Welcome to another week of TheJudge13 F1 Bar Exam. Last week proved to be a bit of a head scratcher… for me 🙂
Last week’s question(s): Can you name the drivers in the photo, their teams and the circuit where the photo was taken. Can you also state which event they were taking part in and name the corner.
The answer(s) I was looking for were: The drivers in the photo were Oscar Larrauri driving the EuroBrun Ford Cosworth ER188 and Michele Alboreto in his Ferrari F1/87-88C. The picture was taken during qualifying for the 1988 British Grand Prix held at Silverstone at the exit of Bridge and the entry to Woodcote.
We’ve previously been introduced to the EuroBrun team so not much more will be added however, allow me to elaborate a bit more about Mr Oscar Larrauri.
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 19 August, 1954. A late starter in motor racing terms, he was almost 20 by the time he took up local karting in his Santa Fe region in 1974, although in 1976, 1977 and 1979 he was Santa Fe champion, and in 1976 he was also provincial champion.
He had one ace up his sleeve though. Fellow Argentinean and five-time world champion Juan Mañuel Fangio took it upon himself to be the mentor of Larrauri.
So under the watchful eyes of his mentor Larrauri took on Argentinean F3 alongside his karting. As with most drivers around the world, if you want to prove yourself you need to pack your bags and head for Europe and so he did.
In 1980 he started racing in the European F3 championship and finished 11th that year. Having learnt the tracks the next two years were much better for him and he finished 1981 in 5th and won the 1982 championship with 7 wins, 3 second places and a third.
A new Argentinean superstar was born, or so everyone thought. Fangio’s connections delivered a test contract with Ferrari and he had a drive in the F2 championship with Minardi… only it was not to be. Neither the F2 drive nor the Ferrari test contract led anywhere but there was some progress made in sport car racing.
Taking part in the World Endurance Championship his highlights included finishing 5th at Nurburgring. A more positive 1984 saw him race with Walter Brun in a Porsche 956. Results that season included a 6th at the Nurburgring, 5th at Imola and 4th at Spa, while the pair were joined by Joel Gouhier at Le Mans to finish a creditable 7th.
For the next few years Larrauri raced sports cars across the globe but in 1988 he got his change when Brun started a Formula 1 team. Combining his F1 duties with sports car racing, the 34 year old was one of the oldest drivers to make their F1 debut at the time. His teammate for the year was 1987 F3000 champion Stefano Modena.
As anyone who have driven single-seaters and sports cars/saloon cars know, it is hard to get back into the groove of single-seater racing. Larrauri was always going to struggle, and compared to Modena he was a distinct number two in terms of performance. His season started ominously in Rio when he qualified 26th and last, but had his electrics fail on the parade lap, such that he did not even start the race.
As we know his season did not get much better and neither did 1989 although he was still enjoying some success in sport cars. And so his tenure in F1 came to an end, never really living up to his potential as an F1 driver.
Well done to Tim, Dave, Andrew, Thomas888, Cassius42, Bernard, The13thDuke, Toleman Fan, Milestone11 and Johnny!
This week’s question(s): Can you name the team, driver and Grand Prix at which the photo was taken. Did the driver finish the race and if so, what was his position?
Please provide your answers in the field below:
