Stefano D'Aste (born 26 February 1974 in Genoa) is an Italian auto racing driver.

His early racing career included competing on motorcycles and the Monza International Rally. He has competed in the World Touring Car Championship between 2004 (when it was known as the European Touring Car Championship) and 2013.

Racing career

World Touring Car Championship

Proteam Motorsport (2005–06) In 2005 D'Aste competed for Proteam Motorsport in a BMW 320i, finishing third in the Independents' Trophy, with second overall in the second race at Spa-Francorchamps as his best result. He continued with Proteam in 2006, again finishing third in the Independents' Trophy, with a best overall finish of tenth.

Wiechers-Sport (2007) World Independent Trophy Champion For 2007, D'Aste moved to the Wiechers-Sport team, where he won the Yokohama World Independents Trophy in a BMW 320si. His best overall finish was again tenth. He won the gold helmet, one of the most important awards during a racing car drivers career.

Scuderia Proteam Motorsport (2008) In 2008 he stayed in the WTCC, returning to Proteam Motorsport for his third season at the team. He failed to retain his Independents' crown, finishing third in the final standings. He decided not to attend the final rounds in Macau as a protest at being given a five-place grid penalty after an incident at the previous round in Japan. This was despite being in contention to keep his teammate Sergio Hernández from taking his title.

Wiechers-Sport (2009)

For 2009 D'Aste was due to continue in the WTCC for Proteam,http://www.fiawtcc.com/fiawtcc/sport_sto1784716.shtml D’Aate to stay with Proteam. but the deal collapsed and returned instead to Wiechers-Sport.http://www.touringcartimes.com/news.php?id=3046 D'Aste returns to Wiechers Sport. He finished the season nineteenth in the drivers' standings with a best result of sixth at the Race of Germany.

Scuderia Proteam Motorsport (2010) In 2010, D'Aste returned for a third stint at Proteam.http://www.touringcartimes.com/news.php?id=4308 Stefano D'Aste returns to Proteam He elected to again miss the season finale at Macau in order to attend the Monza Rally Show, this despite still being in contention for the Independents' Trophy and leaving teammate Hernandez as Proteam's only title challenger. D'Aste ended the season sixth in the Independents' Trophy and nineteenth in the overall standings with a best finish of ninth at the 2010 FIA WTCC Race of the Czech Republic. At the Rally of Monza, he finished in fourth place overall and first of GT Cars at the wheel of the Lotus Exige GT Rally of PB Racing Team.

Wiechers-Sport and Official Lotus Evora GT4 Driver (2011–2012) D'Aste returned to the WTCC midseason in 2011, replacing Urs Sonderegger at Wiechers-Sport from the sixth round in Portugal. He qualified tenth and took the benefit of the race two reversed grid pole position on his first outing under the new qualifying rules. He took the first point of the season for the team in race one but finished out of the points in the second race. D'Aste missed the next round of the WTCC to race in the GT4 European Cup – driving the Official Lotus Evora for Gianni Giudici's eponymous team – but he returned for the rounds at Oschersleben and Valencia. He finished the season 17th in the overall standings, by this time his best finish in the WTCC despite having only competed in three events. He arrived third in the European GT4 serie.

After selected outings in 2011, D'Aste returned to Wiechers-Sport for a full season in 2012. D'Aste took his first overall WTCC win at the Salzburgring, where a series of punctures for the front wheel drive cars allowed him to pass race leader Robert Huff at the last corner. For the fourth time in 2012, he started from the reversed grid pole at Suzuka; he led from start to finish to claim his second win of the season ahead of independent rival Pepe Oriola and Gabriele Tarquini. D'Aste finished on the podium once again at the Race of China, finishing third behind Chevrolet drivers Huff and Menu in race one. He ran as high as second in race two but the drivers' door on his car was stuck open and he dropped down the order. He went to the Race of Macau in contention for the Yokohama Trophy, 15 points behind trophy leader Norbert Michelisz. He qualified behind both his rivals and was then caught up in a pileup at Lisboa corner on the first lap, which caused considerable damage to D'Aste's car and he retired on lap two. Another accident in race two meant he scored no points from the meeting and remained third in the Yokohama Trophy; although 2012 did mark his best placing in the overall championship so far, with seventh place. In 2012 he took part to the first edition of Rally of Sebino at the wheel of Lotus Exige GT Rally and he was the first Driver to win a race overall with a Lotus Exige 2WD competing with S2000 4wd and WRC cars. It was a great result.

