Teo Fabi

Teodorico "Teo" Fabi (born 9 March 1955) is an Italian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1982 to 1987.

He qualified on pole at the Grote Prijs van België Formel 2 at Circuit Zolder and the Preis Baden-Württemberg at Hockenheimring, and set fastest lap in the latter on the way to a victory.

The team had only qualified twice the previous year, and the season got off to a difficult start when the season-opening South African Grand Prix was disrupted by a drivers' strike.

Under pressure from Toleman manager Alex Hawkridge, Fabi was the only driver to break the strike (Jochen Mass took no part from the start).

His best finish in the remaining races was twentieth at the Austrian Grand Prix, and he left Formula One at the end of the season.

The mixed approach led to disappointing results in both categories and mid-season saw Fabi decide to concentrate solely on Formula One.

His performances improved, including a strong run at Italian Grand Prix where he ran second behind Piquet in the first half of the race before retiring with engine failure, the major problem for Brabham during the year.

His profile in Italy allowed him to rejoin Toleman (now heavily sponsored by the Benetton Group) when they belatedly joined the championship at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The late start meant the TG185 was never truly reliable, but Fabi's speed lead to the marque's only pole position, at the German Grand Prix, at the new Nürburgring.

1980 World Champion Alan Jones (who also used a Hart engine in his Haas Lola) described it late in the season as "sending a boy to do a man's job" in F1 against the likes of Renault, Ferrari, BMW, Honda and TAG-Porsche.

The Ford V6 suffered from unreliability early in the season due to the use of higher turbo boost in an effort to keep up with the Honda-powered cars from Williams and Lotus and the TAG-engined McLarens.

He made his Indy car debut at the Kraco Dixie 200 at Atlanta International Speedway, starting ninth and finishing twentieth after retiring after 41 laps due to suspension failure.

Fabi then qualified with pole position at the Dana Rex Mays Classic at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds Park Speedway and finished fourth.

He won the Domino's Pizza 500 at Pocono International Raceway and then the Escort Radar Warnings 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

He qualified third at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and was second at the Dana Jimmy Bryan 150 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Following the Budweiser Cleveland Grand Prix Fabi left Indy car racing to concentrate on the Formula One season.

Despite the setbacks Fabi managed a best finish of fourth at the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix at Pennsylvania International Raceway.

Fabi's return to the Indianapolis 500 was also a disappointment as he qualified seventeenth and finished thirtieth after losing a wheel after 30 laps.

At the Indianapolis 500 Fabi qualified thirteenth and again finished thirtieth after retiring due to ignition problems after 23 laps.

Prior to the start of the season Porsche was going to build an all carbon fibre chassis with their constructor, March Engineering.

A new March 90P was used at the Indianapolis 500 and Fabi started twenty-third and retired in eighteenth due to transmission problems after 162 laps.

In 1992 Fabi drove at the ITT Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit at Belle Isle Park to substitute for Mario Andretti who suffered injuries at the Indianapolis 500.

8 Pennzoil Lola T93/00-Ilmor-Chevrolet Indy V8 265C, achieving a best finish of fourth at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

During the season Fabi's best finishes were a trio of thirds, at the ITT Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit, the Marlboro 500 at Michigan International Speedway and the Texaco/Havoline 200 at Road America.

Fabi was unable to get a car to drive for 1996 as Forsythe Racing hired Indy Lights driver Greg Moore.

18 Motorola Reynard 96i-Ford Cosworth XD to replace Mark Blundell, who was injured at the IndyCar Rio 400 at Autódromo de Jacarepaguá.

51 Lancia Beta Monte Carlo-Lancia 1.4L Turbo I4 for the Group 5 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Hans Heyer and Bernard Darniche.

Fabi also competed in the Group 6 class of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the same car with Alboreto and Rolf Stommelen.

The car qualified fourth but finished thirty-fourth after retiring on their ninety-second lap due to engine failure.

After the 1990 IndyCar season proved to be a backward step he returned to the series in 1991 with Tom Walkinshaw Racing/Silk Cut Jaguar in the No.

Fabi driving a Toleman TG185 in 1985
The March-Porsche Fabi drove for the 1988 CART season.