Gabriele Tarquini

Gabriele Tarquini (born 2nd March, 1962 Giulianova) is an Italian racing driver. He is considered by many as one of the finest touring car racers of his generation.

Racing Career
Tarquini raced in Formula One between 1987 and 1995, racing for a variety of teams including Osella, Coloni, First, AGS, Fondmetal and Tyrrell. Having raced for a large number of minnows in the era of pre-qualifying, Tarquini holds the record for most failures to pre-qualify at 25.

In 2001, Tarquini raced for the works Honda team in the British Touring Car Championship running under the Redstone Honda Racing banner. Tarquini campaigned a Honda Civic Type-R alongside Will Hoy and was only able to manage a single win on his way to fourth in the championship.

In 2002, Tarquini was joined by Matt Neal at the Honda team. The car was much more competitive in 2002, being able to battle with the Vauxhall drivers - Tarquini managing to get a win at the opening round of the season. Tarquini won four races over the course of 2002, which would be enough for third overall in the championship.

Tarquini opted to leave the BTCC in 2003 - moving to the European Touring Car Championship to lead the Alfa Romeo team.