Enrico Bertaggia

Nationality:	Italian	Races Entered:	6
Date of Birth:	19 September, 1964	DNQ/DNPQ:	6
Teams:	Coloni (1989) Andrea Moda (1992)	Best Result:	11th in pre-qualifying Portugal, 1989

BIOGRAPHY

Before Formula One

The son of a hotel owner in Venice, Italian driver Enrico Bertaggia, born in Noale near Venice, has one of the most remarkably unremarkable and forgotten F1 careers ever. But that did not always look to be the case, considering his rise through the local karting ranks to leap straight into F3 in 1985 with a Ralt RT3 Alfa Romeo Novamotor for the Erre 3 team. In fact, Bertaggia made a lot of people sit up and take notice when, for his second year in Italian F3, he managed to win a seat in the famous Venturini team in a Dallara 386 Alfa Romeo. But it was a move to the Forti Corse team in 1987 that really made him go places, when he won the tough championship in his Dallara 387 Alfa Romeo by 55 points to 51 over Andrea Chiesa. However a stint in the South American Temporada F3 championship was a waste of time, Enrico being totally outgunned by the local Argentine and Brazilian drivers.

Not wishing to hang around in Italian F3 any longer than he had to, in 1988 he moved up to F3000 with Forti as team-mate to reigning Spanish F3 champion Fernando Javier Croceri, driving a Dallara 3087. Bertaggia's car had a bit of history to it, though. It had firstly been driven by Marco Apicella for the Euroventurini team in 1987. Then, when the Scuderia Italian entered F1 in 1988, they didn't have their new Dallara chassis ready for the opener in Rio. When threatened with fines if they did not show up, they took this very car to Brazil, where naturally it didn't qualify in the hands of Alex Caffi. The irony was that Bertaggia could hardly make it qualify either even when it was back where it belonged in F3000.

Four DNQs in a row at the start of the season was no way to impress, and even a switch to a Lola chassis later did little to help. In 11 events, Bertaggia only qualified 5 times, his best being 7th at Monza from 21st on the grid. However, during the year Enrico dipped back into F3 with great success, winning both prestigious races at Monaco and Macao. In terms of Macao winners, his name is on the same list as Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher. Bertaggia then had having another shocker in F3000 in 1989, attempting four rounds. He drove a Lola Motorsport March 89B Judd in the first round but failed to qualify. He then switched to the RCR team in a Lola T89/50 Cosworth, failed to qualify twice more, before finishing 19th at Jerez. Then, perhaps on the back of those great F3 results, he got himself a shot at the big time.

Formula One

Cemented by sponsorship, his deal was to replace Pierre-Henri Raphanel at the Coloni/Ford F1 outfit at the Belgian GP. There he began his F1 career in a blaze of mediocrity by failing to record a time. Thereafter, in the remaining 5 rounds of the season, he remained rooted to the bottom of the pre-qualifying pile. In Portugal, when Yannick Dalmas and Nicola Larini's Osella were both disqualified from pre-qualifying, Bertaggia, despite being slowest, got bumped up to 11th in pre-qualifying (and a stunning 37th overall) by default. This would remain his best F1 effort. It is rather ironic, however, that in this so-called 'best effort' he was almost 4 seconds slower than Bernd Schneider's Zakspeed ahead of him, with a time which ended up being over 13 seconds slower than Ayrton Senna's pole time.

He came close to actually being faster than someone else at Jerez, though, were he missed out on beating Oscar Larrauri's EuroBrun by just over 0.4 of a second. But then he reverted to his old ways by not recording a time in Japan, and by being last by 2.4 seconds in Adelaide. In truth, driving for Coloni had been a baptism of fire, as the little Italian team was struggling financially and losing staff left, right and centre. Licking his wounds from these dismal showings, Bertaggia went to compete in Japanese F3000 in 1990, where he managed to show just how much talent he had lost by only coming joint 14th overall, equal with fellow F1 refugee Christian Danner. He continued there in 1991, but once again success completely eluded him, and it seemed like he was another driver on the motor-racing scrap-heap.

