Ronnie Quintarelli (born 9 August 1979) is an Italian racing driver who competed in Super GT from 2005 to 2024. A four-time champion, he jointly holds the all-time record for the most drivers' championship titles won in the GT500 class of Super GT (shared with Sho Tsuboi).

Biography Quintarelli first encountered motorsports at the age of six when his father gave him a small go-kart. After starting his karting career in 1990, he scored two second place finishes in the World Formula Super A championship and a European Formula C title.CIK-FIA History He made his single seaters debut in 1999 when he drove in five rounds of the Formula Opel Cup in Croatia. He finished second in the standings, behind his teammate Antony Bertocchi, who competed in every round. In 2000, he entered the Italian Formula Renault Championship and ended up third with Prema Powerteam. He also entered the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, the German Formula Three Championship and the Formula Volkswagen Germany.

In 2005, Quintarelli scored his maiden GT win in the 1000 km Suzuka race with André Couto and Hayanari Shimoda and later made his way to the Super GT. After spending two seasons under the Lexus banner, Quintarelli moved to the Nissan camp, securing multiple victories. Driving for the Mola team, he won two consecutive titles in 2011 and 2012 partnered by Masataka Yanagida. He later joined the Nismo Official Team alongside Tsugio Matsuda. The pairing cruised to two more titles in 2014 and 2015 which made Quintarelli the most titled driver in the history of the series until Sho Tsuboi equaled him in 2025. While still fighting for the title in 2016 with a third place, the Nissan teams struggled at the beginning of the following year but Quintarelli and Matsuda rallied to finish the season in second place. In 2018, they were again steadily at the front of the Nissan roster, and managed to snatch a win at Fuji Speedway. Unfortunately, they would not hit the top-five again, eventually taking eighth place in the championship.SUPER GT’S 7 Most Dominant Champions

In 2019, the Nismo pairing completed the championship in third position with four podium finishes and three pole positions scored by Quintarelli himself. In 2020, they remained in contention for the title until the very last race by taking two wins in the two rounds held at Suzuka. The final event of the season at Fuji Speedway (the track hosted four events to simplify logistics during the COVID-19 pandemic) saw a record 11 teams in contention for the title with tight margins. Quintarelli moved from sixth place to the lead in the opening lap, although tyre issues cost him track position later. He and Matsuda would eventually end up ninth in the race and sixth in the championships. They returned to the Nismo team for 2021.

The 2021 season started with a double retirement as contact involving team-mate Tsugio Matsuda at Okayama and a broken engine at Fuji Speedway impacted the rest of the season. The No. 23 Nismo car still secured one win at Suzuka and a third place at Autopolis, but the Quintarelli-Matsuda pairing had to settle for ninth in points. For the 2022 season, all the Nissan teams debuted the new Z GT500 model. However, the Nismo team suffered the tragic loss of its Director Yutaka Suzuki, who prematurely died during the winter. Despite the positive start at Okayama with a third place, contact and a mechanical issue jeopardized the following two events. A brilliant second place in wet conditions at Sugo put Quintarelli and Matsuda back in title contention. Unfortunately, two more technical problems in the two final events at Autopolis and Motegi forced the pairing to seventh place in the standings.

Finishing in third in Okayama International Circuit in the first race of the 2022, Quintarelli extended his all-time record streak in Super GT to 15th consecutive year at least 1 podium/season as a non-Japanese driver.

Personal life Based in Yokohama, Kanagawa. Quintarelli speaks Japanese fluently and serves as a TV color commentator for the Super Formula series. In recent years, he devoted his efforts towards the people affected by earthquakes, raising awareness and providing support to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami relief. Together with fellow Super GT regular Andrea Caldarelli, he led a fundraising campaign in favour of the populations impacted by the 2016–2017 Central Italy earthquakes. His cross-border charity efforts, together with his sporting results, earned him the title of Officer of the Order of the Star of Italy. Onorificenze

