| Nationality: | Argentine | Races Entered: | 21 |
| Date of Birth: | 19 August, 1954 | DNQ/DNPQ: | 13 |
| Teams: | EuroBrun (1988-89) | Best Result: | 13th, Mexico, 1988 |
BIOGRAPHY
Before Formula One
It's not unknown for top racing drivers (and even not-so-top ones) to take protégés under their wing once their own careers are over. For example, Keke Rosberg has looked after the careers of JJ Lehto and Mika Hakkinen in particular, Nelson Piquet had Olivier Beretta, while Ayrton Senna was a similar father figure for Rubens Barrichello. But who better to have as a guiding hand over your career than perhaps the greatest of them all, the genteel five-time World Champion Juan Mañuel Fangio? Did Fangio ever take on a protégé? The answer is yes, and this is the story of that man. Oscar Ruben 'Poppy' Larrauri was, like Fangio, an Argentine, hailing from Buenos Aires. A late starter in motor racing terms, he was almost 20 by the time he took up local karting in his Santa Fe region in 1974, although in 1976, 1977 and 1979 he was Santa Fe champion, and in 1976 he was also provincial champion.
If he was to make anything of his career, and make best use of Fangio's help, Larrauri had to move up and move quickly. Apart from karting he spent 1979 in Argentine F3, a very nondescript series really, and by 1980 he was over in Europe trying his luck in the rough-and-tumble of European F3. In a Martini Mk31 with a Toyota engine, he scored 7 points to come 11th overall, not a bad effort considering that it was his first season in Europe. But the next two years were a whole lot better. In 1981, in a Martini Mk34 Toyota run by Cesare Garibaldi, Poppy won at the Nurburgring and took one 2nd and three 3rds en route to 5th overall with 32 points. In 1982, he joined Paolo Pavanello's Euroracing team, which had designed its own 101 chassis for an Alfa Romeo engine. Oscar took wins at Mugello, Nurburgring, Zolder, Zandvoort, Monza, Enna and Knutsdorp, plus three 2nd places and a 3rd to score 91 points, 29 more than team-mate Emanuele Pirro, and take a commanding championship victory.
The talk was of a new Argentine superstar on the horizon, all the more to be feared because he had Fangio in his corner. Larrauri's path to F1 seemed set, especially after Fangio used his connections to secure a Ferrari test contract for him in 1983. But that year things went totally awry. Larrauri's deal with Minardi in F2 proved literally pointless, and the Ferrari test job led him nowhere. Perhaps his only ray of sunshine came through his sports car outings that year. In the World Endurance Championship, he drove a Sivama Lancia LC1 with Massimo Sigala, coming 5th at the Nurburgring, and not being classified at Le Mans, where they were joined by Max Cohen-Olivar, and where they finished 153 laps behind the winner. These 3 rounds were also part of the European Endurance Championship, in which Oscar also drove at Imola and Mugello with 'Gimax'. In the WEC he was equal 38th with 8 points, and in the EEC he was equal 25th with 15 points.
Come 1984, sports cars really seemed like the only option open to the Argentine. He joined Walter Brun's operation, and drove in seven WEC rounds with Sigala in a Porsche 956. Notable results included 6th at the Nurburgring, 5th at Imola and 4th at Spa, while the pair were joined by Joel Gouhier at Le Mans to finish a creditable 7th outright. However, Larrauri and Sigala retired at Monza, Silverstone and Mosport. With 28 points, they were equal 14th in the World Endurance Championship. The rounds at the Nurburgring and Imola also counted towards the Deutsche Rennsport Meistershaft (DRM) series, so Oscar is having counted as having made two starts there. Across the Atlantic, Poppy also had one outing in IMSA, where he drove a Momo Ford with Gianpiero Moretti to 16th place in the Miami 3hr event.