But in 1992, somehow it looked as though he would get another bite at the F1 cherry. Fashion mogul Andrea Sassetti bought the remains of Coloni at the end of 1991, and envisaged grand plans for 1992. He renamed the team 'Andrea Moda', and announcing its arrival in a lavishly colourful brochure featuring a shadowy, nude female saxophonist (according to Formula One International magazine). Sassetti planned to enter the opening races using the 1991 Coloni C4 chassis with a Judd engine and a Dallara gearbox, before the Nick Wirth-designed S921 came on stream. He signed both Caffi and Bertaggia to drive. But trouble struck when the team arrived in South Africa.

There had been much debate prior to the meet began as to whether or not Sassetti should have paid the $100,000 new team entry fee, since after all he had bought Coloni. The authorities said they should have, but the shoe magnate never paid up. While the debate was still raging, Caffi went out for a few laps in the Thursday unofficial acclimatisation period at Kyalami. But then the car broke down and Bertaggia never sat in it. That evening, though, stewards ruled the team ineligible to compete and the entry was forcibly withdrawn. The team then didn't bother entering for Mexico, preferring to ready their new cars, but by the time the circus hit Brazil, Caffi and Bertaggia had sensibly bailed out to be replaced by Roberto Moreno and the immortal Perry McCarthy.

In a strange twist, though, after Sassetti then had another run-in with officialdom over McCarthy's superlicence, he wanted to bring Bertaggia back into the team, especially after the Italian had found extra sponsorship. But he had used up his one permitted driver change already, and that was that. So Bertaggia came close to a second go at F1. But the fact that he was never successfully entered in South Africa, and that he wasn't entered at all in Mexico meant that in the statistics he doesn't get a mention in relation to 1992. His F1 record stands as 6 entries, 6 DNPQ for his Coloni efforts in 1989.

After Formula One

Undaunted, Bertaggia spent the rest of 1992 in the British F2 series driving a Reynard/Cosworth 91D for the Cobra Motorsports team. Overall, he came 7th with 12 points, although he did a race at Silverstone. In 1993 he stayed in the same series for four more races and drove for Ivone Pinton's Durango team in a Reynard 92D, scoring 8 points to wind up 9th overall after a 2nd at Oulton Park and a 5th at Brands Hatch Indy. Stephen Herbert reports that in 1993 he switched to International F3000 once again, firstly for the AC&E team, replacing South African Hilton Cowie in a Reynard Cosworth 92D failing to qualify at Paul and Hockenheim, and finishing 5th at Enna having started 26th. He then rejoined Durango later that year in the same series, but with no success at all. Those two points at Enna left Bertaggia equal 17th overall.

Since then, though, he has turned his attentions to sports car racing. In 1994 he came 2nd in a 4hr enduro at Vallelunga with Andrea Fuchs in a Callaway Chevrolet Corvette, having started the race from a stunning pole position. The next year, he continued to be a part of the Callaway project, and with Johnny Unser, Philippe Olczyk and Seppi Wendlinger came 34th at the Daytona 24hr race, before joining Unser and Frank Jelinski to place 9th at Le Mans in their Supernatural Corvette. In 1995, Bertaggia also dabbled in German super touring, in a Ford Mondeo. But while champion Joachim Winkelhock scored 407 points, Bertaggia only managed to collect 16 points to come 33rd overall. Oh well, that was better than Riccardo Patrese, who only scored a meagre 5 points.

1996 was then a year of disappointment. He drove a Callaway C7R in pre-qualifying for Le Mans, but the car did not start the race. He was also entered in a Callaway Corvette for Agusta Racing at the Daytona 24hr race, alongside Almo Coppelli and 'Rocky' Agusta, but there too the car did not start. The next year, a single outing for Bertaggia at Daytona in a Callaway C7R with Boris Said, Ron Fellows and Unser again netted a lowly 54th place after an early retirement. 1998 was a busier year for Bertaggia. He started by joining Jon Field, Rick Sutherland, Butch Brickell and Alex Padilla in a Riley & Scott Mk III at Daytona for the Intersport Wheelworks Racing team, but the car retired with a fire at night. He then joined Kremer Racing, and in a Kremer K8 Porsche with Alfonso de Orleans and Tomas Saldana he came 7th in a 1000km race at Monza. After the same combination pre-qualified 38th at Le Mans, once again they did not show on race day.