Awards 5th Class/Officer: Order of the Star of Italy: 2015

Racing record

Career summary

Season Series Team Races Poles Wins Points Position 1999Formula Opel Cup CroatiaVergani RT5*344 2nd 2000Formula Renault 2000 ItaliaPrema Powerteam*21* 3rd 2001Formula Renault 2000 EurocupCram Competition51166 7th 2002Formula VolkswagenTeam Penker Racing*42* 2ndGC-21INGING Motorsport101 N/A NC 2003Japanese Formula 3 ChampionshipINGING Motorsport2000200 4thMacau Grand PrixJB Motorsport with INGING1000 4thKorea Super Prix1000 16th 2004Japanese Formula 3 ChampionshipINGING Motorsport2048251 1stMacau Grand Prix1000 8thBahrain Super Prix1000 22nd 2005Formula NipponKondo Racing Team60012 9thSuper GT - GT500SARD8002116th1000 km Suzuka101 N/A 1st 2006Formula NipponTeam Boss INGING9006 10thSuper GT - GT500Cerumo100924th Formula OneMidland F1 Test driver 2007Formula NipponTeam Boss INGING90127 7thSuper GT - GT500Bandai Toyota Team Kraft300224th 2008Formula NipponCerumo/INGING80021.5 9thSuper GT - GT500Hasemi Motorsport9113912th 2009Super GT - GT500Hasemi Motorsport911497th 2010Super GT - GT500Team Impul701475th 2011Super GT - GT500Mola81190 1st 2012Super GT - GT500Mola81293 1st 2013Super GT - GT500Nismo81050 6th 2014Super GT - GT500Nismo82281 1st 2015Super GT - GT500Nismo82279 1st 2016Super GT - GT500Nismo 8 0 2 62 3rd 2017Super GT - GT500Nismo 8 1 1 82 2nd 2018Super GT - GT500Nismo 8 1 1 43 8th 2019Super GT - GT500Nismo 8 3 0 52.5 3rd Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters 1 0 0 0 NC† 2020 Super GT - GT500 Nismo 8 0 2 51 6th 2021 Super GT - GT500 Nismo 8 0 1 41 9th 2022 Super GT - GT500 Nismo 8 1 0 37 7th Super Taikyu - ST-Q NISMO 2023 Super GT - GT500 Nismo 8 1 1 56 3rd 2024 Super GT - GT500 NISMO 8 0 0 45 8th Super Taikyu - ST-Q2025Super Taikyu - ST-ZTeam ZeroOne2026Super Taikyu - ST-ZTeam ZeroOne † As Quintarelli was a guest driver, he was ineligible to score championship points.

Complete Japanese Formula 3 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Pts 2003 INGING Toyota SUZ1 SUZ2 FUJ1 FUJ2 TAI1 TAI2 MOT1 MOT2 SUZ1 SUZ2 SUG1 SUG2 TSU1 TSU2 SUG1 SUG2 MIN1 MIN2 MOT1 MOT2 4th 200 2004 INGING Toyota SUZ1 SUZ2 TSU1 TSU2 OKA1 OKA2 MOT1 MOT2 SUZ1 SUZ2 SUG1 SUG2 MIN1 MIN2 SEN1 SEN2 MIN1 MIN2 MOT1 MOT2 1st 251

Complete Formula Nippon results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points 2005 Kondō Racing MOT SUZ SUG FUJ SUZ MIN FUJ MOT SUZ 9th 12 2006Team Boss INGING FUJ SUZ MOT SUZ AUT FUJ SUG MOT SUZ 10th 6 2007 FUJ SUZ MOT OKA SUZ FUJ SUG MOT SUZ 7th 27 2008 Cerumo / INGING FUJ SUZ MOT OKA SUZ SUZ MOT MOT FUJ FUJ SUG 9th 21.5 ‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

Complete Super GT results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DC Points 2005 SARD Toyota Supra GT500OKAFUJSEPSUGMOTFUJAUTSUZ16th21 2006 Lexus Team Cerumo Lexus SC430 GT500SUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZMOTAUTFUJ24th9 2007 Lexus Team Kraft Lexus SC430 GT500SUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZMOTAUTFUJ24th2 2008 Hasemi Motorsport Nissan GT-R GT500SUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZMOTAUTFUJ12th39 2009 Hasemi Motorsport Nissan GT-R GT500OKASUZFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOT7th49 2010Team Impul Nissan GT-R GT500SUZOKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJMOT5th47 2011 MOLA Nissan GT-R GT500OKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOT 1st 90 2012 MOLA Nissan GT-R GT500OKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOT 1st 93 2013 NISMO Nissan GT-R GT500OKAFUJSEPSUGSUZFUJAUTMOT6th50 2014 NISMO Nissan GT-R GT500OKAFUJAUTSUGFUJSUZBURMOT 1st 81 2015 NISMO Nissan GT-R GT500OKAFUJCHAFUJSUZSUGAUTMOT 1st 79 2016 NISMO Nissan GT-R GT500 OKA FUJ SUG FUJ SUZ CHA MOT MOT 3rd 62 2017 NISMO Nissan GT-R Nismo GT500 OKA FUJ AUT SUG FUJ SUZ CHA MOT 2nd 82 2018 NISMO Nissan GT-R Nismo GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ CHA FUJ SUG AUT MOT 8th 43 2019 NISMO Nissan GT-R Nismo GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ CHA FUJ AUT SUG MOT 3rd 52.5 2020 NISMO Nissan GT-R Nismo GT500 FUJ FUJ SUZ MOT FUJ SUZ MOT FUJ 6th 51 2021 NISMO Nissan GT-R Nismo GT500 OKA FUJ MOT SUZ SUG AUT MOT FUJ 9th 41 2022 NISMO Nissan Z GT500 GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 7th 37 2023 NISMO Nissan Z GT500 GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUZ SUG AUT MOT 3rd 56 2024 NISMO Nissan Z GT500 GT500 OKA FUJ SUZ FUJ SUG AUT MOT SUZ 8th 45 ‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

Records

All-time Super GT records :

DescriptionRecordDrivers matched Championships Most Drivers' Championships 4 Sho Tsuboi Most Drivers' Championships as a non-Japanese driver 4 Stands alone Most Drivers' Championships won in GT500 class 4 Sho Tsuboi Most consecutive season with at least 1 podium/season as non-Japanese driver 16Stands alone

References

External links