Marco Apicella

Marco Apicella Born 7 October 1965 (1965-10-07) (age 46) Formula One World Championship career Nationality Italian Active years 1993 Teams Jordan Races 1 Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Career points 0 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First race 1993 Italian Grand Prix Last race 1993 Italian Grand Prix

24 Hours of Le Mans career Participating years 1995, 1999, 2006-2007, 2009 Teams SARD Co. Ltd., Riley & Scott Europe, JLOC Isao Noritake Best finish 14 (1995) Class wins 0

Marco Apicella (born October 7, 1965 near Bologna) is an Italian racing driver. He competed in only one Formula One Grand Prix for the Jordan team in the 1993 Italian Grand Prix. He was involved in a crash at the first corner and holds the record for shortest race distance covered in a Formula One career (800 meters).^[1]

Career

International Formula 3000

Apicella's first season in International Formula 3000, 1987, was uncompetitive in the EuroVenturini Dallara car, only scoring one point thanks to a fifth place at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.^[2] During the same year, he tested the Minardi Formula One car at the Autódromo do Estoril circuit.^[3] Apicella moved to the FIRST team for the 1988 season and was a title favourite for the season. The team underperformed, but in 1989, again with FIRST, Apicella achieved several podium finishes on his way to finishing fourth overall in the Drivers' Championship. Apicella looked like a championship contender for the 1990 season and continued with the FIRST team, but his performances worsened as the season progressed, ending with a disqualification in the Brands Hatch round.^[4] Despite a poor 1990 season, Apicella had the chance to test drive with the Modena and Minardi teams. Late in the year, he went to Japan and did some tests for Bridgestone in a Reynard-Mugen Formula One prototype car.^[3] Apicella chose to change teams for the 1991 season, moving to Paul Stewart Racing, teaming up with Stewart himself. He was classified fifth overall at the end of the season.^[3]

Japanese Formula 3000 (1992–1993)

With no offers for a drive in International F3000 for 1992, Apicella went to Japan to drive in the Japanese Formula 3000 series, setting up a relationship with the Dome team. Apicella, driving the Dome F103 won the fifth round of the championship that year. He continued to improve, finishing fourth in the 1993 season, winning at the Sugo race circuit.^[2]

Formula One

Apicella's good performances in Japan during 1992 and early-1993 gifted him a drive at the Jordan Formula One team for his home race in the 1993 season, with team boss Eddie Jordan wanting to try out up-and-coming Formula 3000 drivers.^[5] He qualified in 23rd position, but retired on the first corner of the first lap of the race after a multi-car collision.^[3] He was replaced by Emanuele Naspetti for the following round in Portugal.^[5] As a result of this, he is sometimes considered to have had the shortest Formula 1 career out of any driver.^[6]

Japanese Formula 3000/Formula Nippon (1994–1996)

For 1994, Apicella continued with Dome in Japanese Formula 3000, winning at the Mine, Suzuka and Fuji circuits on his way to winning the title. He continued in Japanese F3000 for 1995 and 1996 (the series being renamed Formula Nippon for 1996), this time with Team 5Zigen, but his activities were limited, as he chose to do other motor sport activities such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.^[2]

Apicella was appointed Chief Test Driver with Dome for 1996, testing the Dome F105 car alongside Shinji Nakano and Katsumi Yamamoto from April to June 1996 at the Suzuka Circuit.^[2][7] The aim was for the car to produce a base for them to mount a challenge into Formula One, but the project was shelved after the car was substantially damaged in an accident.^[2]

Apicella's last season in the Formula Nippon series was in 1997, driving for the Stellar International team. His best result for the team was a fourth place at the Mine circuit.^[2]

Other series (1999-present)

Apicella moved back to Italy for 1999, competing in the Italian Formula 3000 championship. He scored two wins during the season on his way to third place in the championship. Apicella also tried to qualify for the Spa round of the International Formula 3000 championship in 1999 for Monaco Motorsport, but failed to do so due to adverse weather conditions. Apicella has since gone back to Japan, to compete in touring cars with the All Japan GT Championship.^[2]

