Gianmaria Bruni


Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni is an Italian Porsche factory auto racing driver who drove in the 2004 Formula One World Championship for Minardi. He is a GP2 Series race winner and is now racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, in which he gained the 2013 and 2014 GT Drivers' Titles whilst driving as a factory Ferrari driver. He won the 2008 FIA GT Championship, 2011 Le Mans Series and 2012 International GT Open and took three class victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in 2008, 2012 and 2014. He also was successful at the 2009 and 2015 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, 2010 12 Hours of Sebring and 2011 Petit Le Mans.

Career

First wins in single-seaters

Born in Rome, at age ten Bruni lied about his age to the director of La Pista d'Oro, a Go kart track in Italy, in order to begin an amateur Karting career. His first experience with racing cars was in the Italian Formula Renault Campus in 1997; he won the Title in 1998. For the following season he moved on to the European Formula Renault Eurocup 2.0, taking another Title. Then he entered the British Formula 3, where he came fifth in 2000 and fourth in 2001. After he had raced in various similar European series like the Euro Formula 3000, finishing third in 2003, he caught the attention of Minardi.

Formula 1

Bruni started testing for Minardi in 2003. However the biggest struggle of his career was finding enough sponsorship to compete for them in Formula 1 in 2004.
In fact Bruni did join Minardi for the 2004 Formula 1 season, though he struggled in a car which was considerably less developed than the rest of the grid. He was one of only two drivers to contest the majority of the season without scoring any points.

GP2 Series

In 2005 Bruni competed in the GP2 Series, the single-seater Championship which is part of the Formula 1 support package and which is intended to be its feeder series. He won Race 1 at Barcelona and took second at Monaco driving for Coloni. The Italian left the Team in September before the Monza weekend. Joining up with Durango, he started on pole position at Spa-Francorchamps and finished tenth in the Drivers' Classification.
In 2006 Bruni competed again in the GP2 Series, this time with the new Trident Racing squad. He scored two victories, the first at Imola and the second at Hockenheim. At the end of the season he was seventh in the Drivers' Classification.

GT competitions

For 2007, he switched to the sportscar racing as he joined the FIA GT Championship with Team AF Corse MOTOROLA in a Ferrari 430 GT3. He and his teammate Stéphane Ortelli finished the season 2nd in the GT2 class with 3 wins.
After competing in the American Le Mans Series for Risi Competizione, Bruni shifted focus to Europe for 2011, teaming with Giancarlo Fisichella in an AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia, winning the driver's and team's championship in the LM GTE Pro class of the Le Mans Series and helping win the team's championship in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. Bruni finished 2nd at the Le Mans 24hrs and won the Petit Le Mans.
At the 2012 12 Hours of Sebring, Bruni disqualified his car by attempting to shunt off the BMW M3 GT of Joey Hand on the last lap to help the sister car of Olivier Beretta to win the overall grand touring classification, though the BMW was in a different class and the car would not have classified anyway because it did not make 70% of the race leader's distance.
In the 80th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2012, Bruni and the AF Corse Team scored first place in the GTE-Pro class along with his co-drivers Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella; their Ferrari 458 Italia covered a total of 336 laps of the Circuit de la Sarthe.
Bruni scored three wins and two second places at the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship, so he won the GTE-Pro teams trophy and the GTE drivers and manufacturers cups.
In February 2017, Ferrari and Gianmaria Bruni announce that, by mutual consent, they have early terminated their relationship.
After a collaboration started in 2007, Bruni will leave Ferrari at the end of June of this year.
Bruni signed a contract with Porsche Motorsport.
As a result of the contract termination settlement he sat out the first half of the 2017 racing season, making his Porsche debut in July at Watkins Glen. In 2018 he will race for Porsche in the WEC replacing Frédéric Makowiecki

Racing record

Complete Formula One results

YearEntrantChassisEngine123456789101112131415161718Pts
2003European Minardi CosworthMinardi PS03Cosworth CR-3 3.0 V10AUSMALBRASMRESPAUTMONCANEURFRAGBRGER
TD		HUN
TD		ITA
TD		USA
TD		JPN
TD		––
2004Minardi CosworthMinardi PS04BCosworth CR-3L 3.0 V10AUS
NC		MAL
14		BHR
17		SMR
Ret		ESP
Ret		MON
Ret		EUR
14		CAN
Ret		USA
Ret		FRA
18†		GBR
16		GER
17		HUN
14		BEL
Ret		ITA
Ret		CHN
Ret		JPN
16		BRA
17		25th0

† Did not finish the race, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Complete GP2 Series results