In 1985, Larrauri stayed with Brun in the WEC, once again driving a Porsche 956 with Sigala, although they were joined occasionally by Renzo Zorzi, Gabriele Tarquini and Frank Jelinski. In a year blighted by retirements, including at Le Mans, highlights were 5th at Shah Alam and 2nd at Hockenheim. With 29 points, Oscar was 17th overall. But to show how desperate he was to revive his flagging career, he also spent the year in the very minor European Alpine Renault 5 Cup. Brun Motorsports updated to a Porsche 962C in 1986, and the results showed. Teaming up now with Jesus Pareja, Larrauri came 4th at Monza, but won at Jerez, including the fastest lap of the race. At Le Mans, where they were once again joined by Gouhier, they came 2nd, albeit 8 laps down on the winning car. Overall in the Championship, Larrauri was 6th with 50 points. The pair also came 7th at Fuji, which doubled up as a round of both the Japanese Sports Prototype Championship and the Fuji Long Distance Series.
By 1986, the old DRM had been renamed the Supercup, and in this series Larrauri also made one start in a Porsche 962C at the Nurburgring, coming 8th. Brun also took Larrauri and their Jägermeister-liveried car to five IMSA rounds, where Oscar drove with the likes of Thierry Boutsen, Sigala and Moretti. Although Poppy took the fastest lap at Miami, 2nd at Watkins Glen was the major achievement, and with 28 points he was 26th overall. If this was all hectic enough, 1987 would prove to be Larrauri's most action-packed sports car year. In the World Sportscar Championship, in the Brun 962C, he drove with a number of drivers, including Brun himself, Pareja, Sigala, Uwe Schäfer and Jochen Mass. Although he retired at Le Mans with Pareja and Schäfer, no less than six top-5 finishes (but no wins) ensured that the Argentine came 7th with 69 points.
Once again the WSC round at Fuji had also counted towards both the JSPC and the Fuji Series, but Larrauri also stayed in Japan to contest one extra round of the JSPC/Fuji Series, in a Leyton House Racing Team Porsche 962C with Kris Nissen at Fuji, where they came 15th. He also made 4 IMSA starts, in the Brun 962C, coming 2nd at the Daytona 24hrs with Sigala and Gianfranco Brancatelli, and also 2nd at Del Mar and Road America by himself. To top it all off, Brun also entered Oscar in a Porsche 962C in four rounds of the Supercup. He came 4th at the Norisring and Hockenheim, and 5th at Diepholz, and he also raced at the Nurburgring. In all he scored 28 points, which was still good enough for equal 3rd in the championship, along with Volker Weidler and Jochen Dauer. In one year, Larrauri had done 19 sports car races in three continents. How's that for clocking up frequent flyer points?
1988 would see Larrauri combine full-time F1 duties with sports car races in the WSC and IMSA, making it just as busy as 1987. In the WSC, again he was driving a Brun Porsche 962C, and again sharing it with different drivers such as Sigala, Pareja, Schäfer, Manuel Reuter. Results were disappointing that year, with only 3rd at Monza, and 4th at Spa to show. He did not race at Le Mans. At Fuji, once more also a JSPC and Fuji Series round, Oscar drove with Bruno Giacomelli in the Leyton House Porsche, coming a lowly 16th. With 50 points, he was 21st overall. But in IMSA, with only 4 points, he was equal 50th overall in his Brun Porsche. Those 4 points came a 3rd at Miami with Sigala, but he also retired after a mammoth 277 laps with engine failure at Daytona with Sigala and Brancatelli, and he and Sigala were disqualified at West Palm Beach after a turbo infringement. Whilst in America, Poppy also competed in the non-championship, Tampa Challenge event, finishing 2nd with Sigala.
Formula One
For 1988, Brun had another project in mind. He got together with Paolo Pavanello's Euroracing concern, and together formed the EuroBrun F1 team. 1987 F3000 champion Stefano Modena was picked to drive one of the ER188 cars, using a non-turbo Cosworth V8 engine, but there was never any doubt who the other driver would be. Being a long-time Brun Motorsports driver, and having won the 1982 European F3 championship for Euroracing, Larrauri was a 100% shoe-in for the second seat. At 34, Oscar was, at that time, certainly the oldest to make his Grand Prix debut in recent history. With a young hotshoe as his team-mate, and with virtually no single seater experience for a few years, Larrauri was always going to struggle, and compared to Modena he was a distinct number two in terms of performance. His season started ominously in Rio when he qualified 26th and last, but had his electrics fail on the parade lap, such that he did not even start the race.
