======Perez-Sala, Luis======
>>**Name:** Perez-Sala, Luis
**Date of birth:** May 15th, 1959
**Place of birth:** Barcelona, Spain
**Minardi link:** Luis Perez-Sala raced for Minardi 32 times in 1988 and 1989. He scored one point.
**Original article:** Simon Vigar
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Formula One has a curious, unrequited relationship with Spain but hopefully success is around the corner with Minardi graduate [[AlonsoFernando Fernando Alonso]]. Sadly, Luis Perez Sala could not bring much Formula One glory to Spain or Minardi in the late eighties. Luis won races in F3000 at Birmingham and Enna and was championship runner-up to Stefano Modena in 1987. The following year he formed an all-Spanish line-up at Minardi with [[CamposAdrian Adrian Campos]]. Despite outdoing his compatriot his F1 debut season was a disappointment. [[CamposAdrian Campos]] was dropped midway through 1988 for the return of Minardi's prodigal son [[MartiniPierluigi Pierluigi Martini]], who promptly blew Luis away. Piero scored the team's first ever point in Detroit proving the [[Cosworth]]-powered [[M188]] was a decent car.

Both Luis and Piero were retained for 1989 and [[MinardiGianCarlo Gian Carlo Minardi]] pulled-off a coup by ensuring his team was the focus for Pirelli. The sticky tyres may not have been great for racing but for qualifying they were fantastic. In the purgatorial times of pre-qualifying this was vital. [[MartiniPierluigi Martini]] qualified on the second row at Jerez and Adelaide. Also, Piero finished fifth and Luis sixth at Silverstone, the Spaniard's solitary point in F1. The Silverstone points ensured Minardi didn't have to take part in anymore highly pressurised pre-qualifying sessions.

Money was tight (again) and the heir to an Italian pasta dynasty, [[BarillaPaolo Paolo Barilla]], took Perez Sala's seat for 1990. A case, perhaps, of "pasta la vista, Luis".
He then competed for Nissan in the Spanish Touring Car Championship alongside fellow F1 refugee Ivan Capelli and Jordi Gene, big brother of future Minardi star Marc. He won the title in '93 beating his old colleague [[CamposAdrian Adrian Campos]]. Later he drove a Chrysler Viper in the FIA GT Championship.

Campos and Perez Sala provide a Spanish bookend for the Minardi adventure. At the other end of the nineties we have Gene and Alonso. Let's hope [[AlonsoFernando Fernando]] can succeed where the others have failed by really popularising F1 in their homeland. [[http://www.vinfotech.com/web_2.0/web_20_design.htm Web 2.0 Design]]

//This page belongs to the [[CategoryDrivers drivers]] category.//