20/3/1940
Record updated 20-Mar-07
Founder of Momo and sportscar driver, Moretti won Daytona and Sebring in 1998 in a Ferrari 333SP, a car that he was the driving force behind, along with Gian Luigi Buitoni, president of Ferrari North America.
Giampiero Moretti was a politics student at the University of Pavia, Italy and amateur racing driver.
He had a friend of his make him special steering-wheel for his racing car. It was smaller than the normal one used, but what was most original about it was the handgrip, a very thick handgrip that gave a much better hold, making the car easier to handle and drive.
This odd steering wheel attracted the attention of many racing drivers, among them John Surtees of Ferrari. The English driver tried it and had one mounted on his single-seat Formula One race car.
That was a happy year for Surtees and Ferrari, who won the F1 championship, and for Morretti's steering wheel which had its share in the glory. Thus was founded Momo.
In 1986 BWM commisioned March to build a Sports Protoytpe 86G. After many fires and one win, BMW retired from IMSA and Giampiero Moretti bought the cars and Buick engines, both in turbo end atmospheric forms were installed. Ian Dawson was the team manager and the result weren't that good.
Later Moretti bought a Porsche 962 reworked by the Gebhardts and then a Nissan ZX/GTP. In the meantime he raced a Joest 962 and supported Gebardth's Audi engined cars.
He raced a Ferrari 333 SP in 1993. Jointly developed with Dallara, it was Ferrari's first new prototype racer in over two decades. Designed specifically for the new IMSA prototype regulations, the 333 SP was intended for customer racing only. He was the driving force behind the Ferrari 333SP project along with Gian Luigi Buitoni, president of Ferrari North America. The program was nick-named 'Il Sogno Americano', the American Dream.
Didier Theys drove with Moretti in 1996 when they finished second in the closest finish in Daytona 24 Hour history. In 1998 he drove a 333 SP with Didier Theys and Mauro Baldi to victory in both the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring.
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