To be fair, the ER188 was a simple chassis coupled to a trustworthy powerplant, so in the early stages of the season the EuroBrun was a not-ineffective machine. Although he didn't make the cut at Imola by one spot, at Monaco Larrauri started a sensational 18th on the grid, by far his best ever F1 effort. Unfortunately he only lasted 14 laps before brake problems put him into the wall. He then started last in Mexico and finished 13th, which would end up as his best ever F1 result, before qualifying seemingly without hassle in 24th spot in Canada and Detroit (although Modena started a stunning 15th in Montreal), and in 26th place in France, dooming the awful Ligiers to non-qualification on their home soil. However, an accident, a gearbox failure and a clutch problem respectively ensured that Larrauri didn't make the finish line in any of these three races.
After missing out by one spot again at Silverstone, and with Modena giving him a royal thrashing, the EuroBrun management were all set to disregard loyalties and give Oscar the sack. They had in fact already concluded a deal with lanky German Christian Danner, but when they organised a seat-fitting, they realised that Danner could not fit into the car without having his knees tucked under his chin. Thus Larrauri remained put, but he was very much on notice. He answered well by qualifying for Germany and finishing 16th, but by this stage the EuroBrun was fast being left behind by better-developing cars. Furthermore, with 31 entries per race, pre-qualifying had been introduced to limit the number of people in the main qualifying session to 30, so one would have to be eliminated by Friday morning. After being 27th fastest again in Hungary, in three consecutive races in Belgium, Italy and Portugal, Larrauri was, disappointingly, that first man gone.
In Spain and Japan he survived the pre-qualifying session, but didn't make the final cut. Somewhat amazingly, in the last race of the year in Australia, Oscar finally made the grid again, in 25th spot. A halfshaft problem meant he eventually spun out of the race, and, temporarily, out of Grand Prix racing. Found to have been by no means standout F1 material, this ex-Ferrari test driver was out of EuroBrun's plans for 1989, and left to return to sports cars (see below). For 1989 Modena was off to star at Brabham, while EuroBrun brought in Swiss driver Gregor Foitek. Unfortunately, this would be a tremendously execrable year for the EuroBrun team. Brun was starting to become disinterested with F1 after only one year, and the new ER189 chassis didn't see the light of day until mid-season, by which stage no meaningful development could be done. As a result, EuroBrun were the only team not to even start a race in 1989.
After the Belgian GP, Foitek got sick and tired of the EuroBrun shenanigans, and left the team for slightly greener pastures. With no other options (and perhaps no one stupid enough to take on the pathetic car), the team plumped for the ever-faithful Larrauri and brought him back from sports cars. Not that the Argentine could do anything about the situation. 10th fastest in pre-qualifying at Monza, when only 4 would go through, showed that. At Estoril he managed to be 8th fastest, but still nowhere near fast enough to get into qualifying. In Spain he blew out to 11th quickest, while in Japan and Australia he was 9th quickest. It really was a tremendous waste of time, and everyone involved was merely going through the motions. Come 1990, EuroBrun would regroup ever-so-slightly and revert to a two-car team, taking on Roberto Moreno and Claudio Langes, leaving Larrauri in the cold once again.
After Formula One
That late-season stint with EuroBrun in 1989 had rather miserably capped off what had been another solid season in many sports car categories. Larrauri made another 7 starts in the Repsol Brun Porsche 962C in 1989, sharing his car with Pareja, Maurizio Sala, Harald Huysman, Franz Konrad and Roland Ratzenberger. Although he didn't win a race, he finished every one of them in the top ten, climaxing with 2nd in Mexico with Huysman. With 54 points, Oscar was 7th overall. Le Mans was now no longer part of the WSC, but in the 24hr classic Brun, Pareja and Larrauri retired with engine failure. In the Supercup, Poppy took only 12th but fastest lap in the Nurburgring round, while 3rd at Daytona with Brun and Stuck left him equal 30th in IMSA with 17 points. He also entered 5 rounds of the JSPC (4 of which also counted for the Fuji Series) in The Alpha Racing with Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C, and out of 4 starts a 3rd at Fuji gave him 12 points for equal 18th overall.
