Gabriele Gardel

{{short description|Swiss racing driver}}

{{Infobox racing driver

| name = Gabriele Gardel

| image = Roland Berville and Gabriele Gardel Drivers of Larbre Competition's Saleen S7R.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Gardel (right) and Bervillé in the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans Driver's Parade

| nationality = {{flagicon|CHE}} Swiss

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1977|10|22|df=y}}

| birth_place = Milan, Italy

| related to =

| current series = Blancpain Endurance Series

| first year = 2012

| current team =

| car number =

| former teams =

| starts =

| wins =

| poles =

| fastest laps =

| best finish =

| year = 2010

| prev series = FIA GT Championship
Le Mans Series

| prev series years = 2003–05
2006–07, 2010

| titles = FIA GT Championship GT1
Le Mans Series GT1

| title years = 2005
2006

| awards =

| award years =

}}

Gabriele Gardel (born 22 October 1977 in Milan, Italy) is a Swiss former racing driver. Having competed in sports cars for most of his career, Gardel won the 2005 FIA GT Championship driver's title, and took home two class victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2010 and 2011.

Early career

Gardel started in karting, racing between 1990 and 1995. He stepped up to junior formula in 1995, competing in Formula Ford with a best finish of 4th. Between 1996 and 1998, Gardel participated in the Italian Formula Three Championship. In his first season, he was awarded the best driver under 21 years old. In 1999, Gardel moved to the German Formula Three Championship with Junior Team Benetton, where he achieved a best finish of 4th. Gardel competed in the Euroseries 3000 championship from 2000 to 2002, where he would only score three times during that span, with a best finish of 9th in the standings in 2001.{{Cite web |title=Human Resource |url=http://www.gabrielegardel.com/carriera/ |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040923044802/http://www.gabrielegardel.com/carriera/ |archive-date=September 23, 2004}}

Sports car career

File:Ferrari 550 Maranello - Matteo Bobbi & Gabriele Gardel at Redgate at the 2004 FIA GT Championship, Donington (50932720557).jpg (pictured in 2004) in the FIA GT Championship for two seasons, winning the driver's title in 2005.|left]]Gardel began his sports car career in the 2003 FIA GT Championship, driving a Porsche 911 GT3-RS in the N-GT class with Freisinger Motorsport. Paired with Bert Longin, and joined by Jeffrey van Hooydonk and Guillaume Gomez at the Spa 24 Hours, they were 12th in the standings, with a podium at Donington Park.

Gardel was promoted to the GT class the following season, joining BMS Scuderia Italia for the 2004 FIA GT Championship driving a Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello with Matteo Bobbi. Together, they earned two wins and a total of seven podiums that year, enough to finish 2nd in the overall standings. For the 2005 FIA GT Championship, Gardel joined Larbre Compétition and raced together with Pedro Lamy. The team's consistency allowed them to lead the points throughout the season, however, Lamy would not be with him at the 2005 FIA GT Tourist Trophy in Silverstone Circuit nor the 2005 Spa 24 Hours as he would race for Aston Martin. Despite Lamy being victorious at Silverstone, the Aston Martins were exempt from scoring points that year, allowing Gardel to become the sole champion.

Gardel moved to the Le Mans Series for 2006, now driving the Aston Martin DBR9 with Lamy and Vincent Vosse. The trio won the GT1 class championship that year with two wins and three total podiums. He would finish in 5th the following season in 2007. For 2008, Gardel raced Daytona Prototypes the Rolex Sports Car Series with Doran Racing. He also raced in the Porsche Carrera Cup Italy in 2009. Gardel returned to Larbre Compétition for 2010, competing in the 2010 Le Mans Series and 2010 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. Driving a Saleen S7-R, he won the GT1 class titles in both series. That year, he also took home a class victory at the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans with Larbre and the S7-R alongside Julien Canal and Roland Bervillé. Gardel won another ILMC class title in 2011 and a class win at the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans with a Chevrolet Corvette C6.R.

