Johnny Cecotto

Johnny Cecotto Nationality Venezuelan Born (1956-01-25) 25 January 1956 Caracas, Venezuela Motorcycle racing career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing Active years 1975–1980 First race 1975 250cc French Grand Prix Last race 1980 500cc German Grand Prix First win 1975 250cc French Grand Prix Last win 1980 350cc Nations Grand Prix Team(s) Yamaha Championships 1975 – 350cc 1978 – Formula 750 Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 48 14 26 22 7 Formula One World Championship career Active years 1983–1984 Teams Theodore, Toleman Races 23 (18 starts) Championships 0 Wins 0 Podiums 0 Career points 1 Pole positions 0 Fastest laps 0 First race 1983 Brazilian Grand Prix Last race 1984 British Grand Prix 24 Hours of Le Mans career Participating years 1981, 1996, 1998 Teams Team Bigazzi SRL, Team BMW Motorsport Best finish 8th (1996) Class wins 0

Alberto "Johnny" Cecotto (born January 25, 1956 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan former Grand Prix motorcycle World Champion and Formula One driver.^[1] The son of Italian immigrants, he is one of the few people to have competed in both motorcycle and Formula One Grands Prix. His son Johnny Cecotto Jr. is also a professional racing driver.

Motorcycle racing history

Cecotto had won the Venezuelan road racing national championship in 1973 and 1974 before he rose to international prominence at the 1975 Daytona 200 motorcycle race with one of the more inspired rides in the history of the event.^[2][3] Competing as an unknown rookie aboard an unmodified Yamaha TZ750 sponsored by Venemotos, Yamaha's Venezuelan importer, he qualified in pole position, but a last minute mechanical glitch forced race officials to relegate him to the last row on the starting grid. Cecotto showed impressive riding ability by passing almost the entire field while working his way up to third place by the end of the race.^[2][3][4]

Following Daytona, Cecotto arrived in Europe to compete in the Grand Prix series, where he continued his meteoric rise at the season opening round in France by winning the 250cc and 350cc races in his first ever Grand Prix.^[1] He went on to become the youngest World Champion ever at nineteen years of age when he defeated the defending champion, Giacomo Agostini, for the 1975 350cc World Championship.^[1][5]

In 1976, Cecotto returned to Daytona, now with full support from the Yamaha factory racing team. This time, he was victorious, coming out on top after a race-long battle with American Champion Kenny Roberts.^[6][7][8] In the 1976 Grand Prix season, he lost his 350cc crown in a tight battle with Harley-Davidson mounted Walter Villa.^[1] At the beginning of the 1977 season, he was badly injured in a deadly four rider accident at the Austrian Grand Prix that claimed the life of Swiss rider Hans Stadelmann.^[9] Cecotto never seemed to come to grips with the 500cc Yamaha, having had a series of crashes which hindered his progress.^[5] Cecotto finished third in the 1978 500cc title chase and added the Formula 750 World Championship to his titles.^[1][10] He suffered a badly broken kneecap at the 1979 Austrian Grand Prix at the Salzburgring and missed half the season. Cecotto soldiered on through the 1980 Grand Prix season but his numerous injuries curtailed his motorcycle racing career. After the 1980 season, he decided to quit motorcycling to pursue an auto racing career. He retired with twelve 500cc pole positions in 27 starts, giving him one of the highest pole position per start ratios in motorcycle Grand Prix history.

Automobile racing history

Cecotto made his four wheeled debut with Minardi in the 1980 Formula Two Championship. In the 1982 Formula Two season, driving for the March-BMW team, he won three races and finished the season tied for first place with his team-mate Corrado Fabi, but was relegated to runner up by the tie breaker system.^[11] Nevertheless, his performance garnered enough attention that he was offered a seat in Formula One.

