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Roberto Lacorte
Lacorte in 2019
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1968-06-25) 25 June 1968 (age 56) Pisa, Italy
Related to	Nicola Lacorte (son)
FIA World Endurance Championship career
Debut season	2017
Current team	Cetilar Racing
Racing licence	FIA Bronze
Car number	47
Starts	14
Wins	1
Podiums	2
Poles	1
Previous series
2015 –2019	European Le Mans Series

Roberto Lacorte (born 25 June 1968) is an Italian entrepreneur, racing driver, and sailor.

Personal life

Lacorte has a son, Nicola, who is also a racing driver and a member of the Alpine Academy.

Business ventures

In 2003, Lacorte and brother Andrea founded the Pharmanutra Group, an Italian pharmaceutical company, of which he became vice president and CEO. The company's line of products includes Cetilar, a joint cream which provides title sponsorship to Lacorte's racing endeavors. The brand also provides sponsorship to a number of association football teams in Italy, notably holding primary shirt sponsorship with Parma.

Sport

Motorsports

Lacorte began his racing career in 2011, driving for Spider Racing Team in the Italian Superturismo Championship. The following season, he returned to the competition with co-driver Giorgio Sernagiotto, finishing third overall. In 2015, Lacorte began his partnership with Villorba Corse, taking part in the 2015 European Le Mans Series in the LMP3 class. By 2017, the partnership had led Lacorte to participate in his first ever 24 Hours of Le Mans, in which he finished seventh in class alongside co-drivers Andrea Belicchi and Giorgio Sernagiotto. The following year, Lacorte launched the Cetilar Academy, a youth karting program designed to advance drivers through the motorsport ladder. Early in 2019, Cetilar Racing stepped up to full-time entrant status for the 2019–20 FIA World Endurance Championship, fielding their Dallara P217 in the LMP2 class. The team would finish 12th in class over the course of the season, tallying 72 points.

Later that year the team formed a partnership with AF Corse, who campaigned Ferrari's factory entries in the GTE Pro class. That alliance paved the way for Cetilar Racing's switch to the GTE Am category for the 2021 season. Alongside Cetilar Racing's GTE Am entry, Cetilar would provide sponsorship for the AF Corse GTE Pro entries for the duration of the season. Lacorte ended his LMP2 program due to his disappointment with the stratification plans that would reduce the horsepower and increase the minimum weight of LMP2 competitors, alongside the lack of competitiveness the Dallara chassis offered compared to the Oreca 07. The team's GTE transition proved immediately fruitful, as they finished on the class podium at Spa before claiming their first class victory in WEC competition at Portimão in June.

Ahead of the 2022 season, Cetilar Racing announced a full-season campaign in the GTD class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, thereby temporarily ending the team's involvement in the WEC. While the full-season plan wouldn't pan out, the team remained in the series for the entire Michelin Endurance Cup. At the 12 Hours of Sebring, Lacorte and co-drivers Sernagiotto and Antonio Fuoco won the GTD class. For 2023, the team confirmed a return to the championship, taking part with Ferrari's new GT3 offering, the 296 GT3.

Sailing

Lacorte is an avid sailor, competing with his boat SuperNikka, which began development in 2013. In 2015, the boat competed for the first time at the 2015 edition of the 151Miglia, in which it finished second on corrected time. In its maiden year of competition, Lacorte piloted the boat to victory at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, a feat which he repeated in 2017. In 2019, Lacorte was awarded the Italian Owner of the Year award at the FIV Italian Sailor of the Year awards. In December 2020, Lacorte announced his plans to build the first new generation foil Mini Maxi vessel, dubbed FlyingNikka, set to debut in 2022.

As of April 2021, Lacorte serves as an officer of the International Maxi Association, serving as vice president of the Mini Maxi Racer category, the class in which his boat competes.

Racing record

Career summary

* Season still in progress

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete WeatherTech SportsCar Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2017	Cetilar Villorba Corse	Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto	Dallara P217	LMP2	353	9th	7th
2018	Cetilar Villorba Corse	Felipe Nasr Giorgio Sernagiotto	Dallara P217	LMP2	342	19th	11th
2019	Cetilar Racing Villorba Corse	Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto	Dallara P217	LMP2	352	18th	13th
2020	Cetilar Racing	Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto	Dallara P217	LMP2	363	14th	11th
2021	Cetilar Racing	Antonio Fuoco Giorgio Sernagiotto	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	GTE Am	90	DNF	DNF
2023	Graff Racing	Giedo van der Garde Patrick Pilet	Oreca 07-Gibson	LMP2	303	37th	16th
				LMP2 Pro-Am			4th

References

1. "Formula4 Italian Championship - Certified by FIA WSK Promotion Official Site- Lacorte joins PREMA for 2023 Formula 4 programme". Italian F4 Championship. 2022-12-09. Archived from the original on 2023-12-05. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
2. "Alpine adds Nicola Lacorte in its F1 academy". FormulaRapida.net. 2023-12-04. Archived from the original on 2023-12-05. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
3. "The history of PharmaNutra Group - Pharmanutra". pharmanutra.it. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
4. "Commitment to sport - Pharmanutra". pharmanutra.it. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
5. "Parma extends Cetilar partnership for 2020/21 campaign". insidersport.com. 5 August 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
6. ^ "Roberto Lacorte - Cetilar Racing". cetilarracing.com (in Italian). Retrieved 22 April 2021.
7. "Cetilar Academy: ready for a new, super season". cetilarracing.com. 3 March 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
8. "Villorba Corse Becomes Cetilar Racing, Set for 2019-20 Entry". sportscar365.com. 24 January 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
9. "Cetilar "Turning the Page" With New AF Corse Partnership". sportscar365.com. 22 July 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
10. "Cetilar Strengthening Ties to AF Corse, Ferrari with GTE-Am Entry". sportscar365.com. 25 November 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
11. "Cetilar Confirm 2021 Plans: LMP2 At Daytona, GTE Am Ferrari In WEC". dailysportscar.com. 16 November 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
12. "1-2 Finish For Toyota In Its 100th WEC Race". dailysportscar.com. 13 June 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021. In the end, Cetilar Racing took a big win with its Ferrari, just five seconds ahead of the #56 Team Project 1 Porsche...
13. Goodwin, Graham (8 November 2021). "Cetilar Racing Set To Move To IMSA For 2022 Season". dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
14. "Ferrari triumphs at the Sebring 12 Hours in GTD". Ferrari. 20 March 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
15. James, Richard S. (21 March 2022). "Cetilar Racing to introduce Ferrari 296 GT3 to IMSA in 2023". Racer. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
16. ^ "Vismara V62 Mills 'SuperNikka'". mills-design.com. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
17. "Roberto Lacorte Wants to Be Fast, on Land and Water". The New York Times. 30 August 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
18. "SuperNikka's Roberto Lacorte is 2019 Italian Owner of the Year". mills-design.com. 30 May 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
19. "Roberto Lacorte presents Flyingnikka, the first new generation foil Mini Maxi". cetilar.it. 22 December 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
20. "Officers of the Association - International Maxi Association". internationalmaxiassociation.com. Retrieved 22 April 2021.

External links

• Roberto Lacorte at Bloomberg
• Roberto Lacorte at IMSA

• 1968 births
• Living people
• Italian racing drivers
• Italian male sailors (sport)
• 24 Hours of Daytona drivers
• 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
• FIA World Endurance Championship drivers
• WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers
• European Le Mans Series drivers
• AF Corse drivers
• Sportspeople from Pisa
• Graff Racing drivers
• International GT Open drivers
• 20th-century Italian sportsmen