Francesco Raffaele Pizzi (; born 12 November 2004) is an Italian racing driver who last raced in the 2024 USF Pro 2000 Championship with TJ Speed Motorsports.
He was the runner-up of the 2020 Italian F4 Championship behind Gabriele Mini and raced in the 2022 FIA Formula 3 Championship for Charouz Racing System. Pizzi is also the third youngest class winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona, winning in the LMP2 class with team Proton Competition in 2023.
Career
Karting In 2013, at the age of eight, Pizzi claimed his maiden win in the rain in race 2 in Lonato of the Formula 60 Italian championship. Pizzi made his international karting debut in the Mini ROK International Final in 2014, where he finished ninth. He raced in the 60 Mini class for three years, winning the South Garda Winter Cup in 2016 and becoming vice-champion in the WSK Super Master Series and WSK Champions Cup respectively that same year. He then moved up to drive in the OKJ-category, placing third in the Italian Championship in 2017. He competed in karts until 2019.
Lower formulae In January 2020, Pizzi made his single-seater debut with Xcel Motorsport in the Formula 4 UAE Championship. He had a perfect opening round, winning all three races at the first weekend in Dubai. He scored five more victories and won the championship, 26 points ahead of his nearest competitor Lorenzo Fluxá.
Pizzi then signed with Van Amersfoort Racing to compete in the Italian F4 Championship, as the team's sole full-time entrant. He started the campaign strongly, taking three podiums, including a win, at the first round in Misano, however, his next win would only come at the fifth round in Monza. Despite two wins at that weekend, Pizzi had already lost too much ground to his title rival Gabriele Minì, and in the end finished second, with seven podiums and 208 points to his name.
Formula Regional European Championship
In December 2020, Pizzi took part in the post-season rookie test for the Formula Regional European Championship for ART Grand Prix alongside his F4 title rival Gabriele Minì and Grégoire Saucy. After a second test later that month, where Pizzi returned to Van Amersfoort Racing and set the third-fastest laptime of the day, the Dutch team confirmed Pizzi to be one of their drivers for the 2021 season. He scored his first points of the season at the Circuit Zandvoort, finishing fifth in the second race. Another points finish at the Red Bull Ring helped Pizzi to finish twentieth in the standings. Following the conclusion of the season, Pizzi announced his departure from VAR and took part in winter testing with Arden in Barcelona, R-ace GP in Paul Ricard and Monza, MP Motorsport in the second Barcelona test and FA Racing in Mugello.
FIA Formula 3 Championship For 2022, Pizzi progressed to the FIA Formula 3 Championship, partnering László Tóth and Ayrton Simmons at Charouz Racing System. Talking about his sudden move to F3 after just two years of car racing, Pizzi stated that "it's going to be tough, but that's why we race". Pizzi scored his first and only points of the year, having finished in tenth place during the Imola sprint race. In Spa-Francorchamps, Pizzi qualified an astonishing third. During the feature race, Pizzi was pushed wide at the side, and later Kush Maini spun him round which dropped him to the back and left Pizzi to finish 21st. Overall, Pizzi was the only driver in Charouz to score a point for the team that year, having scored his only top-ten finish at Imola, having finished 27th in the standings, the last placed driver to have scored points.
At the end of the 2022 season, Pizzi partook in the post-season testing with Campos Racing during the first and last day, respectively.
USF Pro Championship 2023 At the end of October 2022, Pizzi took part in a USF Pro 2000 Championship test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Jay Howard Driver Development. At the start of January the following year, Pizzi confirmed that he would leave Formula 3 and join the 2023 USF Pro 2000 Championship with TJ Speed Motorsports. He debuted in St. Petersburg, claiming two front-row starts, a pole position and a fastest lap on his first time driving the tricky street circuit; he couldn't finish on the podium in any of the races, claiming a fourth and a fifth place. He went on to qualify in the top three again in Sebring, earning his first podium in race 1, and after a chaotic race 2, he managed to scramble to a seventh-place finish. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway weekend was led by controversy after race direction called out a red flag in race 1 for track conditions when the Italian and championship contender Myles Rowe were setting the fastest lap of the race. This forced everyone to put rain tyres on a dry track, and he dropped back to eleventh. More controversy would lead into race 2 after Pizzi took the lead on lap 1 and led until lap 5, at the end of a FCY procedure he waited to pick the pace back up and the race direction in a for sure debatable situation threw the green causing him and the current top-five to drop back to around tenth place, he still managed to recover to seventh before the checkered. He later went on to finish in fourth on his debut oval race and grabbed another top-five finish in Road America at the halfway mark of the championship, earning him second place in the standings despite an underachieving start.
2024 Pizzi returned in a cameo appearance with TJ Speed Motorsports at the Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, deputising for Hunter Yeany who was hit with budget issues.
Indy NXT by Firestone In the coverage from Peacock on the eighth round of the 2023 Indy NXT at Iowa Speedway, it was rumoured that Pizzi would join Abel Motorsports at Nashville, but neither the team nor the driver had confirmed it by then.
Endurance racing Pizzi made his endurance racing debut at the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona, teaming up with Proton Competition in the LMP2 category. He ended up winning the race by sixteen thousandths of a second on his debut, becoming the third youngest ever class winner in the race. The win came after an impressive comeback from him and his teammates after qualifying in last following a wreck, they were able to claim the race lead after a quarter of the race had been gone but found themselves three laps down with four hours to go, thanks to FCY procedures they made it back to the lead lap with Pizzi on the car who then left the car in the hand of his teammate James Allen for the last hour.
