13/12/1958 - 24/5/1997
Record updated 24-May-17
F3000 driver who raced for a number of teams between 1986 and 1988. His career was set back by a huge crash at Spa in 1987. He was killed in 1997 when he was hit by a truck while checking his car in a lay-by.
In 1986 he raced a Reynard in the German F3 series finishing 7th in the Championship. He also drove one F3000 race for Peter Gethin's team at Jarama and competed in the Formula 3 European Cup driving a Dallara F386 Volkswagen for Trivellato Racing.
He started 1987 driving a Berta MK III Renault in the International Temporada F3 Series in South America. In F3000 he was the BS Automotive team leader. In the first round at Silverstone he finished 6th. Mechanical failure robbed him of a good result in round two at Vallelunga. Then at Spa-Francorchamps, on a wet track, de Vinuesa and Sala tryed to take the Raidillon side by side. Predictably a massive accident happened where the former was seriously injured. The race, stopped to rescue the Spaniard and was not restarted. Returning for the last two races, de Vinuesa was never the same driver again and failed to qualify twice.
In 1988 he joined Onyx but failed to qualify in any of the races in the March 88B. He switched to Tamchester but still failed to qualify for any of the races apart from Birmingham. He was not only very slow, but also had frequent off track excursions.
Continued to race on for a few years eventually retiring to concentrate on his many business interests, including a publicity firm. He died when he was hit by a truck after getting out of his car in a lay-by to check for a possible problem.
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