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Minardi History

Saturday, January 28 2006 is an important date for motor racing. After the purchase of the Minardi F1 Team on the part of Red Bull, it seemed that the Minardi team was destined to disappear from the international scene, but fortunately it didn't happen, thanks to the intervention of GP Racing , wanting to preserve the wealth of experience accumulated over twenty years of Formula One.

The Minardi Team, born from the new partnership between Gian Carlo Minardi and GP Racing , is destined to compete in the new Euroseries, the continental championship born from the CSAI F.3000 Italian Trophy.

The cars of the new Minardi Team by GP Racing are the cars Lola B02/50, while the colours are those of the debut, yellow and dark blue, restoring the logo of the past, a gryphon holding a sword.

The targets of the new team are clear: stand out in the championship and launch young talents in the Formula One and in the highest categories of world motor racing.
Minardi F1 Team
The surroundings of the Hungaroring pit lane, in late August 2003, may have been a little unusual, but the method of celebration was traditional, involving the pouring of champagne, the cutting of an artistically decorated cake and the organising of a team photograph. That was how Minardi marked its 300th Grand Prix - another milestone in the history of the Faenza-based team, whose name has become synonymous during its years in Formula One with tenacity and opportunity.

Founded by Gian Carlo Minardi in 1979, with the aim of competing in the European Formula Two Championship, the Minardi Team made its Formula One debut in 1985. After spending its first few seasons in motorsport's top category acclimatising to the demands of Grand Prix racing, the team took its first World Championship point in 1988, with the 6th place of Pierluigi Martini in Detroit (USA), then in 1989, scoring in Great Britain (fifth and sixth places), Portugal (fifth) and Australia (sixth).

Minardi's best season to date was 1991, when its effective, Ferrari-powered chassis helped the team to claim seventh place in the final standings of the World Constructors' Championship. In 1992, Minardi switched from Ferrari power to the Lamborghini V12. A sixth-place finish at the Japanese Grand Prix provided the team with a point for its efforts during the season.

The 1993 car was designed under the supervision of experienced Austrian, Gustav Brunner, and the chassis proved to be highly effective, fourth place in South Africa, fifth in Monaco, and sixth at Donington and Imola propelling Minardi to eighth place in the Constructors' Championship.

During 1994 and 1995, Minardi entered into a joint-venture with Scuderia Italia. Unfortunately, a series of commercial difficulties jeopardised the team's future and, by the end of 1996, an alliance formed by Gabriele Rumi and Flavio Briatore acquired a majority stake in the company.

The 1998 season marked a turning point for Minardi. Briatore severing his ties with the company and his shareholding being acquired by Gabriele Rumi. The successful Italian businessman, who headed up the Fondmetal group of companies, thus became the majority shareholder in the team and embarked on an extensive restructuring and upgrading programme. As a result, Minardi was joined by new, highly skilled personnel on the technical side, with Gustav Brunner making a return to Faenza .

In 1999, the Minardi personnel line-up was further strengthened by the arrival of Cesare Fiorio as Team Manager and Sporting Director. As in 1998, the Faenza-based team was ranked 10th in the final World Championship standings, in this case, courtesy of a very valuable point scored at the European Grand Prix by F1 'rookie', Marc Gené. One of the most satisfying aspects of the 1999 season was the excellent reliability of the M01, which helped its drivers to 10 top-10 finishes.

The 2000 campaign marked Minardi's 16th year in Formula One, and although the team did not succeed in scoring any points during the course of the season, it retained its tenth-place ranking in the World Championship, finishing ahead of the notably better-funded Prost squad.

In 2005 the Minardi F1 Team was acquired by Red Bull and now, in 2006, the new Minardi Team by GP Racing is going to start a new adventure in Euroseris 3000.

GP Racing
GP Racing was founded in 1997 by Mauro Loro and Tancredi Pagiaro.

Their objective was clear: to become leaders. For this reason, they built a young but skilled team determined to stand out and to rise above the others.

After their entrance in Formula 3 in 1997, they debuted in the International FIA F3000 championship in 1998. The F3000 adventure lasted 2 years. Two years that allowed the team to gain significant experience and enviable technical knowledge.

Race after race the team became more united and motivated: GP Racing considers its engineers, technicians and mechanics as very important assets that need to be safeguarded. For this reason, the team who has a low turnover,guarantees stability and specific technical competence to the drivers.

2001 is the year that they participated in the newly founded Euro 3000 Series Championship. Right from the start, GP Racing was one of the leaders and finished the season in second place with Thomas Biagi.

2002 is once again a peak season: GP Racing is 4th out of the 14 teams that participated on the constructor's classification.

In 2003 for the third consecutive year, GP Racing is competing in Euro 3000 Series Championship with promising young talents behind the wheel: the Italian Fabrizio Del Monte,the Russian Roman Rusinov and the young Belgian Maxime Hodencq who will replace Rusinov for the last two races.

Once again, it was a positive season for the team: Del Monte is second in the driver's classification and GP Racing is in third place for the constructor's title.

In 2004, GP Racing confirmed its position at the top in Superfund Euro 3000 as well. The title slipped out of Del Monte's hands during the last race by one point only. The driver from Lazio , Italy conquered three wins, various podiums and was in the lead for 9 out of 10 races. A problem at the start of the last round took the joy of winning the much deserved title away from Fabrizio and GP Racing.

In 2005 GP Racing participated in the Italian F3000 Championship with the Lola BO2 driven by Fabrizio Del Monte and by the débuting Juan Caceres . The team also participated in the LMES Championship with the Promec (only one race in Monza ).Source: Minardi