Apicella has also competed in several 24 Hours of Le Mans races. He was scheduled to compete in the 2007 event with the JLOC Isao Noritake team, but on the first day of practice he was involved in an accident on the Mulsanne straight, which heavily damaged his Lamborghini Murciélago car.^[8] Apicella is competing in the 2009 event again with the JLOC team.^[9]

Racing record

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
1987	EuroVenturini	SIL 15	VAL Ret	SPA 5	PAU Ret	DON 7	PER Ret	BRH DNQ	BIR 13	IMO 13	BUG 15	JAR 7	19th	1
1988	First Racing	JER 13	VAL 7	PAU 5	SIL 6	MNZ 2	PER Ret	BRH Ret	BIR Ret	BUG Ret	ZOL Ret	DIJ Ret	11th	9
1989	First Racing	SIL 8	VAL Ret	PAU 2	JER 3	PER 4	BRH Ret	BIR 2	SPA 3	BUG Ret	DIJ Ret		4th	23
1990	First Racing	DON 13	SIL 3	PAU Ret	JER 2	MNZ 5	PER Ret	HOC 2	BRH DSQ	BIR Ret	BUG Ret	NOG 5	6th	20
1991	Paul Stewart Racing	VAL Ret	PAU 4	JER Ret	MUG 2	PER 2	HOC Ret	BRH 4	SPA Ret	BUG Ret	NOG 11		5th	18
1999	Monaco Motorsport	IMO	MON	CAT	MAG	SIL	A1R	HOC	HUN	SPA DNQ	NÜR		NC	0

Complete Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1993	Sasol Jordan	Jordan 193	Hart V10	RSA	BRA	EUR	SMR	ESP	MON	CAN	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA Ret	POR	JPN	AUS	NC	0

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Result	Team	Car	Class
1995	14	SARD Co. Ltd.	Toyota Supra LM	GT1
1999	Ret	Riley & Scott Europe	Riley & Scott Mk III/2	LMP
2006	NC	JLOC Isao Noritake	Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT	GT1
2007	Ret	JLOC Isao Noritake	Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT	GT1
2009	Ret	JLOC Isao Noritake	Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT	GT1

External links

• Official website

References

1. ^ "Courses for horses, winners and steering wheels". ESPN. 18 February 2010. http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/8894.html. Retrieved 23 November 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Nyberg, Rainer. "A stillborn GP project from Japan". 8W. Forix / Autosport. http://8w.forix.com/dome.html. Retrieved 2009-03-01. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} "Drivers: Marco Apicella". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1. http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/drv-apimar.html. Retrieved 2009-02-28. 
4. ^ Diepraam, Mattijs (August 2000). "From zero to FIRST". 8W. Forix / Autosport. http://8w.forix.com/leoni.html. Retrieved 2009-03-01. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Diepraam, Mattijs (May 1998). "Marco Apicella's few yards as a Grand Prix driver". 8W. Forix / Autosport. http://8w.forix.com/i93.html. Retrieved 2009-02-28. 
6. ^ Marco Apicella, F1 rejects, 8 August 2001.
7. ^ "Dome to launch next week". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1. 1996-03-11. http://grandprix.com/ns/ns00517.html. Retrieved 2009-03-01. 
8. ^ Freeman, Glenn (2007-06-13). "Audi's Biela fastest in qualifying 1". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/59741. Retrieved 2009-03-01. 
9. ^ "List of the Competitors and Cars Invited to the Administrative Checking & Scrutineering" (PDF). Automobile Club de l'Ouest. 2009-06-09. http://www.lemans.org/24heuresdumans/ressources/pdf/liste_invites.pdf. Retrieved 2009-06-09. ^{[dead link]}

Sporting positions
Preceded by Kazuyoshi Hoshino	Japanese Formula 3000 Champion 1994	Succeeded by Toshio Suzuki

Persondata
Name	Apicella, Marco
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1965-10-07
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death