| BIOGRAPHY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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Full Name | Marco Apicella |
| Nationality | Italian  |
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| Born | 7 October 1965, Bologna |
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| Died | |||
| Website | Official Website | ||
| FORMULA 1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CAREER | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entries | Races | Non-Starts | Best Grid | Wins | Podiums | F/L | Pts | DNFs | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 23/26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| First Grand Prix | Last Grand Prix |
| 1993 Italian Grand Prix | 1993 Italian Grand Prix |
| Season | Team | Chassis | Engine | Races | Poles | Wins | Podiums | F/L | Pts | Rank |
| 1993 | Jordan | 193 | Hart 3.5 V10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| OTHER CAREER HIGHLIGHTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Poles | Wins | Podiums | F/L | Pts | Rank |
| 1984 | Italian Formula 3 | Coperchini | 11 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 7th |
| 1985 | Italian Formula 3 | Team Coperchini | 13 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 32 | 4th |
| 1986 | Italian Formula 3 | Coloni Motorsport | 14 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 62 | 2nd |
| 1987 | International Formula 3000 | EuroVenturini | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19th |
| 1988 | International Formula 3000 | First Racing | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 11th |
| 1989 | International Formula 3000 Japanese Formula 3000 |
First Racing Team LeMans |
10 1 |
1 0 |
0 0 |
4 0 |
1 0 |
23 3 |
4th 16th |
| 1990 | International Formula 3000 | First Racing | 11 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 20 | 6th |
| 1991 | International Formula 3000 | Paul Stewart Racing | 10 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 5th |
| 1992 | Japanese Formula 3000 | Dome | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 10th |
| 1993 | Japanese Formula 3000 | Dome | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 23 | 4th |
| 1994 | Japanese Formula 3000 | Dome | 10 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 48 | 1st |
| 1995 | Japanese Formula 3000 | Team 5ZIGEN | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 1996 | Japanese Formula Nippon | Team 5ZIGEN | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 16th |
| 1997 | Japanese Formula Nippon | STP Stellar | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 12th |
| 1999 | Italian Formula 3000 | Monaco Motorsport | 7 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 20 | 3rd |
| 2000 | Japanese Super GT | Sport Today Racing | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 15th |
| 2001 | Japanese Super GT | Team JLOC | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2002 | Japanese Super GT | Team JLOC | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC |
| 2003 | Japanese Super GT | Toyota Team TOM’S | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 28th |
| 2004 | Japanese Super GT | Toyota Team TOM’S | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 7th |
| 2005 | Japanese Super GT | JLOC | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 18th |
| 2006 | Japanese Super GT | JLOC | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 11th |
| 2007 | Japanese Super GT | JLOC | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 12th |
| 2009 | Blancpain Super Trofeo | Petri Corse | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 15th |
| ENDURANCE RACING HIGHLIGHTS | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Event (Class) | Team | Car | Co-Driver(s) | Result | |||||
| 1995 | Le Mans 24 Hours (GT1) | SARD Co. Ltd. | Toyota Supra LM | Jeff Krosnoff Mauro Martini |
6th | |||||
| 1999 | Le Mans 24 Hours (LMP) | Solution F | Riley & Scott Mk III | Carl Rosenblad Shane Lewis |
DNF | |||||
| 2006 | Le Mans 24 Hours (GT1) | JLOC Isao Noritake | Lamborghini Murciélago | Koji Yamanishi Yasutaka Hinoi |
DNF | |||||
| 2007 | Le Mans 24 Hours (GT1) | JLOC Isao Noritake | Lamborghini Murciélago | Atsushi Yogo Koji Yamanishi |
DNF | |||||
| 2009 | Le Mans 24 Hours (GT1) | JLOC | Lamborghini Murciélago | Atsushi Yogo Yutaka Yamagishi |
DNF | |||||
Biography
This short-statured Italian was among a crop of Formula 1 aspirants including the likes of Alex Caffi, Gabriele Tarquini, Nicola Larini and Fabrizio Barbazza competing in the national Formula 3 championship in the mid-1980s. There was no doubt Apicella was quick, but he was also erratic.
In 1986, he and Larini moved to Coloni Motorsport and the pair dominated proceedings, with Apicella finishing as the championship runner-up.
The next stop was the International Formula 3000 championship, Formula 1’s feeder category, where he spent five frustrating seasons trying and failing to claim that elusive race win.
Test driver roles with Minardi and the Modena Lamborghini teams came to naught, and so he headed to the Japanese Formula 3000 scene where he and a plethora of fellow European drivers were trying to revive their racing careers.
Apicella was, therefore, something of a surprise call-up by the Jordan team for the Italian Grand Prix. The Anglo-Irish outfit, in its third season, was struggling to return to the heights of its sensational maiden campaign in 1991. Apicella would be one of five drivers to sample its second Hart-powered car over the course of the year.
With just a two-hour test ahead of his Grand Prix outing, Apicella spun out of the first practice session at the Lesmo right-hander. He qualified 23rd-fastest, only half a second slower than teammate Rubens Barrichello, but his race was over in less than 800 metres after he was caught up in the first lap mêlée.
So it was back to Japan, where he would remain for the bulk of his racing career. Success, at last, came in 1994 when he was crowned the Japanese Formula 3000 champion with the Dome team – he would test the outfit’s F1 challenger which failed to make an appearance on the Grand Prix stage.
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