Giacomo Ricci


Giacomo Ricci is an Italian racing driver.

Career

Formula BMW

Ricci began his car racing career by driving in the German-based Formula BMW ADAC series in 2001 and 2002, with a best finish of seventh in the drivers' championship.

Formula Renault

Ricci also competed in one race of the Italian Formula Renault Championship in 2001, and competed in rounds of the two-litre German series and the European Cup in 2002. For 2003 he made a step down to the smaller engine category of the Spanish Formula Junior 1600 series, finishing fourth in the championship. He also drove in one race of the North American-based FRenault series during the year. In 2004 he drove in eight races of the World Series by Nissan.

Formula 3000

From 2004 to 2007, Ricci drove in the F3000 series variously known as Euro Formula 3000, Italian Formula 3000 and the Euroseries 3000. After initially scoring no points from four races in 2004, he improved to third place in the standings in 2005. In 2006, driving for the Fisichella Motorsport team, he won the championship with five wins and thirteen podium finishes. For 2007 he only competed in selected rounds and finished fifth in the championship, opting to focus his intentions on North American-based motor racing that year.

Champ Car Atlantic

Ricci duly drove in Champ Car Atlantic in 2007 for the Conquest Racing team. He finished in sixth place in the championship, despite not scoring any wins or podium finishes. He was the third-highest ranked rookie of 2007, behind Franck Perera and Robert Wickens.

GP2 Series

Ricci received his GP2 Series call-up in 2008 to replace the injured Michael Herck in the David Price Racing team for the first few rounds of the championship, because the Belgian-Romanian driver had broken his wrist in the preceding GP2 Asia Series. His team-mate was Brazilian Diego Nunes. He was replaced by Andy Soucek after the first two rounds of the championship as Herck continued to recover.
Ricci then competed in the first round of the 2008–09 GP2 Asia Series season for the Trident Racing team. He was then replaced by Alberto Valerio, so he moved back to DPR for the second round onwards, where he in turn replaced Yuhi Sekiguchi.
Ricci continued with DPR into the 2009 GP2 Series season, teaming up with Herck this time, as he did in the Asia Series. Ricci struggled with reliability, finishing only three of the seven races he started and was replaced for the Nürburgring rounds by ex-IndyCar Series racer Franck Perera.
Ricci returned for the 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series season and after a double retirement at the first Abu Dhabi round, Ricci scored his first ever GP2 points in either the main series or the Asia Series, after finishing fifth in the second Abu Dhabi feature race. He added his first podium the following day, finishing third behind team-mate Herck and race-winner Davide Valsecchi during the sprint race. His first victory came in the final race of the season, leading from lights-to-flag in Bahrain. With this result, he sealed third place in the championship both for himself, and his team.
Ricci remained with DPR for the 2010 main series, and scored his first points finish with second place in the first race of the season. He then endured an eleven-race, non-scoring streak, but a stronger weekend in Hungary culminated in his maiden main series win in the sprint race. However, he was replaced by compatriot Fabrizio Crestani thereafter. He still finished in thirteenth place in the drivers' championship despite missing the final six races on the calendar.
After spending most of 2011 without a drive, Ricci returned to the GP2 Series for the non-championship races in Abu Dhabi that concluded the season. Driving for Super Nova Racing alongside compatriot Fabio Onidi, he finished 11th and 23rd in the two races.

International GT Open

Ricci also competed in the GTA and GTS classes of the International GT Open championship in 2008.

Auto GP

The withdrawal of the Super Nova team from the GP2 Series hampered Ricci's hopes to remain in the category, so for 2012 he returned to the Euroseries 3000 to compete in selected events for the Austrian Zele Racing team.

Racing record

Career summary

Complete Euro Formula 3000/Italian Formula 3000/Euroseries 3000/Auto GP World Series results

YearEntrant123456789101112131415161718DCPoints
2004Power TechBRN
10
EST
7
JER
Ret
MNZ
8
SPADONDIJZOLNÜR1NÜR214th0
2005Team AstromegaADR
Ret
VAL
3
BRN
2
IMO
9
MUG
3
MAG
7
MNZ
5
MIS
3
3rd33
2006FMS InternationalADR
1
5
ADR
2

1
IMO
1

1
IMO
2

1
SPA
1
2
SPA
2
1
HUN
1

2
HUN
2

4
MUG
1
3
MUG
2

3
SIL
1
3
SIL
2

11
CAT
1
2
CAT
2
Ret
VAL
1
5
VAL
2
3
MIS
1

1
MIS
2
2
1st106
2007ELK MotorsportVAL
1
VAL
2
HUN
1
HUN
2
SIL
1
SIL
2
MUG
1
MUG
2
NÜR
1
NÜR
2
SPA
1
1
SPA
2
Ret
MNZ
1

2
MNZ
2
2
CAT
1

3
CAT
2

1
5th37
2010RP MotorsportBRN
1
BRN
2
IMO
1
IMO
2
SPA
1
SPA
2
MAG
1
MAG
2
NAV
1
6
NAV
2
2
MNZ
1
MNZ
2
12th8
2012Zele RacingMNZ
1
6
MNZ
2
14
VAL
1
VAL
2
MAR
1
5
MAR
2
3
HUN
1
HUN
2
ALG
1
ALG
2
CUR
1
CUR
2
11th40
2012Team MLR71SON
1
5
SON
2
11†
11th40
2013Team MLR71MNZ
1
Ret
MNZ
2
12
MAR
1
MAR
2
HUN
1
HUN
2
SIL
1
SIL
2
MUG
1
MUG
2
NÜR
1
NÜR
2
DON
1
DON
2
BRN
1
BRN
2
24th0

Complete GP2 Series results

YearEntrant1234567891011121314151617181920DCPoints
2008David Price RacingCAT
FEA
16
CAT
SPR
Ret
IST
FEA
Ret
IST
SPR
11
MON
FEA
MON
SPR
MAG
FEA
MAG
SPR
SIL
FEA
SIL
SPR
HOC
FEA
HOC
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
VAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
31st0
2009David Price RacingCAT
FEA
Ret
CAT
SPR
15
MON
FEA
14
MON
SPR
Ret
IST
FEA
Ret
IST
SPR
Ret
SIL
FEA
17
SIL
SPR
DNS
NÜR
FEA
NÜR
SPR
HUN
FEA
HUN
SPR
VAL
FEA
VAL
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
ALG
FEA
ALG
SPR
27th0
2010David Price RacingCAT
FEA
2
CAT
SPR
8
MON
FEA
17
MON
SPR
Ret
IST
FEA
Ret
IST
SPR
17
VAL
FEA
Ret
VAL
SPR
Ret
SIL
FEA
13
SIL
SPR
12
HOC
FEA
16
HOC
SPR
11
HUN
FEA
8
HUN
SPR

1
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
YMC
FEA
YMC
SPR
13th16

Complete GP2 Asia Series results

YearEntrant123456789101112DCPoints
2008–09Trident RacingSHI
FEA
13
SHI
SPR
Ret
27th0
2008–09David Price RacingDUB
FEA
13
DUB
SPR
C
BHR1
FEA
Ret
BHR1
SPR
16
LSL
FEA
Ret
LSL
SPR
13
SEP
FEA
16
SEP
SPR
15
BHR2
FEA
11
BHR2
SPR
10
27th0
2009–10David Price RacingYMC1
FEA
Ret
YMC1
SPR
Ret
YMC2
FEA
5
YMC2
SPR
3
BHR1
FEA
4
BHR1
SPR

2
BHR2
FEA
5
BHR2
SPR
1
3rd29