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Profile
DOB: July 20, 1962
Birthplace: Rome, Italy
Giovanna Amati (Italian pronunciation:
[d?o'vanna ?.m?.ti]) (born 20 July 1962 in
Rome) is a former professional race car driver from
Italy. She is best known as the last female driver
to have entered the Formula One World
Championship.
Brought up in a wealthy background, Amati was
kidnapped in 1978 before being released on a 800
million lira ransom. She started her racing career
in Formula Abarth series before moving up into
Formula Three for 1985-86. An entry into F3000 in
1987 brought little success but the following year,
Amati improved her performances. She moved to Japan
for 1989 and had no success. A move back to Europe
in 1990 saw better performances that continued into
1991. In 1992, Amati became the fifth woman Formula
One driver when she signed for the Brabham
team.
Amati was born on July 20, 1962 to actress Anna
Maria Pancani and industralist film owner Giovanni
Amati who were both wealthy. Amati had a colourful
childhood. She had brought a Honda motorcycle when
she was 15, managing to hide it from her parents
for two years. She had been kidnapped for ransom on
12 February 1978 by three gangsters in a group led
by Jean Daniel Nieto who had allegedly raped her
and then romanced. Amati had been taken out of a
car she was sitting in near her parent's villa and
was taken away in a van. Her captors took her into
a house located near to her parent's home but was
moved when police came searching for Amati. She was
kept in a wooden cage for 75 days and was
physically and mentally abused but Nieto comforted
her. Amati was released on a 800 million lira
($933,000 in 1978) ransom on April 27 using box
office receipts for the film Star Wars and her
mother sold some of her jewelery and managed to get
into her life savings to pay the ransom.
Magistrates ordered that all of the assets
belonging to the Amati family would be frozen to
prevent payment. Nieto, a French citizen, was later
arrested after a meeting with the former kidnapped.
When he was released, newspapers published stories
detailing the strong emotional relationship between
Nieto and Amati. He was sentenced to 18 years in
prison. Nieto escaped prison in 1989 and remained a
fugitive until he was arrested in April 2010.
To increase her skills in order to prepare her
for Motor Racing, Amati attended a motor racing
school with her friend, Elio de Angelis. She began
racing professionally in the Formula Abarth series
in 1981, winning several times over the next four
years before moving up to Italian Formula Three in
1985-86, again scoring a few wins. By 1987 she had
moved up to Formula 3000 racing three times, but
only qualified for the race at Donington. Amati
competed in F3000 for 1988 with Lola and managed to
secure two 10th places at Monza and Jerez. At
Jerez, she finished behind future Formula One
drivers Jean-Denis Deletraz, Jean Alesi and Marco
Apicella. Amati moved to the Japanese F3000 for
1989 but she had no success. In 1990, Amati
returned to Europe to the International F3000.
Within the first four rounds, she raced with Roni
Motorsports in a Reynard 90D Cosworth before moving
to Lola for round five. Her final team change was
to Cobra Motorsports for the last five rounds.
In 1991, Amati joined GJ Motorsports driving a
Reynard 91D Cosworth for the entire season. She
qualified for six rounds and managed to finish a
few times. By the end of the year, Amati tested for
Benetton driving for 30 laps.
Formula One
Amati signed with the dying Brabham team in
January 1992 to partner Eric van de Poele after the
team was unable to sign Japanese F3000 driver
Akihiko Nakaya because he was not granted a
superlicence due to the FIA not recognising the
Japanese F3000 series as a stepping stone in Motor
Racing. The announcement of a female driver gained
publicity for the Brabham team. Before the first
round in South Africa, Amati had little experience
in driving Formula One machinery as mechanics were
still working on her car.
At South Africa, Amati's inexperienced showed on
the track after spinning six times during practice.
During Qualifying, she was unable to qualify after
setting a time that was nine seconds slower than
pole sitter Nigel Mansell and four seconds slower
than team-mate van Poele.
At Mexico, Amati had failed to qualify for the
second consective race having setting a time more
than 10 seconds slower than Mansell.
At Brazil, Amati once again failed to qualify
for the race having a time 11 seconds slower than
Mansell in Friday qualifying. Saturday qualifying
saw a slight improvement but Amati still did not
qualify. Soon after the race, Amati was sacked by
Brabham and was replaced by Damon Hill.
Post Formula One Career
Amati went into the Porsche SuperCup for 1993 to
win the Women's European Championship. From 1994 to
1996, she raced in the Ferrari Challenge and was
consistent in the series. She left the series for a
sabbasctial for 1997 before returning in 1998. Once
again racing in the Ferrari Challenge with a
Ferrari 355 and also raced in the International
Sports Racing Series driving a Alfa Romeo Giudici
Gaiero SPN. Amati raced in the Sebring 12 Hours in
a BMW M3, driving alongside Craig Carter and Andy
Petery but retired due to clutch trouble. She also
raced the 1000km of Monza racing alongside Loic
Depailler and Xavier Pompidou but were unable to
start but came 11th at Le Mans during a 2 hour race
alongside Guido Knyca and Giovani Gulinelli. In
1999, Amati raced in the SportsRacing World Cup
driving a Tampolli RS2-RTA99 for the Cauduro
Tampolli team alongside Angelo Lancelotti in the
SR2 class. She was placed third overall in the SR2
class championship in 1999. Amati has also moved
into media, writing columns in Italy for motorsport
publications and providing television
commentary.
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