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Lella Lombardi
Born (1941-Template:MONTHNUMBER-26)26 1941
Frugarolo, Piedmont, Italy
Died Template:Death date and age
Milan, Italy
Formula One career
Nationality 25px Italy Italian
Years 1974–1976

Maria Grazia "Lella" Lombardi (26 March 1941 – 3 March 1992) was a racing driver from Italy.

Born in Frugarolo, Piedmont, she participated in 17 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 20 July 1974. She is the only female Formula One driver in history to have a top six finish in a World Championship race, at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix.[1] Half points were awarded for this race due to a shortened race distance, hence Lombardi received half a point instead of the usual one point. As well as being the sole female driver to score points in Formula One, she is one of the two who managed to qualify at least for a Formula One race (the other being compatriot Maria Teresa de Filippis) and the only driver with that career total.[2]

Lombardi at 1975 Dutch Grand Prix

Lella Lombardi driving a March 751 Formula One car in practice for the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix

After performing well in Formula Three and Formula 5000 in the early 1970s, Lombardi entered Formula One in 1974 with an old privately entered Brabham. In 1975 she joined March and raced the full season. She then had a one-off drive for Williams before a short-lived and unsuccessful partnership with RAM Racing.

Lombardi had also started in NASCAR driving in the Firecracker 400 NASCAR race at the Daytona International Speedway in 1977. There were two other female drivers in the field: American Janet Guthrie and Belgian Christine Beckers.[3]

Lombardi later raced in sports cars with some success. Her best season was in 1979 when she won the 6 hours of Pergusa and the 6 hours of Vallelunga. She competed four times at the 24 hours of Le Mans, her best result being in 1976 when she finished 9th in a Porsche Carrera. Lombardi retired from racing in 1988. She died of breast cancer in Milan in 1992, aged 50.


Racing record[]

Complete Formula One World Championship results[]

(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 WDC Points
1974 Allied Polymer Group Brabham BT42 Cosworth V8 ARG
BRA
RSA
ESP
BEL
MON
SWE
NED
FRA
GBR
DNQ
GER
AUT
CAN
ITA
USA
NC 0
1975 March Engineering March 741 Cosworth V8 ARG
BRA
RSA
Ret
21st 0.5
Lavazza March March 751 ESP
6
MON
DNQ
BEL
Ret
SWE
Ret
NED
14
FRA
18
GBR
Ret
GER
7
AUT
17
ITA
Ret
Frank Williams Racing Cars Williams FW04 USA
DNS
1976 Lavazza March March 761 Cosworth V8 BRA
14
RSA
USW
ESP
BEL
MON
SWE
FRA
NC 0
RAM Racing with Lavazza Brabham BT44B GBR
DNQ
GER
DNQ
AUT
12
NED
ITA
CAN
USA
JPN

Formula One non-championship results[]

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

Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3
1974 Lella Lombardi Lola T330 Ford V8 PRE ROC
NC
INT
13
1975 March March 751 Ford V8 ROC INT
Ret
SUI
12

NASCAR[]

(key) (Bold - Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics - Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * β€“ Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ↑ Mariantoni, Luca. "Accadde oggi – 27 Aprile 1975". La Gazzetta dello Sport. RCS. http://www.gazzetta.it/Rubriche/AccaddeOggi/accadde_oggi.shtml. Retrieved 27 April 2011. 
  2. ↑ Haymarker, forix. "Reference". W8 - Who?. Geza Sury. http://www.forix.com/8w/lombardi.html
  3. ↑ NASCAR Winston Cup Profile. http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/llombard00/cup/index.html

External links[]

Template:Female Formula One drivers



Smallwikipedialogo.png This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Lella Lombardi. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


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