Ronnie Quintarelli

Ronnie Quintarelli (born 9 August 1979) is an Italian racecar driver, currently competes at Super GT. He holds the all-time record for the most drivers' championship titles (4), for the most drivers' championship title won by a non-Japanese driver (4) and the most drivers' championship won in GT500 class (4) of Super GT.

Ronnie Quintarelli
Quintarelli in 2015 SUPER GT Motegi
Nationality	Italian
Born	9 August 1979 Negrar, Italy
Super GT career
Debut season	2005
Current team	NISMO
Car number	23
Former teams	SARD, Lexus Team Cerumo, Lexus Team Kraft, Hasemi Motorsport, Team Impul, Mola
Starts	117
Championships	4 (2011, 2012, 2014 & 2015)
Wins	16
Podiums	37
Poles	14
Finished last season	6th
Previous series
2005-2008	Formula Nippon

Biography

Quintarelli first encountered motorsports at age 6 when his father gave him a small go-kart. After starting his karting career in 1990, he scored two second place finishes in the World Formula Super A championship and a European Formula C title.[1] He made his single seaters debut in 2000 when he entered the Italian Formula Renault Championship and ended up third with Prema Powerteam. He also entered the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, the German Formula Three Championship and the Formula Volkswagen Germany.

In 2005, he scored his maiden GT win in the 1000 km Suzuka race with André Couto and Hayanari Shimoda and later made his way to the Super GT. After spending two seasons under the Lexus banner, Quintarelli moved to the Nissan camp, securing multiple victories. Driving for the Mola team, he won two consecutive titles in 2011 and 2012 partnered by Masataka Yanagida. He later joined the Nismo Official Team alongside Tsugio Matsuda. The pairing cruised to two more titles in 2014 and 2015 which made Quintarelli the most titled driver in the history of the series. While still fighting for the title in 2016 with a third place, the Nissan teams struggled at the beginning of the following year but Quintarelli and Matsuda rallied to finish the season in second place. In 2018, they were again steadily at the front of the Nissan roster, and managed to snatch a win at Fuji Speedway. Unfortunately, they would not hit the top-5 again, eventually taking eighth place in the championship. [2]

Personal life

Based in Yokohama, Quintarelli speaks Japanese fluently and serves as a TV color commentator for the Super Formula series. In recent years, he devoted his efforts towards the people affected by earthquakes, raising awareness and providing support to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami relief. Together with fellow Super GT regular Andrea Caldarelli, he led a fundraising campaign in favour of the populations impacted by the 2016–2017 Central Italy earthquakes. His cross-border charity efforts, together with his sporting results, earned him the title of Officer of the Order of the Star of Italy.[3]

Awards

5th Class/Officer: Order of the Star of Italy: 2015[4]

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team Name	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Final Placing
2000	Formula Renault 2000 Italia	Prema Powerteam	*	2	1	*	3rd
2001	Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup	Cram Competition	5	1	1	66	7th
2002	Formula Volkswagen	Team Penker Racing	*	4	2	*	2nd
	GC-21	Inging Motorsport	1	0	1	-	-
2003	Japanese Formula 3 Championship	Inging Motorsport	20	0	0	200	4th
	Macau Grand Prix	JB Motorsport with Inging	1	0	0	0	4th
	Korea Super Prix	JB Motorsport with Inging	1	0	0	0	16th
2004	Japanese Formula 3 Championship	Inging Motorsport	20	4	8	251	1st
	Macau Grand Prix	Inging Motorsport	1	0	0	0	8th
	Bahrain Super Prix	Inging Motorsport	1	0	0	0	22nd
2005	Formula Nippon	Kondo Racing Team	6	0	0	12	9th
	Super GT (GT500)	SARD	8	0	1	21	16th
	1000 km Suzuka (Pokka 1000 km)	SARD	1	0	0	-	1st
2006	Formula Nippon	Team Boss Inging	9	0	0	6	10th
	Super GT (GT500)	Cerumo	1	0	0	9	24th
	Formula One	Midland F1	Test driver
2007	Formula Nippon	Team Boss Inging	9	0	1	27	7th
	Super GT (GT500)	Bandai Toyota Team Kraft	3	0	0	2	24th
2008	Formula Nippon	Cerumo / Inging	8	0	0	21.5	9th
	Super GT (GT500)	Hasemi Motorsport	9	1	1	39	12th
2009	Super GT (GT500)	Hasemi Motorsport	9	1	1	49	7th
2010	Super GT (GT500)	Team Impul	7	0	1	47	5th
2011	Super GT (GT500)	Mola	8	1	2	90	1st
2012	Super GT (GT500)	Mola	8	1	2	93	1st
2013	Super GT (GT500)	Nismo	8	1	0	50	6th
2014	Super GT (GT500)	Nismo	8	2	2	81	1st
2015	Super GT (GT500)	Nismo	8	2	2	79	1st
2016	Super GT (GT500)	Nismo	8	0	2	62	3rd
2017	Super GT (GT500)	Nismo	8	1	1	82	2nd
2018	Super GT (GT500)	Nismo	8	0	1	43	8th
2019	Super GT (GT500)	Nismo	8	3	0	52.5	3rd
	Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters		1	0	0	0	NC†
2020	Super GT (GT500)	Nismo	8	0	2	51	6th

^† As Quintarelli was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score championship points.