In Formula One, Cecotto participated in 23 races, debuting on March 13, 1983 for the Theodore Racing team.^[12] He had a promising start as he scored a sixth place in only his second race; however, the team suffered from lack of funding and he was forced to sit out the final two rounds.^[12] For the 1984 season, he joined the Toleman racing team with Ayrton Senna as his team mate.^[13] While qualifying for the British Grand Prix, he crashed heavily, breaking both of his legs which effectively ended his Formula One career. His sixth place at Long Beach stood as the best result for a Venezuelan driver until Pastor Maldonado's victory in the Spanish Grand Prix 29 years later.

After recovering from his injuries, Cecotto returned to competition in the flourishing Group A Touring Car category for the famed Schnitzer Motorsport BMW team, with his best finish being 2nd at the 1985 Spa 24 Hours with Dieter Quester and Markus Oestreich. He then traveled to Australia where he finished second in the 1985 James Hardie 1000 at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, driving a BMW 635 CSi, jointly winning the races "Rookie of the Year" award with his co-driver Roberto Ravaglia. During practice for the James Hardie, Cecotto professed surprise when told by former motorcycle racing rival Gregg Hansford, who was driving an Alfa Romeo GTV6 in the race, that they raced motorcycles at Mt Panorama as well as cars (Hansford was at the time the 350cc motorcycle lap record holder for the 6.172 km (3.835 mi) circuit).

In 1986 he joined the factory backed RAS Volvo team in the FIA Touring Car Championship driving a Volvo 240T. He drove a 240T to victory at the 1986 Guia Race held during the Macau Grand Prix.^[14] After Volvo pulled out at the end of the 1986 season, Cecotto re-joined BMW and competed in the 1987 World Touring Car Championship driving a CiBiEmme BMW M3 alongside 1985 European Touring Car Champion Gianfranco Brancatelli. The pair won second round of the championship at Dijon-Prenois, before being the first WTCC registered car to finish the first Australian round, the 1987 James Hardie 1000. Although Cecotto and Brancatelli only finished in 7th place at Bathurst, as the first registered car to finish they were awarded first place points.^[15][16] In 1989 he captured the Italian Touring Car Championship.^[17][18]

From 1988 to 1992, Cecotto competed in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM, German Touring Car Championship).^[19] Driving a Schnitzer Motorsport BMW M3, he finished as runner up in the 1990 season.^[20] In 1994 and 1998 he won the German Super Tourenwagen Cup Championship for BMW.^[21][22][23] In 1995 he raced in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for BMW.^[24] In 2001 and 2002, he switched to the Irmscher Opel Omega and won the German V8Star Series Championship two years running.^[23][25][26]

Cecotto currently devotes most of his time to supporting the racing career of his son, Johnny Cecotto Jr. He is currently commenting Formula One for Venezuelan state-owned television network Venezolana de Televisión.

Racing record

Motorcycle Grand Prix results

Source:^[1]

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Points	15	12	10	8	6	5	4	3	2	1

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Points	Rank	Wins
1975	250cc	Yamaha	FRA 1	ESP NC		GER NC	NAT 2	IOM -	NED NC	BEL 1	SWE NC	FIN 2	CZE NC	YUG -		54	4th	2
	350cc	Yamaha	FRA 1	ESP 2	AUT NC	GER 1	NAT 1	IOM -	NED 5			FIN 1	CZE NC	YUG -		78	1st	4
1976	350cc	Yamaha	FRA 2	AUT 1	NAT 1	YUG NC	IOM -	NED 8			FIN NC	CZE NC	GER 2	ESP 4		65	2nd	2
	500cc	Yamaha	FRA 2	AUT NC	NAT NC		IOM -	NED DNS	BEL -	SWE -	FIN -	CZE -	GER -			12	19th	0
1977	350cc	Yamaha	VEN 1	AUT C	GER INJ	NAT INJ	ESP INJ	FRA INJ	YUG INJ	NED INJ		SWE NC	FIN NC	CZE 1	GBR NC	30	9th	2
	500cc	Yamaha	VEN 4	AUT INJ	GER INJ	NAT INJ		FRA INJ		NED INJ	BEL INJ	SWE 2	FIN 1	CZE 1	GBR NC	50	4th	2
1978	500cc	Yamaha	VEN NC	ESP 4	AUT 2	FRA NC	NAT NC	NED 1	BEL NC	SWE 6	FIN 3	GBR 7	GER 2			66	3rd	1
1979	500cc	Yamaha	VEN NC	AUT NC	GER INJ	NAT INJ	ESP INJ	YUG INJ	NED INJ	BEL DNS	SWE NC	FIN 7	GBR NC	FRA 5		10	20th	0
1980	350cc	Yamaha	NAT 1		FRA 2	NED 20			GBR NC	CZE NC	GER 3					37	4th	1
	500cc	Yamaha	NAT 4	ESP 6	FRA 9	NED 6	BEL NC	FIN -	GBR 5		GER 6					31	7th	0

