Formatting code for BarillaPaolo
======Barilla, Paolo======
>>**Name:** Barilla, Paolo
**Date of birth:** April 20, 1961
**Place of birth:** Milan, Italy
**Minardi link:** Raced for the team in 1989 and 1990 in 15 races scoring no points.
**Original article:** Salvo Toscano
@@{{image url="http://www.forzaminardi.com/images/content2/barillamug.jpg" title="text" alt="text"}}@@<<
Italians have always been very passionate about pasta and racing cars, Paolo Barilla put the two together.
Paolo spent all of his short Formula 1 career with Minardi. His family owns the Barilla Pasta Corporation, a worldwide empire, founded by Paolo's great-grandfather in 1877. Barilla is the largest food company in Italy, and number one in the world for pasta. Young Paolo, like many others, started his racing career with karts. He won his 100cc karting category in the 1976 Italian Championships, moving on to Italian F3 with the famous Ravarotto team, where he won three races.
In 1982 he joined [[MinardiGianCarlo Gian Carlo Minardi]]'s European F2 team, lining up next to the young and talented [[NanniniAlessandro Alessandro Nannini]]. He scored no points. He switched to sports cars in 1983, joining the Scuderia Mirabella team, usually driving his Lancia LC2 with Giorgio Francia. His best result was a 6th place at Spa. 1984 started with a 3rd and a 4th place at Monza and Silverstone, in a Lancia LC2-84 shared with Mauro Baldi. There was also a 3rd with Nannini at the Nürburgring, and a 2nd at Kyalami with Bob Wollek having started on pole position. It was a good season, but rivals Porsche were too strong. The year after, Paolo switched to Porsche. His greatest moment without a doubt was claiming victory at Le Mans, with Klaus Ludwig and John Winter.
Paolo also took part in two Interseries races later in the year in his 956, taking victory convincingly in both races. In 1986 and 1987 he continued racing sports cars, gaining victories and podiums. He then moved on to the Japanese Sports Prototype Championship. In those years he also raced in Formula 3000, with ups and downs, until 1989. In 1989 Minardi had an extraordinary season, with their little hero [[MartiniPierluigi Pierluigi Martini]], performing outstandingly in qualifying with the help of Pirelli tyres.
In Portugal [[MartiniPierluigi Pierluigi]] had the honour of leading a GP for one lap, the first and only time for a [[Faenza]] car. In that very race however, [[MartiniPierluigi Martini]] bruised one of his ribs, and that injury got worse a week later at Jerez. Hence Barilla had the chance to replace Martini at Suzuka, also because of his sound knowledge of the Japanese track. He qualified in 19th position, doing better than the likes of Mauricio Gugelmin, Eddie Cheever, Derek Warwick and Jonathan Palmer. Unfortunately during the race, his clutch failed on him on the opening lap. At the next race, in Australia, the great [[MartiniPierluigi Pierluigi]] came back and qualified third on the grid just behind the ""McLarens"".
In 1990 [[PerezSalaLuis Luis Perez-Sala]] left Minardi having found it extremely difficult to keep up with [[MartiniPierluigi Pierluigi Martini]]. Barilla joined the team on a full-time basis but he soon realised how hard it would be to have Martini as a team mate. In the first race at Phoenix, Martini qualified second, the best result for a Minardi ever, Paolo qualified a respectable 14th.
The Minardis were reasonably competitive during the first races but performance deteriorated as the season progressed. The car was not as brilliant as the year before and the Pirelli tyres did not live up to expectations either. An inconsistent season, with no points. Paolo's 11th place in Imola was his best result. He also failed to make it onto the grid a few times and for the last two races Minardi replaced him with fellow Italian [[MorbidelliGianni Gianni Morbidelli]].
After two years of F1, Barilla continued racing sports cars until 1997. He also competed in the Dakar Rally. Today Paolo is the vice-president of the Barilla Corporation (having been CEO for a short time).