YearEntrant1234567891011121314151617181920212223DCPoints
2005Coloni MotorsportIMO
FEA
4		IMO
SPR
4		CAT
FEA
1		CAT
SPR
Ret		MON
FEA
2		NÜR
FEA
8		NÜR
SPR
Ret		MAG
FEA
18		MAG
SPR
11		SIL
FEA
7		SIL
SPR
11		HOC
FEA
NC		HOC
SPR
14		HUN
FEA
10		HUN
SPR
8		IST
FEA
Ret		IST
SPR
9		MNZ
FEA		MNZ
SPR		10th35
2005DurangoSPA
FEA
Ret		SPA
SPR
16		BHR
FEA
Ret		BHR
SPR
14		10th35
2006Trident RacingVAL
FEA
6		VAL
SPR
5		IMO
FEA
1		IMO
SPR
Ret		NÜR
FEA
Ret		NÜR
SPR
16		CAT
FEA
Ret		CAT
SPR
17		MON
FEA
Ret		SIL
FEA
Ret		SIL
SPR
15		MAG
FEA
Ret		MAG
SPR
Ret		HOC
FEA
1		HOC
SPR
6		HUN
FEA
Ret		HUN
SPR
8		IST
FEA
Ret		IST
SPR
15		MNZ
FEA
Ret		MNZ
SPR
9		7th33

Complete European Le Mans Series results

YearEntrantClassChassisEngine123456Pts
2007Virgo MotorsportGT2Ferrari F430GTFerrari 4.0 L V8MNZVALNÜRSPASIL
1		INT12th10
2008Virgo MotorsportGT2Ferrari F430GTFerrari 4.0 L V8CAT
1		MNZ
Ret		SPA
1		NÜR
1		SIL3rd30
2009JMW MotorsportGT2Ferrari F430 GT2Ferrari 4.0 L V8CAT
2		SPA
2		ALG
1		NÜR
9		SIL
1		2nd35
2010AF CorseGT2Ferrari F430 GT2Ferrari 4.0 L V8LEC
Ret		SPA
2		ALG
1		HUNSIL
1		4th50
2011AF CorseGTE ProFerrari 458 Italia GT2Ferrari 4.5 L V8LEC
2		SPA
1		IMO
2		SIL
1		EST
Ret		1st60
2012Pecom RacingLMP2Oreca 03Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8LEC
7		DONPET14th6
2018Proton CompetitionLMGTEPorsche 911 RSRPorsche 4.0 L Flat-6LECMNZ
5		RBRSILSPAALG12th10

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

YearEntrantClassCarEngine123456789RankPoints
2012AF CorseLMGTE ProFerrari 458 Italia GT2Ferrari 4.5L V8SEB
EX		SPA
2		LMS
1		SIL
1		SÃO
1		BHRFUJ
2		SHA
Ret		62nd3
2013AF CorseLMGTE ProFerrari 458 Italia GT2Ferrari 4.5L V8SIL
5		SPA
1		LMS
5		SÃO
1		COA
2		FUJ
2		SHA
4		BHR
1		1st145
2014AF CorseLMGTE ProFerrari 458 Italia GT2Ferrari 4.5 L V8SIL
4		SPA
1		LMS
1		COA
3		FUJ
1		SHA
Ret		BHR
1		SÃO
4		1st168
2015AF CorseLMGTE ProFerrari 458 Italia GT2Ferrari 4.5 L V8SIL
1		SPA
4		LMS
4		NÜR
14		COA
7		FUJ
1		SHA
2		BHR
2		2nd131.5
2016AF CorseLMGTE ProFerrari 488 GTEFerrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8SIL
2		SPA
Ret		LMS
Ret		NÜR
1		MEX
2		COA
2		FUJ
3		SHA
3		BHR
2		3rd128
2018–19Porsche GT TeamLMGTE ProPorsche 911 RSRPorsche 4.0 L Flat-6SPA
4		LMS
2		SIL
DSQ		FUJ
5		SHA
2		SEB
1		SPA
8		LMS
2		3rd131
2019–20Porsche GT TeamLMGTE ProPorsche 911 RSR-19Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6SIL
1		FUJ
6		SHA
3		BHR
5		COA
8		SPA
LMS
5th*69*

* Season still in progress.

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

YearTeamClassCarEngine1234567891011RankPoints
2014Risi CompetizioneGTLMFerrari 458 Italia GT2Ferrari F142 4.5 L V8DAY
11		SEB
11		LBHLGAWGLMOSIMSELKVIRCOAPET33rd42
2015AF CorseGTLMFerrari 458 Italia GT2Ferrari F142 4.5 L V8DAY
10		SEBLBHLGAWGLMOSLIMELKVIRCOAPET27th22
2016SMP RacingGTLMFerrari 488 GTEFerrari F154CB 3.9 L V8DAY
10		SEBLBHLGAWGLMOSLIMELKVIRCOAPET28th22
2017Porsche GT TeamGTLMPorsche 911 RSRPorsche 4.0 L Flat-6DAYSEBLBHCOAWGL
6		MOS
6		LIM
2		ELK
2		VIR
7		LGA
7		PET
5		10th186
2018Porsche GT TeamGTLMPorsche 911 RSRPorsche 4.0 L Flat-6DAY
6		SEB
3		LBHMDOWGLMOSLIMELKVIRLGAPET15th55