In 1990 it was back to sports cars full-time for Larrauri, and once again he drove for Brun. It was a poor season by his standards, and along with Huysman all he could manage were 6ths at Suzuka and Silverstone, and 5th at Spa, for only 4 points and equal 20th place. At Le Mans, Oscar once again drove with Brun and Pareja, but suffered yet another engine failure, this time in the dying moments of the race, and although he practised at Daytona, he did not start after a practice accident. The next year, Brun started off the year fielding Larrauri in a Porsche 962C. Although Oscar's car was disqualified at Suzuka for overfuelling, he came 6th at Monza with Sigala, 7th at Silverstone with Pareja, and 10th at Le Mans with Pareja and Brun. But by this stage Brun had also developed his own C91 chassis with a Judd, and Larrauri used it in four events, first alongside Gregor Foitek, and then Pareja. A new car was probably a long time coming since the Porsche 962C was getting long in the tooth.
But Brun's self-developed machine was a flop. Foitek and Larrauri didn't even start at the Nurburgring, and at Magny-Cours, Mexico City and Autopolis Larrauri was forced to retire the car. 1991 also saw Larrauri make one start in the JSPC, at Sugo where he raced The Alpha Racing Porsche 962C with Dr Jonathan Palmer, coming 7th. This left Oscar equal 40th overall with 3 points in the series. The race was also a round of the Fuji Long Distance Series. Come 1992, Larrauri's partnership with Brun had finally finished, and he joined the Joest Porsche team, to race mainly in IMSA. Driving with the likes of Sigala, Moretti, 'John Winter' and Bernd Schneider, or sometimes by himself, he drove in 12 rounds with a best of 3rd at the Sebring 12hrs with Moretti and Sigala. Six top 5 finishes saw Larrauri take 5th overall with 76 points.
Joest also put Larrauri to race in the Interserie championship, and against perhaps sub-standard competition the Argentine was a revelation. He started only four rounds at the Nurburgring, Siegerland, Zeltweg and Jarama, and won all of them outright, taking five heat wins, three heat 2nd places and three fastest laps in the process. But because he didn't race the whole series, he only came 2nd with 72.5 points. With the big prototype sports car scene dying a slow death, in 1993 Larrauri retreated to GT racing in Italy, in the Italian Super Car GT championship. With such experience in powerful sports cars, his Jolly Club Ferrari 348 GT must have seemed slow. Although individual race results are scarce, we do know that he came second overall with 63 points, after placings such as 4th at Mugello and Enna, and 5th at Binetto.
He continued in that series in 1994, winning one of the Monza races, taking two 2nds at Vallelunga, and scoring a 1st and 3rd at Binetto, although with 159.5 points he was only 6th in the series. Elsewhere, he raced a Ferrari Club Italia Ferrari 348 LM with Gouhier and Fabio Mancini at Le Mans (his last Le Mans start to date), but the car only lasted 23 laps, while in the same car at the Dijon BPR Global GT series he was 19th with Mancini. Also in 1994, Larrauri had made one glorious start in the Japanese GT championship at Mine, taking the victory plus fastest lap in a Team Taisan Ferrari F40 shared with Tetsuya Oota. The 20 points gained earned him 12th place overall! He enjoyed the experience so much he returned for three more JGTC starts in the Taisan Ferrari in 1995, but he couldn't repeat the dose, although he also made one start in a Porsche 911 GT2 with Indy 500 driver Hideshi Matsuda which gave him 6th place.
