IGNAZIO GIUNTI-FERRARI
Composition of portraits and cars

watercolour 53 x 43 cm

Ignazio Giunti (30/08/1941 - 10/01/1971) was a useful Italian driver who made his name in saloon and sports-car racing in the late 1960s. In 1968, driving for Alfa Romeo, he was 2nd in the Targa Florio and 4th in the Le Mans 24 hr race co-driving with Nanni Galli. In 1970 Giunti was signed by Ferrari primarily for their sports-car team and won the Sebring 12hrs and the Targa Florio as well as achieving several other high placings. His success earned him a F1 chance and he did splendidly to finish 4th on his debut in the Belgian GP at Spa and raced three more times that year. Ferrari were also trialling the Swiss driver Clay Regazzoni and he put in some excellent drives to restrict Giunti's chances though he was re-signed by Ferrari for 1971.Tragedy struck in his first drive in 1971. At the wheel of the brand new 3-litre Ferrari 312P, he was leading the 1971 Buenos Aires 1,000km race, the opening round of the World Sports Car Championship, when he collided with the Matra which Jean- Pierre Beltoise was attempting to push back to the pits after it had run out of fuel on the circuit. Giunti sustained unsurvivable injuries and 70 per cent burns, and Italy lost one of its most outstanding young racing talents.