Editorial
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Gianmaria Bruni: my story, from karting to Ferrari and Porsche GT
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In elementary school, we know it happens that we imitate our classmates like the nicest schoolbag, the most colorful pencil case and then the kart… What? The kart, indeed! This is what happened to Gianmaria Bruni. He heard a classmate talking about his kart and he convinced his dad, who until then was not a motorsports enthusiast, to buy him one too and to take him on the Pista d’Oro in Rome to drive his first laps.
His laps were driven very well, so much so that young Gianmaria does not want to leave karting anymore and now wants to try to compete in a real race as soon as possible. Maybe one that you must be at least 12 years old. How to do it? A little tweak to the documents enabling him to race and thanks to an appearance that makes him look a few years older, the game is done.
Then it happened – he says – that at the second Junior Championship I raced in Genk, in Belgium, they caught me and disqualified me for a few months. With the consequence that even when I reached the right age, they did not want to admit me to the races, then my dad sent a letter to Buser [then President of CIK-FIA. Editor’s note] with my school report to prove my actual age”.
Ok The story, perhaps it is not exactly educational, but entertaining. How does it continue?
“It continues with the fact that I had a lot of fun in karting, even though as an official driver I had a brief experience with Tony Kart in a European Championship test in 1996, in the end, I never achieved the great results I wanted. Soon I switched to cars, although it may seem strange, I felt immediately at ease. I was 15 years old and I had the opportunity to participate in the courses that Henry Morrogh held for younger drivers in Magione (Perugia). To tell the truth, the minimum age was 16 [it is a vice then! Editor’s note], but on that occasion a letter from my father was enough and I was admitted. As I said, I felt comfortable right away and not wanting my dad to spend more money for me to continue racing in karting, I preferred to limit myself to cars, although there were no immediate prospects and I only did some tests with Formula Campus. The opportunity came when I learned that the Rombo team was looking for a driver for the Formula Renault Campus, a Championship that I won in 1998 earning the transition to Formula Renault Europe with JD Motorsports. I won that Championship as well and the following year I raced in the British Formula 3. It was a difficult Championship, hard fought and with really strong drivers. I defended myself well and finished 5th in 2000 and 4th in 2001, even managing to win a race. Beyond the results, though, the experience in England helped to mold me into both a man and as a driver”.
Born in Rome in 1981, he started his career in karting without achieving the results he wanted. After racing in F1 for the Minardi F1 Team, he competed in the GT categories where he wrote the most beautiful pages of a powerful and successful career.
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