Gabriele Tarquini
An Italian racing survivor who mastered the brutal art of touring car combat, becoming a world champion at an age when most drivers have long retired.
Born 1962 (age 64)·Italian racing driver·Birthday: March 2·Baby Boomers
Biography
Gabriele Tarquini’s career is a testament to adaptability and sheer longevity in motorsport. His Formula One chapter, spanning the late 80s and early 90s, was a gritty struggle with underfunded teams, yielding a single championship point but forging a racer of immense toughness. It was when he turned to tin-tops that his talent truly ignited. Tarquini became a master of the touring car arena, a discipline defined by door-to-door contact and strategic aggression. He claimed the British Touring Car Championship crown in 1994, but his crowning achievement came 15 years later. In 2009, at 47, he drove a SEAT León to the World Touring Car Championship title, defying the conventional career arc. His hunger unquenched, he continued competing at the highest level into his late fifties, adding a WTCR title in 2018, and cementing his legacy as one of the most enduring and successful touring car drivers in history.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Gabriele was born in 1962, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Gabriele Was Born
The biggest hits of 1962
#1 Movie
Lawrence of Arabia
Best Picture
Lawrence of Arabia
#1 TV Show
Beverly Hillbillies
Gabriele's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1962Born
Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $12,800Min wage: $1.15/hrPresident: John F. Kennedy"Stranger on the Shore" — Acker BilkBest Picture: Lawrence of Arabia
1967Started school
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1975Became a teenager
Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War
Gas: $0.57/galHome: $27,600Min wage: $2.10/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Love Will Keep Us Together" — Captain & TennilleBest Picture: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1978Could drive
First test-tube baby born
Gas: $0.63/galHome: $35,300Min wage: $2.65/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Shadow Dancing" — Andy GibbBest Picture: The Deer Hunter
1980Could vote
John Lennon shot and killed in New York
Gas: $1.19/galHome: $47,200Min wage: $3.10/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Call Me" — BlondieBest Picture: Ordinary People
1983Turned 21
Internet adopts TCP/IP, creating the modern internet
Gas: $1.16/galHome: $57,700Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Every Breath You Take" — The PoliceBest Picture: Terms of Endearment
1992Turned 30
LA riots after Rodney King verdict
Gas: $1.13/galHome: $84,300Min wage: $4.25/hrPresident: George H.W. Bush"End of the Road" — Boyz II MenBest Picture: Unforgiven
2002Turned 40
Euro currency enters circulation
Gas: $1.36/galHome: $137,800Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"How You Remind Me" — NickelbackBest Picture: Chicago
2012Turned 50
Curiosity rover lands on Mars; Sandy Hook shooting
Gas: $3.64/galHome: $143,200Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Somebody That I Used to Know" — GotyeBest Picture: Argo
2022Turned 60
Russia invades Ukraine; Queen Elizabeth II dies
Gas: $3.97/galHome: $348,700Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Joe Biden"As It Was" — Harry StylesBest Picture: Everything Everywhere All at Once
2026Age 64 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Became the FIA World Touring Car Champion in 2009 with SEAT Sport at age 47.
- Won the British Touring Car Championship in 1994 driving an Alfa Romeo 155.
- Secured the inaugural World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) title in 2018, 24 years after his BTCC win.
- Clinched the European Touring Car Championship title in 2003.
- Scored a Formula One World Championship point at the 1989 United States Grand Prix.
Did You Know?
He holds the record for the oldest driver to win a World Touring Car race.
Tarquini is one of very few drivers to have won championships in both the British and World Touring Car categories.
He made his Formula One debut with the small Coloni team, which often failed to qualify for races.
After retiring from driving, he took on a role as a motorsport executive for the Hyundai touring car program.
“You learn more about racing in one season of touring cars than in five of Formula One.”
