Argentine footballer * Pablo Bren ...

and managed some good results, finishing 11th and getting a podium in his final race.

Return to FIA Formula Two Championship

Bortolotti decided to return to FIA Formula Two Championship for

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. His season began well as he took the lead in the championship after the first round. He lost it to

Christopher Zanella Christopher Zanella (born 21 October 1989) is a Swiss former racing driver. Career Formula Renault 2.0 Switzerland Zanella, born in Waldshut-Tiengen, began competing in formula racing with Formula Renault 2.0 Switzerland in 2007. In 2008 he w ...

, later regaining the lead at the third round. He dominated the fourth round of the season at the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...

, taking pole position, victory and the fastest lap in both races. He led the rest of the season, and eventually won the championship by 100 points over Zanella.

Formula One

As a reward for their performances in the 2008 Italian F3 championship, Bortolotti,

Edoardo Piscopo Edoardo Piscopo (born 4 February 1988) is an Italian racing driver. Career Formula BMW After previously competing in karting, Piscopo began his single seater career in Formula BMW USA in 2005, where despite missing the first rounds he fini ...

and Salvatore Cicatelli were all given a test of the

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

team's F2008 chassis at the

Fiorano Circuit The Fiorano Circuit () is a private racetrack owned by Ferrari for development and testing purposes. It is located in Fiorano Modenese, near the Italian town of Maranello. The circuit has FIA Grade 1 license. Work begun in 1971 and officially ...

in November 2008. Bortolotti impressed by setting a time of 59.111 seconds, quicker than the previous fastest lap set by the F2008 at the circuit by any driver. In , among several other drivers, Bortolotti was linked to a drive with

as a replacement for injured

Felipe Massa Felipe Massa (, born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver. He competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between 2002 and 2017, where he scored 11 Grand Prix victories, 41 podiums and finished as championship runner-up in 2008 by one poin ...

, after poor performances by

Luca Badoer Luca Badoer (born 25 January 1971) is an Italian former racing driver. Badoer has raced for the Scuderia Italia, Minardi, Forti and most recently, Ferrari teams. In addition to his racing duties, Badoer was one of the active test and reserve driv ...

. In , Bortolotti was selected by Williams to appear in their car at the 2011 young drivers test in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

GT Racing

The Italian has competed in various GT formats such as the

Blancpain GT Series GT World Challenge Europe (known as the Blancpain GT Series between 2014 and 2019) is a sports car racing series organised by SRO Motorsports Group. It features grand tourer racing cars modified from production road cars complying with the FIA's G ...

(Sprint and Endurance),

ADAC GT Masters The ADAC GT Masters is a grand tourer-based auto racing series founded by the international Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and supported by the German ADAC automotive club. Similar to an earlier ADAC GT Cup series in the 1990s, the new GT ...

, Italian GT, IMSA Wheatertech Sportscar Championship (Rolex 24h at Daytona, Mobile 1 12h of Sebring), 24h of Dubai, Total 24h of Spa as well as the FIA GT World Cup Macau. In 2017 Bortolotti has won the Endurance Cup of the Blancpain GT Series with

and won the overall driver championship with his team mate Christian Engelhart. From 2020, Bortolotti moved representative from Lamborghini to Audi. Now, he is racing R8 LMS GT3 EVO in the GT World Challenge Europe Series (former is Blancpain GT Series) Endurance Cup and ADAC GT Masters with WRT (Belgian Club W Racing Team ). In GT World Challenge Europe Series, he shares the car with Kelvin Vander Linde and Rolf Ineichen in Car #31. Car#30 with Rolf Ineichen in ADAC GT Masters respectively.

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

In September 2021, Bortolotti made his debut in the

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a grand touring car series sanctioned by ITR e.V. who have been affiliated to the DMSB-FIA since 1984. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The ser ...

as a guest driver for T3 Motorsport as the German team fielded a third Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo car in the sixth round of the 2021 DTM season at

Assen Assen () is a municipality and a city in the northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1809. Assen is known for TT Circuit Assen, the ...

. There, he finished second in the first race on Saturday and seventh in the second race on Sunday. In February 2022, Bortolotti earned a full-time seat for the 2022 DTM season with

as the Austrian team joined the series by fielding four Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo cars with factory-backing from the Italian manufacturer. In the

first round First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

of the 2022 DTM season at

Portimão Portimão () is a city and a municipality in the district of Faro, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 55,614, in an area of 182.06 km2. It was formerly known as Vila Nova de Portimão (). In 1924, it was ...

, Bortolotti finished third in both races. He qualified on pole position for the first race of the weekend and led 19 laps, but his car suffered a sudden loss of power after a safety-car period and he fell to sixth position with 10 laps to go, before recovering to fourth and eventually overtaking the Mercedes of

Maro Engel Maro René Engel (born 27 August 1985) is a German professional racing driver based in Monaco. He is a long-time Mercedes-AMG factory driver, FIA GT World Cup Champion, Nürburgring 24 hour winner, DTM race winner, Suzuka 10h winner, Macau GT ...

on the final lap for third, with Mercedes drivers

Lucas Auer Lucas Auer (born 11 September 1994) is an Austrian racing driver. He is the nephew of former Formula 1 driver Gerhard Berger. He currently drives for HTP Winward Motorsport in DTM. He was a member of the Red Bull Junior Team. Early career In ...

and

Luca Stolz Luca Stolz (born 29 July 1995) is a German racing driver who currently competes in the ADAC GT Masters and GT World Challenge Europe. Career Stolz began his racing career in 2007, competing in the Cadet class of the Belgian Karting Championship ...

finishing in front of him. In the first race of the

third round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

Imola Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical re ...

, Bortolotti scored his third podium finish of the season, recovering to third after starting from 16th due to a 10-place grid penalty for using a wrong set of tyres. After experiencing his first retirement of the season in the first race of the fourth round at the

Norisring The Norisring is a street circuit in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as a motorcycle racing venue in 1947 and named in a 1950 competition to win a light motorcycle, the track became known as a sports car racing venue in the 19 ...

, he finished second in the second race of the weekend and moved to the top of the drivers' standings with half the season completed.

Racing record

Career summary

^† As Bortolotti was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points
^* Season still in progress.

Complete FIA 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)

Complete Formula 3 Euro Series results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† As Bortolotti was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.

Complete GP3 Series results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† Bortolotti did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete Eurocup Mégane Trophy results

(

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

Complete Formula Acceleration 1 results

(

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

Complete GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup results

Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^* Season still in progress.

24 Hours of Daytona results

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ^† As Bortolotti was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score points.

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bortolotti, Mirko 1990 births Living people Sportspeople from Trento Italian racing drivers Italian Formula Renault 2.0 drivers Italian Formula Three Championship drivers FIA Formula Two Championship drivers Formula 3 Euro Series drivers GP3 Series drivers from Italy ADAC GT Masters drivers Eurocup Mégane Trophy drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers 24 Hours of Daytona drivers WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers 24H Series drivers Carlin racing drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers RP Motorsport drivers Lamborghini people Audi Sport drivers Emil Frey Racing drivers W Racing Team drivers Italian Formula Renault 1.6 drivers Nürburgring 24 Hours drivers FIA Motorsport Games drivers