“Emanuele Pirro.”

“62.”

“I started racing in 1980. It was a Formula Fiat-Abarth, the equivalent of Formula 4 today. I was 18, which was the youngest you could be at that time.”

“From 1980 until about 10 years ago when I retired from professional racing – it’s been a long journey! – I would say the highlights are my five wins at Le Mans. But it’s hard to pick just one. I’m grateful, and I’m really lucky that I made my passion become my profession. It’s been a great career, not just in terms of results but in terms of personal satisfaction and accomplishment.”

“If you really push me to pick one, I would say Suzuka in Japan. I like fast corners, and Suzuka is very demanding physically. You get a lot of G-forces there with a high-performance car, or a Formula 1 car. It’s a really beautiful circuit.

“I also like street circuits. A lot. Macau is a track I really enjoy.

“Generally, I like circuits that are old school. Circuits where, if you do something wrong, you don’t get away with it. Nowadays, in many places, when you make a small mistake, you just run wide and rejoin. This is not the way I like motorsport. Of course, we know the reason is safety, and no drivers should ever get hurt. But when you have a gravel bed, if you make a small mistake, you get stuck there. This is the way I think motorsport should be.”

“This one is pretty funny! In a go-kart race, prior to my car career, we drove five hours from my [hometown] to do this race. I had to go and pee just prior to the main race, as everybody does. The main toilet was occupied, so I went to a remote toilet… and I got stuck!

“The loudspeaker was calling me – ‘Driver, Emanuele Pirro, is needed urgently! The race is about to start!’ – but I couldn’t get out. I was shouting and nobody could hear me, so the race took place without me. Now it’s funny, but at the time it was terrible!”

“I can probably say I kept the same helmet design since my first year of racing. In those early years, keeping the same design was not an issue. I wanted a helmet with some particular [elements], so it would be spottable on-track. But also, I wanted a design that, if you put sponsorship on the front or the sides, the design would not be altered. And this is what I came up with. 

“The combination of the colours of the Italian flag, with all due respect to my country, I didn’t really like it. So this is… it’s more like the Dutch flag, really.” – How fitting! Ed. – “But it’s very ‘me.’ It’s simple and it’s my trademark,* and I’ve used it ever since.”

*We should point out that Emanuele’s son Cris, an F1 performance engineer for seven seasons with Sauber before his recent move to Alpine, was also competing at the 2024 Hankook 24H BARCELONA, and boasts a very similar design to his father, albeit with the colours reversed.

“Not really, no. Of course, I love modern racing in all areas, but I don’t like that you cannot recognise a driver by their helmet design nowadays. I appreciate drivers coming up with new designs because it must be really cool to come up with good ideas so often. But I think a helmet should be a real trademark for a driver: if you see a helmet but you don’t know who the driver is… [shrugs] 

“I’ve kept nearly all my helmets from my career. I don’t like to change equipment very often, so I often use a helmet for a long time. I used gloves for many races until I wore them out. For me, I’ve always associated worn-out gloves and equipment with a real professional, and brand-new sporting clothes with a beginner. Ever since I was a kid playing sports. So I never really wanted new stuff.

“In fact, it’s quite funny. I only race occasionally now, but this weekend, I am actually using a brand-new helmet for the first time! The one I had before that I used for five or six years, and it still has all the stickers from the important races I did, like Goodwood. It has a lot of [significance]. This one” – Emanuele gestures to his new helmet. – “will need to go a long way before reaching that [milestone]."

“For me, it’s probably my passion. I’ve been around in motorsport a lot, and now I’m here racing with a bunch of friends in a very… let’s say, im-professional operation. Not in a negative way. We’re just here to race with what we have, and we try to do the best we can. And this gives me a a lot of very, very big satisfaction. After a long career working with some very high-profile teams and manufacturers, I still enjoy this very much. This is probably the thing I like most about my character. 

“I wouldn’t have liked it I had [approached] my motorsport career like I was a spoiled kid: ‘either you pay me or I don’t come;’ ‘make sure the car is competitive, otherwise I won’t come.’ I’m happy with the way I took on my career.” 

[Long pause, then chuckles] “You know why I’m laughing? My wife, like every long-term couple, we have a discussion about what movie we’ll watch in the evening. She’s very much influenced by the actor. But for me, if they’re a good actor, you should not see the face of that actor. You should only see their character. So, honestly, it could be anyone as long they play me properly.

“I am writing my own autobiography* – I might be the only sportsman who does it all by himself without help! – and I’ve really paid attention to things as they were. Maybe I’m sharing more weaknesses than strengths, but that’s okay. I don’t think I should look better than I actually am, so I wouldn’t like an actor to make me look and act better than I actually do. I won’t be picking Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt!”  

*Though he's still working on the title, Emanuele does admit that his autobiography is now into the proofreading stages, and he's very much looking forward to seeing it on-sale in the next year or so.

[Laughs] “My plan… actually, my dream, when I was a teenager, was to become a racing driver, but the plan was to stop between 25 and 28 years old, and then do something else. Being a professional racing driver and earning money, at that time, I did not think was realistic. So, I wanted to do something I liked when I was young, and then become successful in another job. Do something ‘proper’! That didn’t happen, of course. 

“I think motorsport proved to be a lot more complex than I expected. And I’m very happy about that. But still, even though I retired in 2009 from professional racing, I’m still involved in many things in motorsport, and I’m still learning a lot from these new experiences. 

“My dream one day would be to run a good team, or be the head of a manufacturing program. To be the head of a competitive motorsport corporation maybe. I’m still working on that.”

“I have kind of an international family: my wife is Belgian and my two boys, they grew up abroad.” [Pause] “I have a passion for a lot of things, so it’s hard for me to sit down and do nothing. I like to build small plastic models, for example. I’ve done that throughout my whole life since I was a young boy.

“I like to eat, sometimes too much! And I like to cook. I love speed! I love skiing, high-speed. I love aviation. 

“And I still like travelling, despite spending a whole life on the road. I’d love to go to Africa. Not because I am with Team Africa Le Mans this weekend, but mostly, apart from a few small holidays, I’ve only been to places for motorsport: America, quite a lot; the Far East, a lot; all over Europe obviously. And so many people tell me that Africa is such a special place. One is [six-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner] Jacky Ickx, who is a good friend. I’ve always wanted to visit Africa, but, because I like to live with intensity, I fear I might accidentally not come back!”