Pasquale Di Sabatino

Pasquale Di Sabatino

Di Sabatino at the 2014 FIA WTCC Race of Belgium.
Nationality Italy Italian
Born 20 January 1988
Atri (Italy)
World Touring Car Championship career
Debut season 2012
Current team Liqui Moly Team Engstler
Car no. 8
Former teams bamboo-engineering
Starts 27
Wins 0
Poles 0
Fastest laps 0
Best finish 20th in 2014
Previous series
2011
2010
2006–09
2005–06
2005		 Auto GP
Italian Formula Three
Formula Renault 3.5 Series
Italian Formula Renault 2.0
Italian Formula Junior 1600
Championship titles
2005 Italian Formula Junior 1600

Pasquale Di Sabatino (born 20 January 1988 in Atri) is a professional racing driver from Italy. He has previously competed in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series where he was a race winner. He drove in the World Touring Car Championship for bamboo-engineering in 2012.

Career

Formula Junior

After an early career in karting, Di Sabatino stepped up to single–seaters in 2005, racing in the Italian Formula Junior 1600 series. Driving for the Tomcat Racing team, he secured ten podium places in twelve races, including five victories, to comfortably win the title ahead of Mihai Marinescu and former Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One driver Jaime Alguersuari.[1]

Formula Renault 2.0

In November 2005, Di Sabatino graduated to Formula Renault, taking part in the Italian Formula Renault 2.0 Winter Series held at Adria International Raceway. In the four races he contested he took one podium place to finish tenth in the standings.[2]

The following year, he raced in the full Italian Formula Renault 2.0 championship, but failed to score a point in the twelve races he entered.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

In July 2006, Di Sabatino made his debut in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series, replacing Miloš Pavlović at Italian team Cram Competition.[3] He failed to score a point in the ten races he contested, with his best result being a pair of 16th place finishes.

Di Sabatino driving for Comtec at the Silverstone round of the 2008 Formula Renault 3.5 Series season.

For 2007, Di Sabatino took part in a full season with another Italian team, GD Racing. He took one points finish during the season, a ninth place at Spa–Francorchamps, to finish 26th in the championship. During the off–season, he tested for both RC Motorsport and Comtec Racing before signing for the latter in January 2008.[4]

At the first race of the 2008 season in Monza, Di Sabatino finished second to Dutchman Giedo van der Garde, scoring his best Formula Renault 3.5 Series finish at the time.[5] He followed that up with a tenth place finish in the second race and then an eighth place at Spa–Francorchamps a week later. However, Di Sabatino was forced to vacate his seat after the Le Mans round after encountering sponsorship issues.[6]

In March 2009, Di Sabatino tested again for RC Motorsport at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain before signing for the team early the following month.[7] After scoring points in three of the first four races, Di Sabatino finally claimed his maiden series victory in the second race of the Hungaroring event in mid–June.[8] Before the end of the season, Di Sabatino ran out of funding and had to give up his seat at RC. Despite this, he finished twelfth in the championship.

Formula Three

For the 2010 season, Di Sabatino returned to his native Italy to compete in the Italian Formula Three Championship for Alan Racing.[9] After failing to score a point in any of the opening four races, he left the team after the second round of the year at Hockenheim. He missed the following round of the series at Imola before being signed by RC Motorsport to replace Francesco Castellacci at Mugello, who missed the event due to illness.[10]

However, Di Sabatino, along with his team–mate Frédéric Vervisch, failed to start either race of the meeting after encountering engine problems during practice.[11]

Auto GP

Di Sabatino competed in the Auto GP series in 2011, replacing Samuele Buttarelli at Ombra Racing,[12] with Buttarelli moving to fellow Italian team TP Formula.[13] Di Sabatino followed him after the first round, he completed the season with TP Formula and finished 12th in the championship.

World Touring Car Championship

In February 2012, it was confirmed that Di Sabatino would switch to touring cars, racing in the World Touring Car Championship for Bamboo Engineering. He raced a Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T alongside fellow newcomer Alex MacDowall.[14] He was replaced by Michel Nykjær for the Race of Brazil having suffered from bronchitis and pneumonia and not being able to fly.[15] Di Sabatino did not return to the championship in 2012 and was not classified in the drivers' championship having scored no points.

Racing record

Career summary

Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position
2005 Italian Formula Junior 1600 Tomcat Racing 12 5 3 ? 10 268 1st
Italian Formula Renault 2.0 – Winter Series 4 0 0 0 1 12 10th
2006 Italian Formula Renault 2.0 Tomcat Racing 12 0 0 ? 0 0 36th
Formula Renault 3.5 Series Cram Competition 10 0 0 0 0 0 39th
2007 Formula Renault 3.5 Series GD Racing 17 0 0 0 0 2 26th
2008 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Comtec Racing 13 0 0 0 1 16 20th
2009 Formula Renault 3.5 Series RC Motorsport 15 1 0 0 2 39 12th
2010 Italian Formula Three Championship Alan Racing 4 0 0 0 0 0 30th
RC Motorsport
2011 Auto GP Ombra Racing 14 0 0 0 0 38 12th
2012 World Touring Car Championship bamboo-engineering 14 0 0 0 0 0 NC