But Oscar's main pre-occupation in 1995 had actually been in super tourers, the first time he had raced touring cars. In the Italian Super Touring championship, in an Alfa 155, it was a learning season for Poppy as he got used to 2-litre front-wheel-drive machines. As a result, the best he could do was 10th overall with 59 points, having managed only three 6th places at Imola, Mugello and Misano all season. As he assessed his career options, 1996 appears to have been a fairly quiet year for Larrauri. He returned for five more entries in the JGTC with Team Taisan, which had now switched to a Porsche 911 GT2. He came 7th at Suzuka but retired at Sendai with Takeshi Tsuchiya, and didn't even start the race at Fuji, but afterwards came 26th at Sugo with Anthony Reid and dropped out of the Mine event.
After spending so long in Europe, North America and Japan, in 1997 Larrauri finally returned to race in the vibrant South American scene. He joined the Proas team to drive a BMW 320i in the South American Super Touring Championship, and quickly became a revelation, scoring three wins (two at Buenos Aires and one at Resistencia) and four other top-six finishes to come out a worthy champion with 107 points. In 1998, remaining in the same team in the same car in the same series, Oscar was even more dominant. He took 6 great wins, three at Buenos Aires and one each at Posadas, Mar de Ajo and Interlagos, to score 141 points and clean up the opposition. But a switch to the Quadrifoglio team for 1999 to drive an Alfa 156 proved a bad move. Although he scored 2nds at Alta Gracia and Olavarria, and 3rds at La Plata and Guapore, a spate of accidents left him only 6th on 72 points.
But in 2000 he returned to his winning ways. He stuck with the Quadrifoglio Alfa 156 and took two more wins at Buenos Aires and one in teeming rain at Santa Rosa, while 2nds at Rosario and Mar del Plata and 3rd at Olavarria were enough for him to clinch his third South American title with 112 points. That year he also competed in the marathon 84 Hours of Argentina event in an Alfa Romeo 156 Diesel, coming 3rd with Oswaldo Lopez and C. Ratazzi. 2001 saw Oscar change over to the ultra-competitive Argentine TC2000 championship, alongside other F1 rejects such as Esteban Tuero and Norberto Fontana. In a Honda Racing Argentina Honda Civic, he wasn't dominant like before, and with a best of 3rd at Rio Cuarto, Oscar finished the year 10th with 47 points. On a personal note, he is currently divorced, and is 1.74 metres tall, weighing 72kg. He likes chess, all kinds of music, and his favourite drink is Coke.
CAREER SUMMARY
| Before Formula One | |
| 1974-9 | • Competed in karting in Argentina, several times Santa Fe and provincial champion. |
| 1979 | • Competed in Argentine F3. |
| 1980 | • European F3, 11th overall, 7 points in a Martini Mk31 Toyota. |
| 1981 | • European F3, 5th overall, 32 points, 1 win in a Garibaldi Martini Mk34 Toyota. |
| 1982 | • European F3, 1st overall, 91 points, 7 wins in a Euroracing 101 Alfa Romeo. |
| 1983 |
• Competed in Formula 2 for Minardi. • Tested for the Ferrari Formula One team. • World Endurance Championship, 3 starts, =38th overall, 8 points in a Sivama Lancia LC1 with Sigala. • European Endurance Championship, 5 starts, =25th overall, 15 points in a Sivama Lancia LC1 with various drivers. |
| 1984 |
• World Endurance Championship, =14th overall, 28 points in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 956 with Sigala. • Deutsche Rennsport Meistershaft, 2 starts in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 956 with Sigala. • IMSA, 1 start in a Momo Ford with Moretti. |
| 1985 |
• World Endurance Championship, 17th overall, 29 points in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 956 with various drivers. • Competed in the European Alpine Renault 5 Cup. |
| 1986 |
• World Sportscar Championship, 6th overall, 50 points, 1 win in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C with Pareja. • Japanese Sports Prototype Championship, 1 start in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C with Pareja. • Fuji Long Distance Series, 1 start in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C with Pareja. • Supercup, 1 start in a Porsche 962C. • IMSA, 5 starts, 26th overall, 28 points in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962 with various drivers. |
