He enjoyed an extremely good debut season, resulting in him joining the Eddie Jordan Racing team for the following year to replace the reigning champion Jean Alesi, who had moved to Formula 1.
In the meantime he won his debut race (Varano, Class S2) in the Italian Superturismo Championship with the official Peugeot 405 racer.
His Formula 1 career continued in 1993 with Jordan Grand Prix, as the team's official test driver.
With 27 wins he became the symbol of BMW's sporting heritage and in 1997 he won the Italian Superturismo Championship.
In 2004 he returned to Europe, again in the FIA GT Championship, at the wheel of a Ferrari 575 run by the GPC Team.