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

Source:^[11]
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Pos	Pts
1980	Mike Earle Racing with March	March 802	BMW	THR	HOC	NÜR	VAL	PAU	SIL Ret	ZOL 9	MUG						—	0
	Minardi Team	Minardi GM75										ZAN 15	PER	MIS	HOC
1981	Minardi Team	Minardi Fly 281	BMW	SIL 14	HOC Ret	THR 4	NÜR DNS	VAL Ret									14th	6
	Horag Hotz Racing	March 802							MUG 13
		March 812								PAU 7	PER Ret	SPA Ret	DON 6	MIS 6	MAN 6
1982	March Racing Ltd	March 822	BMW	SIL Ret	HOC 4	THR 1	NÜR 3	MUG 2	VAL Ret	PAU 1	SPA 2	HOC 6	DON 2	MAN 1	PER 3	MIS 15	2nd	56

Complete Formula One World Championship results

Source:^[12][13]
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1983	Theodore Racing Team	Theodore N183	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	BRA 14	USW 6	FRA 11	SMR Ret	MON DNPQ	BEL 10	DET Ret	CAN Ret	GBR DNQ	GER 11	AUT DNQ	NED DNQ	ITA 12	EUR	RSA		19th	1
1984	Toleman Group Motorsport	Toleman TG183B	Hart 415T 1.5 L4T	BRA Ret	RSA Ret	BEL Ret	SMR NC													NC	0
		Toleman TG184						FRA Ret	MON Ret	CAN 9	DET Ret	DAL Ret	GBR DNQ	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	EUR	POR

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	Pos	Pts
1995	BMW Motorsport Team	BMW 318i	DON 1 5	DON 2 8	BRH 1 11	BRH 2 5	THR 1 Ret	THR 2 11	SIL 1 11	SIL 2 12	OUL 1 9	OUL 2 Ret	BRH 1 10	BRH 2 9	DON 1 Ret	DON 2 Ret	SIL DNS	KNO 1 4	KNO 2 Ret	BRH 1 5	BRH 2 Ret	SNE 1 10	SNE 2 Ret	OUL 1 Ret	OUL 2 6	SIL 1 Ret	SIL 2 Ret	12th	49