PB Racing (2013) D'Aste established his own team called PB Racing for the 2013 season which he would drive a BMW 320 TC for. He crashed out of the first race of the Race of Italy when he spun on the exit of Ascari on lap four and hit the barriers, skating over the track and then hitting the barriers on the other side before coming to a halt. He started race 2 from the back of the grid, but finished in ninth.

Racing record

Complete European Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Points 2004 Proteam Motorsport BMW 320i MNZ113 MNZ28 VAL114 VAL212 MAG110 MAG29 HOC116 HOC2DNS BRN116 BRN214 DON116 DON2Ret SPA1Ret SPA2DNS IMO115 IMO2Ret OSC1 OSC2 DUB1 DUB2 20th 1

Complete World Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DC Points 2005 Proteam Motorsport BMW 320i ITA116 ITA222 FRA1Ret FRA2DNS GBR1Ret GBR2Ret SMR122 SMR215 MEX112 MEX211 BEL116 BEL22 GER120 GER219 TUR114 TUR215 ESP117 ESP217 MAC111 MAC2Ret 18th 8 2006 Proteam Motorsport BMW 320i ITA114 ITA221 FRA118 FRA210 GBR119 GBR2Ret GER119 GER219 BRA1Ret BRA2Ret MEX122 MEX2Ret CZE113 CZE211 TUR112 TUR211 ESP120 ESP219 MAC1Ret MAC211 NC 0 2007 Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si BRA111 BRA213 NED117 NED218 ESP112 ESP218 FRA113 FRA2Ret CZE114 CZE210 POR111 POR214 SWE121 SWE219 GER117 GER213 GBR117 GBR217 ITA121 ITA210 MAC118 MAC212 NC 0 2008 Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si BRA19 BRA216 MEX113 MEX214 ESP114 ESP215 FRA118 FRA214 CZE125 CZE221 POR119 POR216 GBR112 GBR27 GER19 GER213 EUR118 EUR216 ITA124 ITA214 JPN19 JPN223 MAC1 MAC2 18th 2 2009 Wiechers-Sport BMW 320si BRA1Ret BRA220 MEX112 MEX216 MAR116 MAR213 FRA1Ret FRA2DNS ESP19 ESP29 CZE117 CZE215 POR110 POR29 GBR19 GBR213 GER16 GER116 ITA112 ITA210 JPN124 JPN210 MAC1DNS MAC2DNS 18th 3 2010 Scuderia Proteam Motorsport BMW 320si BRA117 BRA115 MAR1Ret MAR211 ITA111 ITA211 BEL116 BEL213 POR114 POR113 GBR118 GBR211 CZE110 CZE29 GER115 GER216 ESP1Ret ESP2DNS JPN1Ret JPN217 MAC1 MAC2 19th 3 2011 Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TC BRA1 BRA2 BEL1 BEL2 ITA1 ITA2 HUN1 HUN2 CZE1 CZE2 POR110 POR211 GBR1 GBR2 GER16 GER29 ESP210 ESP211 JPN1 JPN2 CHN1 CHN2 MAC1 MAC2 17th 12 2012 Wiechers-Sport BMW 320 TC ITA111 ITA25 ESP111 ESP23 MAR15 MAR25 SVK15 SVK214 HUN117 HUN28 AUT1Ret AUT21 POR111 POR218 BRA117 BRA213 USA19 USA29 JPN18 JPN21 CHN13 CHN24 MAC1Ret MAC223 7th 144 2013 PB Racing BMW 320 TC ITA1Ret ITA29 MAR1Ret MAR214 SVK112 SVK211 HUN114 HUN211 AUT115 AUT2DNS RUS110 RUS28 POR18 POR212 ARG114 ARG210 USA110 USA210 JPN129 JPN29 CHN128 CHN29 MAC19 MAC2Ret 16th 22 2015 ALL–INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 ARG19 ARG2Ret MAR19 MAR26 HUN114 HUN212 GER18 GER2Ret RUS116 RUS214 SVK111 SVK212 FRA114 FRA215† POR113 POR2Ret JPN114 JPN29 CHN19 CHN213† THA18 THA28 QAT117 QAT2Ret 14th 28

† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 75% of the race distance.

References

External links

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