//This page belongs to the [[CategoryDrivers drivers]] category.//
>>**Name:** Barilla, Paolo
**Date of birth:** April 20, 1961
**Place of birth:** Milan, Italy
**Minardi link:** Raced for the team in 1989 and 1990 in 15 races scoring no points.
**Original article:** Salvo Toscano
@@{{image url="http://www.forzaminardi.com/images/content2/barillamug.jpg" title="text" alt="text"}}@@<<
Italians have always been very passionate about pasta and racing cars, Paolo Barilla put the two together.
Paolo spent all of his short Formula 1 career with Minardi. His family owns the Barilla Pasta Corporation, a worldwide empire, founded by Paolo's great-grandfather in 1877. Barilla is the largest food company in Italy, and number one in the world for pasta. Young Paolo, like many others, started his racing career with karts. He won his 100cc karting category in the 1976 Italian Championships, moving on to Italian F3 with the famous Ravarotto team, where he won three races.
In 1982 he joined [[MinardiGianCarlo Gian Carlo Minardi]]'s European F2 team, lining up next to the young and talented [[NanniniAlessandro Alessandro Nannini]]. He scored no points. He switched to sports cars in 1983, joining the Scuderia Mirabella team, usually driving his Lancia LC2 with Giorgio Francia. His best result was a 6th place at Spa. 1984 started with a 3rd and a 4th place at Monza and Silverstone, in a Lancia LC2-84 shared with Mauro Baldi. There was also a 3rd with Nannini at the Nürburgring, and a 2nd at Kyalami with Bob Wollek having started on pole position. It was a good season, but rivals Porsche were too strong. The year after, Paolo switched to Porsche. His greatest moment without a doubt was claiming victory at Le Mans, with Klaus Ludwig and John Winter.
Paolo also took part in two Interseries races later in the year in his 956, taking victory convincingly in both races. In 1986 and 1987 he continued racing sports cars, gaining victories and podiums. He then moved on to the Japanese Sports Prototype Championship. In those years he also raced in Formula 3000, with ups and downs, until 1989. In 1989 Minardi had an extraordinary season, with their little hero [[MartiniPierluigi Pierluigi Martini]], performing outstandingly in qualifying with the help of Pirelli tyres.
In Portugal [[MartiniPierluigi Pierluigi]] had the honour of leading a GP for one lap, the first and only time for a [[Faenza]] car. In that very race however, [[MartiniPierluigi Martini]] bruised one of his ribs, and that injury got worse a week later at Jerez. Hence Barilla had the chance to replace Martini at Suzuka, also because of his sound knowledge of the Japanese track. He qualified in 19th position, doing better than the likes of Mauricio Gugelmin, Eddie Cheever, Derek Warwick and Jonathan Palmer. Unfortunately during the race, his clutch failed on him on the opening lap. At the next race, in Australia, the great [[MartiniPierluigi Pierluigi]] came back and qualified third on the grid just behind the ""McLarens"".
In 1990 [[PerezSalaLuis Luis Perez-Sala]] left Minardi having found it extremely difficult to keep up with [[MartiniPierluigi Pierluigi Martini]]. Barilla joined the team on a full-time basis but he soon realised how hard it would be to have Martini as a team mate. In the first race at Phoenix, Martini qualified second, the best result for a Minardi ever, Paolo qualified a respectable 14th.
The Minardis were reasonably competitive during the first races but performance deteriorated as the season progressed. The car was not as brilliant as the year before and the Pirelli tyres did not live up to expectations either. An inconsistent season, with no points. Paolo's 11th place in Imola was his best result. He also failed to make it onto the grid a few times and for the last two races Minardi replaced him with fellow Italian [[MorbidelliGianni Gianni Morbidelli]].
After two years of F1, Barilla continued racing sports cars until 1997. He also competed in the Dakar Rally. Today Paolo is the vice-president of the Barilla Corporation (having been CEO for a short time).
//This page belongs to the [[CategoryDrivers drivers]] category.//
