26/6/1933 - 29/7/2002
Record updated 23-Jan-07
Pirocchi was a pretty decent driver in sports cars and Formula Junior, winning the Italian Sports Car Championship in 1955 and the Italian Formula Junior title in 1960. He drove a Cooper-Maserati in the 1961 Italian Grand Prix finishing 12th.
Renato Pirocchi was born in Notaresco, a village near Teramo. He was a semiprofessional driver who made a promising start in small-capacity Stanguellini sports cars in 1954 in Corsa 750, winning the Italian Championship the following year in 1955.
In 1958 he drove a Stanguellini Corsa 750 and a Stanguellini FJ.
In Formula Junior in 1959 he started the season with a Urania (Taraschi) but switched to a Stanguellini mid-season and put in some pretty good results with 2nd places at Nürburgring and the Coppa d'Oro di Sicili. He began his friendly rivalry with Bandini, the pair enjoying a spectacular dice at Syracuse in particular
He won the Italian Championship in 1960 with a win at Teramo and consistent podium finishing. He also made the trip to Cuba to race in the Gran Premio de Habana which he won and the Gran Premio de la Libertad in which he came home in 7th.
In 1961 he swiched to driving a de Sanctis - Fiat but didn't have a particualrly good season but he did finish 2nd in the Coppa Junior at Monza and set the fastest lap. he also raced a Fiat-Abarth 850 in sports car races.
In 1961 he drove a rather tired Cooper-Maserati entered by the Pescara Racing Club in the Italian Grand Prix finishing 12th some five laps down on Phil Hill's winning Ferrari 156, and on one occasion a Scuderia Centro Sud Cooper (as number two to his old sparring partner Bandini), he was, at best, a backmarker.
He retired at the end of 1962, driving his last race at Monza in a Lucangeli FJ.
After he retired, Renato became President of the Automobile Club di Pescara a poition he held for 20 years. He also helped re-launch the Cronoscalata Svolte di Popoli hillclimb.
Stricken by a kidney disease, he was on dialysis and died in hospital in Chieti after suffering respiratory failure.
In 2003, to honour his memory, the ACI Pescara launched the Trofeo Pirocchi, a trophy awarded to the best under 23 driver from Abruzzo.
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