Stefano Modena

Stefano Modena (born 12 May 1963) is an Italian former racing driver who competed in Formula One from to .

Born and raised in Modena, Modena began his career in kart racing. After winning the junior World Cup in 1978, as well as back-to-back senior European Championships in 1983 and 1984, Modena progressed to Italian Formula Three in 1985. Following several race victories the next season—and taking pole position at the Macau Grand Prix—Modena moved to International Formula 3000 in 1987, winning the championship in his debut season.

Modena participated in 81 Formula One Grands Prix for Brabham, EuroBrun, Tyrrell, Jordan, debuting at the 1987 Australian Grand Prix. He achieved two podiums and 17 championship points across six seasons.

|==Career==

Modena was born on 12 May 1963 in Modena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. A former 125cc Junior Karting Champion in Italy, he spent two seasons in the Italian Formula Ford national series before joining Euroracing in his domestic Formula 3 series in 1985, placing 15th in an Alfa Romeo engined Ralt. For 1986, he switched to Team Seresina's Reynard chassis and scored three wins to finish fourth overall, also placing second at the Monaco support race and winning a round of the European series at Imola. In 1987, he joined Onyx for the Formula 3000 series, winning three rounds and being crowned as champion.

Modena finally got his big break in 1991 when he was signed as replacement for Ferrari-bound Tyrrell team leader Jean Alesi. With a healthy group of sponsors, 1990 spec Honda engines, Pirelli tyres and a development of the successful 020 chassis much was expected of the combination, with some predicting race wins. While his season started off with fourth place at Phoenix many of the front runners had retired without Modena getting near them. The wet conditions at Imola saw similar attrition allowing Modena to reach 3rd place before transmission failure. The following race at Monaco saw an even better performance as he qualified on the front row alongside his friend and World Champion Ayrton Senna, harrying the McLaren driver until being held up in traffic and suffering a violent engine failure. A steadier run in Canada was rewarded with second place after Nigel Mansell retired on the final lap. After that, Modena's form dropped off badly as Pirelli struggled to develop a consistent race tyre while the heavy Honda engines made the 020 chassis (originally designed for the Cosworth DFR V8) difficult to balance. While Modena continued to qualify frequently in the top half of the grid he struggled in races, only scoring one more point for sixth place at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The season was considered a huge disappointment, and Modena left Tyrrell for Jordan the following season. The team had made a strong debut in 1991 and many considered Modena was lucky to land a drive with them. However, their car was hindered by the underpowered Yamaha V12 engine and Modena struggled all season. He failed to qualify for four races and became unpopular with his team for his lack of mechanical sympathy and moody behaviour compared to teammate Maurício Gugelmin. This was confirmed by Gary Anderson, who had designed the 1992 car. Anderson said of Modena that the failures to qualify took his motivation away from him, and, due to his temper, he accumulated disappointments without being able to get over them. Despite scoring the team's only point of the year at the final round in Australia he was unable to find a drive in Grand Prix racing for 1993.

Modena drove instead for Alfa Romeo in the Italian and German touring categories from 1993 to 1999, winning occasional races but never looking like a serious contender for the title. After a year with Opel in 2000, he retired from motorsport.

Complete International Formula 3000 results

(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

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

! Year

! Entrant

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! Pts

| 1987

! nowrap| Onyx Racing

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| SIL

|style="background:#FFFFBF;"| VAL

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| SPA

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| PAU

|style="background:#DFDFDF;"| DON

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| PER

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BRH

|style="background:#FFFFBF;"| BIR

|style="background:#FFFFBF;"| IMO

|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| BUG

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| JAR

|style="background:#FFFFBF;"| 1st

|style="background:#FFFFBF;"| 40

!colspan="15"|

Complete Italian Superturismo Championship results

{| 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

! DC

! Pts

| 1993

! nowrap| Euroteam

! nowrap| BMW 318i

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

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

|style="background:#efcfff;"| VAL 1

|style="background:#efcfff;"| VAL 2

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

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

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MAG 1

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MAG 2

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

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

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

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| IMO 2

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

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

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

|style="background:#efcfff;"| MIS 2

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

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

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"|MUG 1

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

!style="background:#dfffdf;"| 12th

!style="background:#dfffdf;"| 45

| 1994

! nowrap| Euroteam

! nowrap| Alfa Romeo 155 TS

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| MNZ 1

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| MNZ 2

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

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| VAL 2

|style="background:#efcfff;"| MAG 1

| MAG 2

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| BIN 1

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| BIN 2

|style="background:#efcfff;"| MIS 1

| MIS 2

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

|style="background:#dfdfdf;"| VAL 2

|style="background:#dfdfdf;"| MUG 1

|style="background:#ffffbf;"| MUG 2

| PER 1

| PER 2

| VAR 1

| VAR 2

|style="background:#efcfff;"| MUG 1

|style="background:#DFFFDF;"| MUG 2

!style="background:#dfffdf;"| 6th

!style="background:#dfffdf;"| 116

Complete Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft/Masters results

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

{| class="wikitable" border="1" 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

! 21

! 22

! 23

! 24

! Pts

| 1994

! nowrap| Alfa Corse

! nowrap| Alfa Romeo 155 V6 Ti

| ZOL 1

| ZOL 2

| HOC 1

| HOC 2

| NÜR 1

| NÜR 2

| MUG 1

| MUG 2

| NÜR 1

| NÜR 2

| NOR 1

| NOR 2

| DON 1

| DON 2

| DIE 1

| DIE 2

| NÜR 1

| NÜR 2

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

|style="background:#ffffbf;"| AVU 2

|style="background:#dfdfdf;"| ALE 1

|style="background:#dfdfdf;"| ALE 2

|style="background:#efcfff;"| HOC 1

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

! 12th

! 74

| 1995

! nowrap| Euroteam

! nowrap| Alfa Romeo 155 V6 Ti

|style="background:#efcfff;"| HOC 1

|style="background:#ffffff;"| HOC 2

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

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| AVU 2

|style="background:#dfffdf;"| NOR 1

|style="background:#dfffdf;"| NOR 2

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| DIE 1

|style="background:#efcfff;"| DIE 2

|style="background:#efcfff;"| NÜR 1

|style="background:#ffffff;"| NÜR 2

|style="background:#efcfff;"| ALE 1

|style="background:#ffffff;"| ALE 2

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| HOC 1

|style="background:#efcfff;"| HOC 2

|colspan=10|

! 16th

! 26

| 2000

! nowrap| Euroteam

! nowrap| Opel Astra V8 Coupé DTM 2000

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| HOC 1

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

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| OSC 1

|style="background:#efcfff;"| OSC 2

|style="background:#dfffdf;"| NOR 1

|style="background:#dfffdf;"| NOR 2

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| SAC 1

|style="background:#efcfff;"| SAC 2

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| NÜR 1

|style="background:#CFCFFF;"| NÜR 2

|style="background:#FFFFFF;"| LAU 1

|style="background:#FFFFFF;"| LAU 2

|style="background:#efcfff;"| OSC 1

|style="background:#FFFFFF;"| OSC 2

|style="background:#efcfff;"| NÜR 1

|style="background:#FFFFFF;"| NÜR 2

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

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

|colspan=6|

! 15th

! 15

!colspan="29"|