After such disappointment, Bertaggia linked up in the International Sports Racing Series with the GLV Brums team to join Giovanni Lavaggi in a Ferrari 333SP at the Nurburgring, but the car spun out of the race. Continuing on into 1999, Bertaggia joined Stephane Ortelli, Claudia Huertgen and Robert Nearn to come 25th at Daytona in a Roock Racing Porsche 911 GT2. More importantly, he took to German Porsche Carrera 911 GT3 racing, with a car run by Kadach Tuning, and Bertaggia was competitive right from the outset. He took a fine win at the Norisring, and going into the last round at the Nurburgring he had a shot at 2nd in the series. But then he was (controversially) adjudged to have jumped the start and was called in for a stop-go penalty, crushing all hopes he had of coming runner-up overall. With 96 points, he ended up in 5th place in the standings.

In 2000, Bertaggia switched to race in the International Porsche 996 GT3 Supercup, in a Carsport-AMAG car run by Axel Plankenhorn, with Bruno Eichmann driving a sister car. Despite early disappointment, such as a crash at the Rascasse at Monaco, Enrico recovered, and with a fine 2nd place at Indianapolis he came 10th overall with 67 points. Other notable results included 5th at Imola and 6th at Spa. In 2001, Enrico returned to the German Porsche Carrera Cup with the Farnbacher Motorsport team, but in the first three rounds has only recorded results of 12th, 13th and 6th.

Currently, Bertaggia is also a driving instructor with the big Centro Internazionale Guida Sicura school in Italy, joining many other road racing and rally stars to teach others advanced driving skills in Alfa Romeos. He is married and, like all good racing drivers, lives in Monaco.

CAREER SUMMARY

Before Formula One
1985	• Italian F3 in an Erre 3 Ralt RT3 Alfa Romeo Novamotor.
1986	• Italian F3 in a Venturini Dallara 386 Alfa Romeo Novamotor.
1987	• Italian F3, 1st overall, 55 points in a Forti Corse Dallara 387 Alfa Romeo Novamotor. • South American Temporada F3, selected events.
1988	• F3000, 11 entries, 6 DNQs in a Forti Corse Dallara 3087 and Lola. • Monaco F3, 1st place. • Macau F3, 1st place.
1989	• F3000, 4 entries, 3 DNQs in a Lola Motorsport March 89B Judd and RCR Lola T89/50 Cosworth.
Formula One
1989	• Coloni C3 Cosworth, 6 entries, 6 DNPQs.
1992	• Andrea Moda Judd, 2 entries, both withdrawn.
After Formula One
1990	• Japanese F3000, =14th overall.
1991	• Japanese F3000.
1992	• British F2, 7th overall, 12 points, 1 win in a Cobra Reynard 91D Cosworth.
1993	• British F2, 4 entries, 9th overall, 8 points in a Durango Reynard 92D Cosworth. • F3000, 7 entries, 2 DNQs, =17th overall, 2 points in an AC&E Reynard 92D Cosworth.
1994	• Vallelunga 4hrs, 2nd place in a Callaway Corvette with Fuchs.
1995	• German Super Touring Championship, 33rd overall, 16 points in a Ford Mondeo. • Le Mans 24hrs, 9th place in a Callaway Corvette with Unser and Jelinski. • Daytona 24hrs in a Callaway Corvette with Unser, Olczyk and Wendlinger.
1996	• Le Mans 24hrs, DNS in a Callaway C7R Corvette. • Daytona 24hrs, DNS in an Agusta Callaway Corvette.
1997	• Daytona 24hrs, retired in a Callaway C7R Corvette with Said, Fellows and Unser.
1998	• Daytona 24hrs, retired in an Intersport Wheelworks R&S Mk III with Field, Sutherland, Brickell and Padilla. • Monza 1000kms, 7th in a Kremer K8 Porsche with de Orleans and Saldana. • Le Mans 24hrs, DNS in a Kremer K8 Porsche. • International Sports Racing Series, 1 race in a GLV Brums Ferrari 333SP with Lavaggi.
1999	• Daytona 24hrs, 25th in a Roock Racing Porsche 911 GT2 with Ortelli, Huertgen and Nearn. • Porsche Carrera 911 GT3 Cup, 5th overall, 96 points for Kadach Tuning.
2000	• Porsche 996 GT3 Supercup, 10th overall, 67 points for Carsport-AMAG.
2001	• Porsche Carrera 911 GT3 Cup for Farnbacher Motorsport.

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