Karting record
Karting career summary SeasonSeriesTeamPosition2014Mini ROK International Final — Bridgestone Final9thAndrea Margutti Trophy — 60 Mini19thWSK Final Cup — 60 MiniLenzokart31st2015WSK Champions Cup — 60 MiniLenzokart15thAndrea Margutti Trophy — 60 Mini13thItalian Championship — 60 Mini15thTrofeo delle Industrie — 60 Mini12thWSK Night Edition — 60 MiniNoviello Engine25thROK Cup International Final — Mini ROK7thWSK Super Master Series — 60 MiniNovalux Srl14thWSK Final Cup — 60 MiniGiugliano Kart9th2016South Garda Winter Cup — Mini ROKEnergy Corse1stWSK Champions Cup — 60 MiniGiugliano Kart2ndWSK Super Master Series — 60 Mini2ndAndrea Margutti Trophy — 60 Mini16thItalian Championship — 60 Mini19thTrofeo delle Industrie — 60 Mini10thWSK Night Edition — 60 MiniAB Motorsport11thROK Cup International Final — Mini ROKBaby Race Srl17thWSK Final Cup — 60 MiniBirel ART Racing33rd2017WSK Champions Cup — OKJNovalux Srl10thItalian Championship — OKJLenzokart3rdSouth Garda Winter Cup — OKJ21stCIK-FIA European Championship — OKJNovalux Srl29thROK Cup International Final — Junior ROKFusion Motorsport4thCIK-FIA World Championship — OKJ26thWSK Final Cup — OKJ10th2018WSK Champions Cup — OKJBirel ART Racing5thSouth Garda Winter Cup — OKJ5thWSK Super Master Series — OKJ28thGerman Karting Championship — OKJ26thCIK-FIA European Championship — OKJLennox Racing Team62ndWSK Final Cup — OK42nd2019South Garda Winter Cup — KZ2Manetti MotorsportDNFAndrea Margutti Trophy — KZ2DNFWSK Euro Series — OK33rdWSK Euro Series — KZ2NCWSK Super Master Series — KZ237th
Complete Karting World Championship results YearTeamCarQuali HeatsMain race2017 Fusion MotorsportOKJ24th26th
Racing record
Racing career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position 2020 Formula 4 UAE Championship Xcel Motorsport 19 8 3 5 10 300 1st Italian F4 Championship Van Amersfoort Racing 20 3 1 2 7 208 2nd ADAC Formula 4 Championship 9 0 0 0 0 54 11th 2021 Formula Regional European Championship Van Amersfoort Racing 20 0 0 0 0 12 20th 2022 FIA Formula 3 Championship Charouz Racing System 18 0 0 0 0 1 27th 2023 USF Pro 2000 Championship TJ Speed Motorsports 18 0 1 2 1 259 5th IMSA SportsCar Championship - LMP2 Proton Competition110010NC Indy NXT Abel Motorsports400005524th2024 USF Pro 2000 Championship TJ Speed Motorsports10000532nd
Complete Formula 4 UAE Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2020 Xcel Motorsport DUB11 DUB12 DUB13 DUB14 YMC11 YMC12 YMC13 YMC14 YMC21 YMC22 YMC23 YMC24 DUB21 DUB22 DUB23 DUB24 DUB31 DUB32 DUB33 DUB34 1st 300
Complete Italian F4 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Pos Points 2020 Van Amersfoort Racing MIS1 MIS2 MIS3 IMO11 IMO12 IMO13 RBR1 RBR2 RBR3 MUG1 MUG2 MUG3 MNZ1 MNZ2 MNZ3 IMO21 IMO22 IMO23 VLL1 VLL2 VLL3 2nd
Complete ADAC Formula 4 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Pos Points 2020 Van Amersfoort RacingLAU11LAU12LAU13 NÜR11 NÜR12 NÜR13 HOC1 HOC2 HOC3 NÜR21 NÜR22 NÜR23RBR1RBR2RBR3LAU21LAU22LAU23OSC1OSC2OSC3 11th 54
Complete Formula Regional European Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2021 Van Amersfoort Racing IMO1 IMO2 CAT1 CAT2 MCO1 MCO2 LEC1 LEC2 ZAN1 ZAN2 SPA1 SPA2 RBR1 RBR2 VAL1 VAL2 MUG1 MUG2 MNZ1 MNZ2 20th 12 † Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as they completed more than 90% of the race distance.
Complete FIA Formula 3 Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Points 2022 Charouz Racing SystemBHRSPRBHRFEAIMOSPRIMOFEACATSPRCATFEASILSPRSILFEARBRSPRRBRFEAHUNSPRHUNFEASPASPRSPAFEAZANSPRZANFEAMNZSPRMNZFEA 27th 1
Complete IMSA SportsCar Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Class Make Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Points 2023 Proton Competition LMP2 Oreca 07 Gibson GK428 V8 DAY SEB LGS WGL ELK IMS PET NC† 0† † Points only counted towards the Michelin Endurance Cup, and not the overall LMP2 Championship.
American open-wheel racing results USF Pro 2000 Championship (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) (Races with * indicate most race laps led) YearTeam123456789101112131415161718RankPoints2023 TJ Speed MotorsportsSTP1STP2SEB1SEB2IMS1IMS2IRPROA1ROA2MOH1MOH2TOR1TOR2COTA1COTA1POR1POR2POR35th2592024 TJ Speed MotorsportsSTP1STP2LOU1LOU2LOU3IMS1IMS2IMS3IRPROA1ROA2ROA3MOH1MOH2TOR1TOR2POR1POR2 32nd 5
Indy NXT Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Rank Points 2023 Abel Motorsports STP BAR IMS DET DET RDA MOH IOW NSH IMS GMP POR LAG LAG 24th 55
References
External links