2/1/1957
Record updated 10-Mar-08
Giuseppe "Beppe" Gabbiani is a former Formula One driver from Italy. He participated in 17 Grands Prix. In Formula 2, he won the 1983 Eifelrennen. He also raced touring cars and sport cars, finishing 3rd in the 2003 1000km Spa. Still racing, he entered the 2006 Le Mans 24 Hourace.
Giuseppe "Beppe" Gabbiani was born in Piacenza. After seven years in karting, this wealthy Italian decided to try his hand at Formula 3 in 1977.
He won his first race, the first round of the 1977 European F3 Championship, at Paul Ricard in his Chevron-Toyota. At Monza and Croix-en-Ternois he finished second and at Knutstorp he came third, ending the year in fourth position in the Championship.
Flushed with his success, Beppe moved up to Formula 2 with the Trivellato Racing Chevron-Ferrari as team mate to motorcycling legend Giacomo Agostini. The car however was outdated and he scored only one top six finish. At the end of the season he rented a Surtees for the final two races, replacing the injured Vittorio Brambilla he failed to qualify for either.
In 1979 he joined the March works team in Formula 2 but tried too hard crashed frequently. He rented another drive in a old Shadow in a non-championship F1 race at Imola but once again failed to qualify. He did finish the season with a florish with a pair of second places in F2 at Mugello and Misano and ended the year in fifth place in the European Championship.
His move to the Maurer team in 1980 was a mistake and he scored only one point after a late start to the season.
In 1981 he signed to drive for the Osella team in F1 but he was out of his depth. He failed to qualify for most of the races and retired in the three in which he did mnage to make the grid. His opportunities had come too soon and he wisely returned to F2 with Maurer in 1982 along side Stefan Bellof.
While Bellof won the two opening rounds, Beppe got the upper hand on several occasions later in the year, in the end finishing just seven points behind Bellof in the championship, as Maurer lost ground to the Marches of Corrado Fabi and Johnny Cecotto during the season.
He started 1983 brilliantly, with four wins in the first five races with the Onyx March team. After five races he was leading the championship and was still in the running for the title until midway through the season. Then the title slipped from his grasp as the Ralt-Hondas of Palmer and Thackwell overwhelmed him and he drifted back to third position.
After this disappointment Gabbiani's front-line career faded, and though he had a few more outings, Gabbiani never really featured in F2 or F3000 again.
In 1986 he raced in Japan winning the Touring Car Championship in a works Toyota Corolla. He also had success in 1989 driving the Team Imberti Ford Sierra Cosworth RS 500
In the nineties he continued to make occasional forays onto the circuits in touring car events, sportscars and in Japan.
He raced at Le Mans a number of times and entered the 2006 event in the Creation CA06 Judd.
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