Piercarlo Ghinzani (born 16 January 1952) is a former racing driver from Italy. He currently manages his own racing team, Team Ghinzani, which was created in 1992 and is currently involved in several Formula Three championships. Early career Before his Formula One career, Ghinzani raced between 1976 and 1979 with Team Euroracing, in several Formula Three championships such as the European Championship which he won in 1977, the Italian Championship which he won in 1979 and the British Championship. He also raced in Formula 2 in 1978. Formula One career He participated in 111 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 17 May at the 1981 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder. He qualified for 77 of those, and started 74. He spent much of the 1980s racing for the small Osella team, and he only ever achieved one points finish. Ghinzani explained his continued association with unsuccessful teams such as Osella by saying it was better to be in Formula One, even at the back of the grid, than it was not being in it. Following sporadic Formula One appearances in , and racing in Group C Sports car racing as a teammate to Michele Alboreto and Riccardo Patrese for Lancia, Ghinzani's first full season with the Osella team was in . Despite achieving no points finishes he was retained for . After qualifying 20th for the second race of the season at Kyalami in South African, he crashed in the morning warm-up at high speed through the Jukskei Sweep. His Osella hit the wall and with almost a full fuel load of 220 litres, went up in flames and he suffered burns to his hands and face that kept him out of the race. He recovered to take his only career points when he finished fifth at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix in a race marked by high attrition, crumbling tarmac and oppressive heat. Ghinzani remained with Osella for , and in the latter half of that year he was drafted into the Toleman team to partner fellow Italian Teo Fabi. Despite the competitiveness of the car (Fabi managed to put his car on pole in Germany), Ghinzani suffered reliability problems and was unable to register a finish for the team. In he returned to Osella which brought predictable results in a car that was based on a 1983 design and with a turbocharged Alfa Romeo V8 engine that was