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

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

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Pos Pts
2006 Cram Competition ZOL
1		 ZOL
2		 MON
1		 IST
1		 IST
2		 MIS
1		 MIS
2		 SPA
1
16		 SPA
2
19		 NÜR
1
20		 NÜR
2
18		 DON
1
24		 DON
2
20		 LMS
1
25		 LMS
2
16		 CAT
1
24		 CAT
2
Ret		 39th 0
2007 GD Racing MNZ
1
Ret		 MNZ
2
Ret		 NÜR
1
20		 NÜR
2
14		 MON
1
18		 HUN
1
13		 HUN
2
11		 SPA
1
Ret		 SPA
2
9		 DON
1
19		 DON
2
15		 MAG
1
11		 MAG
2
12		 EST
1
15		 EST
2
21		 CAT
1
16		 CAT
2
Ret		 26th 2
2008 Red Devil Comtec Racing MNZ
1
2		 MNZ
2
10		 SPA
1
13		 SPA
2
8		 MON
1
Ret		 SIL
1
11		 SIL
2
14		 HUN
1
11		 HUN
2
11		 NÜR
1
Ret		 NÜR
2
15		 LMS
1
12		 LMS
2
14		 EST
1		 EST
2		 CAT
1		 CAT
2		 20th 16
2009 RC Motorsport CAT
1
11		 CAT
2
8		 SPA
1
8		 SPA
2
8		 MON
1
Ret		 HUN
1
14		 HUN
2
1		 SIL
1
Ret		 SIL
2
Ret		 LMS
1
2		 LMS
2
8		 ALG
1
14		 ALG
2
18		 NÜR
1
10		 NÜR
2
Ret		 ALC
1		 ALC
2		 12th 39

Complete Auto GP results

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

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos Pts
2011 Ombra Racing MNZ
1
7		 MNZ
2
12		 12th 38
TP Formula HUN
1
8		 HUN
2
8		 BRN
1
5		 BRN
2
13		 DON
1
10		 DON
2
Ret		 OSC
1
7		 OSC
2
4		 VAL
1
11		 VAL
2
10		 MUG
1
9		 MUG
2
10

Complete World 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 Pos Pts
2012 bamboo-engineering Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T ITA
1
14		 ITA
2
19		 ESP
1
22		 ESP
2
16		 MAR
1
17		 MAR
2
15		 SVK
1
13		 SVK
2
12		 HUN
1
12		 HUN
2
15		 AUT
1
12		 AUT
2
15		 POR
1
15		 POR
2
17		 BRA
1		 BRA
2		 USA
1		 USA
2		 JPN
1		 JPN
2		 CHN
1		 CHN
2		 MAC
1		 MAC
2		 NC 0
2014 Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320 TC MAR
1
13		 MAR
2
9		 FRA
1
17		 FRA
2
17		 HUN
1
15		 HUN
2
16		 SVK
1
18		 SVK
2
C		 AUT
1
17		 AUT
2
12		 RUS
1
17		 RUS
2
14		 BEL
1
21		 BEL
2
17		 ARG
1		 ARG
2		 BEI
1		 BEI
2		 CHN
1		 CHN
2		 JPN
1		 JPN
2		 MAC
1		 MAC
2		 20th 2

References

  1. ↑ "Formula Junior 1600 Italy 2005". driverdb.com (Driver Database). Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  2. ↑ "Formula Renault 2.0 Italy Winter series 2005". driverdb.com (Driver Database). Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  3. ↑ "Musical chairs continues at Spa". crash.net (Crash Media Group). 27 July 2006. Retrieved 17 February 2012. Pavlovic's berth at Cram has been subsequently filled by 18-year old Pasquale di Sabatino, who makes the substantial leap from Italian Formula Renault 2.0.
  4. ↑ "First signing for Comtec". crash.net (Crash Media Group). 27 January 2008. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
  5. ↑ "van der Garde keeps on rolling". crash.net (Crash Media Group). 27 April 2008. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
  6. ↑ "Tappy back at RC, Comtec down to one". crash.net (Crash Media Group). 26 September 2008. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
  7. ↑ "Pasquale Di Sabatino al via del campionato con RC Motorsport". italiaracing.net (in Italian) (Inpagina). 8 April 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2009.
  8. ↑ "Hard-working di Sabatino lucks in". crash.net (Crash Media Group). 14 June 2009. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
  9. ↑ "Alan Racing annuncia l’ingaggio di Pasquale Di Sabatino". alanracing.com (in Italian) (Alan Racing). 1 April 2010. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
  10. ↑ "Di Sabatino al Mugello con RC Motorsport". italiaracing.net (in Italian) (Inpagina). 22 July 2010. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
  11. ↑ Mancini, Antonio (24 July 2010). "Italia – Mugello – Update: Di Sabatino non parteciperà alle gare per problemi al motore". stopandgo.tv (in Italian) (Stop&Go). Retrieved 10 August 2010.
  12. ↑ "Pasquale Di Sabatino joins Ombra Racing". autogp.org (Auto GP). 10 May 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
  13. ↑ "Esclusivo: Buttarelli con TP Formula e Di Sabatino con Ombra!". stopandgo.tv (in Italian) (Stop&Go). 10 May 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
  14. ↑ "Bamboo sign MacDowall and Di Sabatino". World Touring Car Championship (Kigema Sport Organisation). 27 February 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  15. ↑ Hudson, Neil (19 July 2012). "Michel Nykjaer to replace Di Sabatino in Brazil". TouringCarTimes (Mediaempire Stockholm AB). Retrieved 2 February 2013.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pasquale Di Sabatino.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Unknown		 Italian Formula Junior 1600
Champion
2005 		Succeeded by
Augusto Scalbi