Complete Formula Nippon results

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

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	DC	Points
2005	Kondō Racing	MOT	SUZ	SUG	FUJ 5	SUZ 5	MIN 2	FUJ Ret	MOT 5	SUZ 10			9th	12
2006	Team Boss Inging	FUJ 5	SUZ Ret	MOT Ret	SUZ Ret	AUT 5	FUJ 10	SUG 4	MOT 9	SUZ 12			10th	6
2007	Team Boss Inging	FUJ 5	SUZ 6	MOT 5	OKA 1	SUZ Ret	FUJ 7	SUG 8	MOT 6	SUZ 14			7th	27
2008	Cerumo / Inging	FUJ 5	SUZ 8	MOT Ret	OKA 7	SUZ 10	SUZ 9	MOT Ret	MOT 13	FUJ 6	FUJ 3‡	SUG 7	9th	21.5

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

Complete Super GT results

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

Year	Team	Car	Class	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Pts
2005	SARD	Toyota Supra	GT500	OKA 8	FUJ Ret	SEP 9	SUG 2	MOT 14	FUJ 12	AUT 11	SUZ 11		16th	21
2006	Lexus Team Cerumo	Lexus SC430	GT500	SUZ	OKA	FUJ	SEP	SUG	SUZ 7	MOT	AUT	FUJ	24th	9
2007	Lexus Team Kraft	Lexus SC430	GT500	SUZ	OKA	FUJ	SEP 11	SUG 9	SUZ Ret	MOT	AUT	FUJ	24th	2
2008	Hasemi Motorsport	Nissan GT-R	GT500	SUZ 15	OKA 10	FUJ 15	SEP 9	SUG 11	SUZ 5	MOT 1	AUT 6	FUJ 13	12th	39
2009	Hasemi Motorsport	Nissan GT-R	GT500	OKA 12	SUZ 13	FUJ 7	SEP 1	SUG 9	SUZ 2	FUJ 6	AUT 8	MOT 12	7th	49
2010	Impul	Nissan GT-R	GT500	SUZ Ret	OKA 4	FUJ 6	SEP 1	SUG 4	SUZ 12	FUJ C	MOT 5		5th	47
2011	MOLA	Nissan GT-R	GT500	OKA 6	FUJ 10	SEP 2	SUG 1	SUZ 2	FUJ 7	AUT 2	MOT 2		1st	90
2012	MOLA	Nissan GT-R	GT500	OKA 7	FUJ 8	SEP 14	SUG 3	SUZ 1	FUJ 2	AUT 1	MOT 2		1st	93
2013	NISMO	Nissan GT-R	GT500	OKA 3	FUJ Ret	SEP 9	SUG 3	SUZ 2	FUJ 9	AUT 8	MOT 8		6th	50
2014	NISMO	Nissan GT-R	GT500	OKA 7	FUJ 8	AUT 1	SUG 14	FUJ 2	SUZ 2	BUR 10	MOT 1		1st	81
2015	NISMO	Nissan GT-R	GT500	OKA 13	FUJ 1	CHA 5	FUJ 4	SUZ 7	SUG 6	AUT 1	MOT 2		1st	79
2016	NISMO	Nissan GT-R	GT500	OKA 1	FUJ 1	SUG 9	FUJ 4	SUZ 6	CHA 14	MOT 9	MOT 7		3rd	62
2017	NISMO	Nissan GT-R	GT500	OKA 7	FUJ 4	AUT 5	SUG 4	FUJ 2	SUZ 2	CHA 9	MOT 1		2nd	82
2018	NISMO	Nissan GT-R	GT500	OKA 5	FUJ 1	SUZ 6	CHA 12	FUJ 9	SUG 7	AUT 15	MOT 7		8th	43
2019	NISMO	Nissan GT-R	GT500	OKA 2‡	FUJ 2	SUZ Ret	CHA 11	FUJ 3	AUT 13	SUG 3	MOT 8		3rd	52.5
2020	NISMO	Nissan GT-R Nismo GT500	GT500	FUJ 11	FUJ 9	SUZ 1	MOT 8	FUJ 11	SUZ 1	MOT 7	FUJ 9		6th	51

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

All-time Super GT records

As of 29 November 2020

Description	Record	Drivers matched
Championships
Most Drivers' Championships	4	Stands alone
Most Drivers' Championships as a non-Japanese driver	4	Stands alone
Most Drivers' Championships won in GT500 class	4	Stands alone

References

1. CIK-FIA History
2. SUPER GT’S 7 Most Dominant Champions
3. Onorificenze
4. "Onoreficenze". quirinale.it (in Italian). 28 December 2015. Retrieved 28 December 2015.

External links

• Ronnie Quintarelli career summary at DriverDB.com