Gaston Mazzacane

Gaston Mazzacane is a racing driver from Argentina who is active in the last ten years in national touring car competitions.

Earlier in a career, Mazzacane recorded 21 starts in the Formula 1 World Championship, spending a full season with Minardi in 2000 and a part of the season with Prost in 2001. He also spent one season in the Champ Car World Series but without notable results.

Up to date, Mazzacane is the last Argentinean to race in Formula 1.

Gaston Mazzacane

Early career in Formula 3 and Formula 3000

Born in May 1975 in La Plata, Gaston Hugo Mazzacane started his international racing career in 1993, participating in the South American Formula 3. He then moved to Europe and raced two seasons in the Italian Formula 3 before progressing to the International Formula 3000 Championship in 1996.

In his first two seasons in the Formula 3000, driving for Auto Sport Racing team, Mazzacane failed to score points. He then joined Astromega in 1998 and finished in the points in two races.

Gaston Mazzacane as Minardi driver in 2000

Minardi test driver in 1999, F1 debut in 2000

In 1999, Mazzacane became a test driver for Minardi F1 Team. Parallel to his testing commitments, he raced with GLV Bruns in the Sports Racing World Cup, driving a Ferrari 333 SP. He even won a race at Magny-Cours, together with Giovanni Lavaggi.

Mazzacane was announced as the full-time driver for the 2000 F1 season, alongside Marc Gene as his teammate. Mazzacane was driving the #21 Minardi M02, recording five retirements in 17-race season. His best result was the 8th place in the European Grand Prix at Nürburgring, two laps behind race winner Michael Schumacher (Ferrari).

Gaston Mazzacane in 2001

Four F1 starts with Prost team

At the start of 2001, Mazzacane tested for Arrows but he found a seat in the Prost Acer team. He spent just four races in the #23 Prost AP04, retiring three times and finishing 12th in the Malaysian Grand Prix. After four races, Alain Prost fired him by using a performance clause in his contract. Mazzacane was one of the most known pay drivers in Formula 1 and after he lost a seat in Prost's team, he took away some vital sponsorships from the team. At the end of the season, the team folded.

After leaving Prost, Mazzacane had negotiations with some other teams but he raced never again in Formula 1. In a fact, he was out of racing for more than two years.

A season in the Champ Car World Series

Mazzacane returned to racing in 2004, joining Dale Coyne Racing in the Champ Car World Series. He participated in ten events, making nine starts in the #19 Lola-Cosworth. His best result was the sixth place at the streets of Toronto.

After a one-year stint in the North American open-wheel racing, Mazzacane again quit racing. He came to the US for an attempt at 2007 Daytona 24 Hours with VICI Racing, but he didn't finish the race in a Fabcar-Porsche prototype.

Mazzacane raced also in the Formula Truck series

Regular competitor in national championships since 2006

Mazzacane started to race in the Argentinean Top Race V6 series in 2006 and since then he's the regular competitions in the different national touring car and other championships (Top Race, TC2000, Turismo Carretera, Formula Truck).

His only international outing in that period was a participation in selected races of the 2008 FIA GT Championship with Escuderia ACA Argentina. He was driving a Ferrari 550 Maranello in four races, sharing a car with Esteban Tuero (three races) and Martin Basso (one race).

Photos: Mark Thompson, elgrafico.com.ar,