Alex Caffi - WikiHQ

Alessandro Giuseppe "Alex" Caffi (born 18 March 1964) is an Italian racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to .

Caffi participated in 75 Grands Prix, debuting on 7 September 1986. In 2006, he raced in the inaugural season of the Grand Prix Masters formula for retired Formula One drivers. He currently serves as the team owner of Academy Motorsport in the NASCAR Euro Series, and acted as an owner-driver whilst it operated as Alex Caffi Motorsport.

Early life

Alessandro Giuseppe Caffi was born on 18 March 1964 in Rovato, Brescia, Northern Italy. He spent three years in Italian Formula Three from 1984 to 1986, finishing runner-up in 1984 and 1985, then third in 1986. In 1985 he was also the winner of the FIA European Formula 3 Cup.

Formula One career

1980s

;1986

Caffi was handed his Formula One debut by Osella, at his, and the team's home race, the Italian Grand Prix, in place of Canadian Allen Berg. Qualifying 27th and last in his FA1H (because of a quirk where for this race, and the following one in Portugal, 27 cars were allowed to start) Caffi drove sensibly and steadily to stay out of trouble and come home last of the runners, albeit six laps down and unclassified.

;1987

Osella were impressed by caffi's sensible approach, and signed him for a full season in 1987. The Alfa Romeo-powered FA1I was uncompetitive and unreliable; Caffi finished no races out of 16 and failed to qualify twice, though he was classified once.

;1988

1988 saw Caffi switch to the new Scuderia Italia team. Not surprisingly, Caffi failed to pre-qualify. As with the previous year, Caffi failed to pre-qualify for the opening round in Brazil,

Injury caused by a pre-season cycling accident forced Caffi to sit out the opening race in the United States, with German Bernd Schneider filling the gap. Retirement in Brazil and failure to qualify in San Marino and the resulting foot injuries ruled Caffi out of the next race, Spain, with Schneider once again deputising.

Another positive performance of ninth in Japan was cancelled out by failure to qualify for the final round in Australia.

For the first time in his Formula One career, Caffi failed to qualify for any of the opening four races; in the United States, Brazil, San Marino, and Monaco. and when Caffi returned to fitness, he discovered the team were trying to keep the Swede on. He managed to regain his seat via a legal injunction, but the struggles re-commenced with failure to qualify in Belgium compounded by pre-qualification failures in Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and Spain. and Caffi was, rather abruptly, shown the door. With little time to find a drive, and most seats taken, he had no option but to sign for the new Andrea Moda team,

However, registration problems with the FIA (involving Sassetti's refusal to pay the $100,000 entrance fee for new teams) meant that Caffi managed no more than a few exploratory laps at the South African Grand Prix, the opening round of 1992. The team took part in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series under the Alex Caffi Motorsport guise for five seasons before it was rebranded to Academy Motorsport in 2021 after entrepreneur Federico Monti became the co-owner of the team. Academy continues to compete in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series to this day,

When Caffi is not racing, he is an instructor at the official Subaru Italia safety driving and racing school.

Complete Campeonato de España de Turismos

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

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"

! Year

! Team

! Car

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! 12

! 13

! 14

! 15

! 16

! 17

! 18

! 19

! 20

! Pts

| 1995

! Opel Team Espaňa

! Opel Vectra GT

| style="background:#dfffdf;" |JER 1

| style="background:#EFCFFF;" |JER 2

| style="background:#dfffdf;" |JAR 1

| style="background:#dfffdf;" |JAR 2

| style="background:#ffffbf;" |BAR 1

| style="background:#ffdf9f;" |BAR 2

| style="background:#dfffdf;" |EST 1

| style="background:#EFCFFF;" |EST 2

| style="background:#ffdf9f;" |ALB 1

| style="background:#EFCFFF;" |ALB 2

| style="background:#EFCFFF;" |CAL 1

| style="background:#dfffdf;" |CAL 2

| style="background:#dfffdf;" |ALB 1

| style="background:#dfffdf;" |ALB 2

| style="background:#dfffdf;" |JER 1

| style="background:#EFCFFF;" |JER 2

| style="background:#ffdf9f;" |BAR 1

| style="background:#dfffdf;" |BAR 2

| style="background:#EFCFFF;" |JAR 1

| style="background:#EFCFFF;" |JAR 2

! style="background:#dfffdf;" |8th

! style="background:#dfffdf;" |123

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"

! Year

! Team

! Co-Drivers

! Car

! Class

! Laps

|align="left" nowrap| Courage Compétition

|align="left" nowrap| Andrea Montermini Domenico Schiattarella

|align="left" nowrap| Courage C52-Nissan

| LMP

| 342

| 6th

| 5th

|align="left" nowrap| Seikel Motorsport

|align="left" nowrap| Gabrio Rosa Peter van Merksteijn Sr.

|align="left" nowrap| Porsche 911 GT3-RS

| GT

| 148

| DNF

|align="left" nowrap| Spyker Squadron b.v.

|align="left" nowrap| Andrea Belicchi Andrea Chiesa

|align="left" nowrap| Spyker C8 Spyder GT2-R

| GT2

| 145

| DNF

! colspan="8" |

Complete Grand Prix Masters results

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

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:85%"

! Year

! Team

! Chassis

! Engine

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

| 2006

! nowrap| Team Altech

! nowrap| Delta Motorsport GPM

! nowrap| Nicholson McLaren 3.5 V8

| QAT

|style="background:#ffffff;"| ITA

|style="background:#cfcfff;"| GBR

|style="background:#ffffff;"| MAL

|style="background:#ffffff;"| RSA

! colspan="9" |