Between 2012 and 2015, Gardel would race in the Blancpain Endurance Series with Emil Frey Racing. He would also race in the 2012 International GT Open, 2013 Italian GT Championship, and the 2014 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.

Motorsport results

= 24 Hours of Le Mans results =

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:90%"
Year

! Team

! Co-Drivers

! Car

! Class

! Laps

! {{Tooltip|Pos.|Overall Position}}

! {{Tooltip|Class
Pos.|Class Position}}

{{24hLM|2006}}

|align="left"| {{flagicon|FRA}} Larbre Compétition

|align="left"| {{flagicon|FRA}} Jean-Luc Blanchemain
{{flagicon|FRA}} Patrick Bornhauser

|align="left"| Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello

| GT1

| 222

| DNF

| DNF

{{24hLM|2010}}

|align="left"| {{flagicon|FRA}} Larbre Compétition

|align="left"| {{flagicon|FRA}} Roland Bervillé
{{flagicon|FRA}} Julien Canal

|align="left"| Saleen S7-R

| GT1

| 331

| 13th

|style="background:#FFFFBF;"| 1st

{{24hLM|2011}}

|align="left"| {{flagicon|FRA}} Larbre Compétition

|align="left"| {{flagicon|FRA}} Patrick Bornhauser
{{flagicon|FRA}} Julien Canal

|align="left"| Chevrolet Corvette C6.R

| GTE
Am

| 302

| 20th

|style="background:#FFFFBF;"| 1st

colspan="8"|{{center|{{small|Sources:{{cite web|title=Gabriele Gardel Results|url=https://motorsportstats.com/driver/gabriele-gardel/results|publisher=Motorsport Stats|access-date=14 January 2023}}{{cite web|title=Gabriele Gabriel|url=https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/track-record/driver/gabriele-gardel-773|publisher=Automobile Club de l'Ouest|access-date=14 January 2023}}}}}}

=NASCAR=

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

==Whelen Euro Series – Elite 2==

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:75%"

!colspan=21| NASCAR Whelen Euro Series – Elite 2 results

Year

! Team

! No.

! Make

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! 12

! {{Tooltip|NWES|NASCAR Whelen Euro Series classification}}

! Pts

! Ref

2014

! PK Carsport

! 11

! Chevy

| VAL

| VAL

| BRH

| BRH

| TOU

| TOU

| NÜR

| NÜR

| UMB

| UMB

|style="background-color:#DFDFDF"| BUG
{{small|4}}

|style="background-color:#FFFFBF"| BUG
{{small|1}}

! –

! –

! {{cite web|title=Gabriele Gardel – 2014 Whelen Euro Elite 2 Results|url=https://www.racing-reference.info/driver-season-stats/gardega01/2014/E2/|work=Racing-Reference|publisher=NASCAR Digital Media, LLC|access-date=14 January 2023}}

2016

! PK Carsport

! 24

! Chevy

|style="background-color:#DFDFDF"| VAL
{{small|4}}

|style="background-color:#EFCFFF"| VAL
{{small|23}}

|style="background-color:#DFFFDF"| VEN
{{small|11}}

|style="background-color:#DFDFDF"| VEN
{{small|4}}

|style="background-color:#EFCFFF"| BRH
{{small|23}}

|style="background-color:#FFDF9F"| BRH
{{small|6}}

|style="background-color:#DFDFDF"| TOU
{{small|5}}

|style="background-color:#DFDFDF"| TOU
{{small|5}}

|style="background-color:#FFFFBF"| ADR
{{small|1}}

|style="background-color:#DFDFDF"| ADR
{{small|2}}

|style="background-color:#FFFFBF"| ZOL
{{small|1}}

|style="background-color:#DFDFDF"| ZOL
{{small|5}}

! 2nd

! 604

! {{cite web|title=Gabriele Gardel – 2016 Whelen Euro Elite 2 Results|url=https://www.racing-reference.info/driver-season-stats/gardega01/2016/E2/|work=Racing-Reference|publisher=NASCAR Digital Media, LLC|access-date=14 January 2023}}

References

{{reflist}}