Complete German Touring Championship results

Source:^[19]
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	Car	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		Pos	Pts
			R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
1988	AMG-Mercedes	Mercedes 190E 2.3-16	ZOL 8	ZOL DNF	HOC 13	HOC DNF	NÜR 13	NÜR 12	BRN 33	BRN -	BER 1	BER 1	DIE 15	DIE DNF	NÜR 11	NÜR 9	NOR 3	NOR 4	WUN 7	WUN 6	SLZ C	SLZ C	HUN 1	HUN 1	HOC 3	HOC DNF	6th	204
1989	Schnitzer Motorsport	BMW M3	ZOL -	ZOL -	HOC 3	HOC 1	NÜR -	NÜR -	MAI 2	MAI 8	BER 5	BER 22	NÜR 2	NÜR 2	NOR 7	NOR 6	HOC 1	HOC 4	DIE DNF	DIE -	NÜR -	NÜR -	HOC 3	HOC 4			7th	206
1990	Schnitzer Motorsport	BMW M3	ZOL 5	ZOL DNF	HOC 4	HOC 1	NÜR DNF	NÜR 4	BER 12	BER 5	MAI 1	MAI 1	WUN 3	WUN 4	NÜR DNF	NÜR 3	NOR 5	NOR 14	DIE 2	DIE 3	NÜR 9	NÜR DNF	HOC 11	HOC 4			2nd	177
1991	Schnitzer Motorsport	BMW M3	ZOL 1	ZOL 1	HOC 9	HOC DSQ	NÜR 2	NÜR DNF	BER 6	BER 5	WUN 6	WUN 1	NOR 14	NOR 6	DIE 12	DIE 2	NÜR 10	NÜR 4	SIN 5	SIN DNF	HOC 4	HOC 13	BRN 5	BRN 5	DON 3	DON 3	4th	147
1992	Team Fina Simtek	BMW M3	ZOL 12	ZOL DNF	NÜR 6	NÜR DNF	WUN 5	WUN DNF	BER 2	BER 6	HOC 9	HOC 8	NÜR 2	NÜR 2	NOR 7	NOR 7	BRN 1	BRN 1	DIE 5	DIE 5	SIN 4	SIN 12	NÜR 3	NÜR 4	HOC 7	HOC 2	4th	185
2002	OPC Euroteam	Opel Astra V8 Coupé 2001	HOC –		ZOL –		DON –		SAC –		NOR –		EUR –		NÜR –		A1R –		ZAN –		HOC 10						–	–

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1996	Team Bigazzi Team BMW Motorsport	Nelson Piquet Danny Sullivan	McLaren F1 GTR	GT1	324	8th	6th
1998	Team BMW Motorsport	Pierluigi Martini Joachim Winkelhock	BMW V12 LM	LMP1	43	DNF	DNF

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Johnny Cecotto.

External links

• Johnny Cecotto official fan site
• Johnny Cecotto career statistics at MotoGP.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Giacomo Agostini	350cc Motorcycle World Champion 1975	Succeeded by Walter Villa
Preceded by Gianfranco Brancatelli	Guia Race winner 1986	Succeeded by Roberto Ravaglia
Preceded by Gianfranco Brancatelli	Italian Touring Car Champion 1989	Succeeded by Roberto Ravaglia

350cc Motorcycle World Champions     1949 - F. Frith 1950 - B. Foster 1951 - G. Duke 1952 - G. Duke 1953 - F. Anderson 1954 - F. Anderson 1955 - B. Lomas 1956 - B. Lomas 1957 - K. Campbell 1958 - J. Surtees 1959 - J. Surtees 1960 - J. Surtees 1961 - G. Hocking 1962 - J. Redman 1963 - J. Redman 1964 - J. Redman 1965 - J. Redman 1966 - M. Hailwood 1967 - M. Hailwood 1968 - G. Agostini 1969 - G. Agostini 1970 - G. Agostini 1971 - G. Agostini 1972 - G. Agostini 1973 - G. Agostini 1974 - G. Agostini 1975 - J. Cecotto 1976 - W. Villa 1977 - T. Katayama 1978 - K. Ballington 1979 - K. Ballington 1980 - J. Ekerold 1981 - A. Mang 1982 - A. Mang

Toleman Motorsport Founders Ted Toleman Bob Toleman Drivers Derek Warwick Teo Fabi Ayrton Senna Bruno Giacomelli Johnny Cecotto Piercarlo Ghinzani Stefan Johansson Brian Henton Pierluigi Martini Formula One cars TG181 TG181B TG181C TG183 TG183B TG184 TG185