| 1987 |
• World Sportscar Championship, 7th overall, 69 points in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C with various drivers. • Japanese Sports Prototype Championship, 2 starts, =28th overall, 10 points in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C and Leyton House Racing Team Porsche 962C with various drivers. • Fuji Long Distance Series, 2 starts in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C and Leyton House Racing Team Porsche 962C with various drivers. • Supercup, 4 starts, =3rd overall, 28 points in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C. • IMSA, 4 starts in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C with various drivers. |
| 1988 |
• World Sportscar Championship, 6 starts, 21st overall, 50 points in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C and a Leyton House Porsche 962C with various drivers. • Japanese Sports Prototype Championship, 1 start in a Leyton House Porsche 962C with Giacomelli. • Fuji Long Distance Series, 1 start in a Leyton House Porsche 962C with Giacomelli. • IMSA, 6 starts, =50th overall, 4 points in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C with various drivers. • Tampa Challenge, 2nd place in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C with Sigala. |
| Formula One | |
| 1988 | • EuroBrun ER188 Cosworth V8, 16 entries, 5 DNQs, 3 DNPQs. |
| 1989 | • EuroBrun ER188B/ER189 Judd V8, 5 entries, 5 DNPQs. |
| After Formula One | |
| 1989 |
• World Sportscar Championship, 7th overall, 54 points in a Repsol Brun Motorsport Porsche 962C with various drivers. • Le Mans 24hrs, retired in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C with Brun and Pareja. • Supercup, 1 start in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C. • Japanese Sports Prototype Championship, 4 starts, =18th overall, 12 points in The Alpha Racing with Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C with various drivers. • Fuji Long Distance Series, 4 starts in The Alpha Racing with Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C with various drivers. • IMSA, 1 start at Daytona, =30th overall, 17 points in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C with Brun and Stuck. |
| 1990 |
• World Sportscar Championship, =20th overall, 4 points in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C with Huysman. • Le Mans 24hrs, retired in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C with Brun and Pareja. • IMSA, 1 entry at Daytona in a Brun Motorsports Porsche 962C. |
| 1991 |
• World Sportscar Championship, =31st overall, 11 points in a Repsol Brun Motorsport Porsche 962C and Brun C91 Judd with various drivers. • Japanese Sports Prototype Championship, 1 start, =40th overall, 3 points in The Alpha Racing Porsche 962C with Palmer. • Fuji Long Distance Series, 1 start in The Alpha Racing Porsche 962C with Palmer. |
| 1992 |
• IMSA, 12 starts, 5th overall, 76 points, in a Joest Porsche 962C with various drivers. • Interseries, 4 starts, 2nd overall, 72.5 points, 4 outright wins, 5 heat wins in a Joest Porsche 962C. |
| 1993 | • Italian Super Car GT championship, 2nd overall, 63 points in a Jolly Club Ferrari 348 GT. |
| 1994 |
• Italian Super Car GT championship, 6th overall, 159.5 points, 2 heat wins in a Jolly Club Ferrari 348 GT. • Le Mans 24hrs, retired in a Ferrari Club Italian Ferrari 348 LM with Gouhier and Mancini. • BPR Global GT Endurance series, 1 start in a Ferrari Club Italian Ferrari 348 LM with Mancini. • Japanese GT Championship, 1 start, 12th overall, 20 points, 1 win in a Team Taisan Ferrari F40 with Oota. |
| 1995 |
• Italian Super Touring championship, 10th overall, 59 points in an Alfa Romeo 155. • Japanese GT Championship, 4 starts in a Team Taisan Ferrari F40 and a Porsche 911 GT2 with various drivers. |
| 1996 | • Japanese GT Championship, 4 starts in a Team Taisan Porsche 911 GT2 with various drivers. |
| 1997 | • South American Super Touring Championship, 1st overall, 107 points, 3 wins in a Proas BMW 320i. |
| 1998 | • South American Super Touring Championship, 1st overall, 141 points, 6 wins in a Proas BMW 320i. |
| 1999 | • South American Super Touring Championship, 6th overall, 72 points in a Quadrifoglio Alfa Romeo 156. |
| 2000 |
• South American Super Touring Championship, 1st overall, 112 points, 3 wins in a Quadrifoglio Alfa Romeo 156. • 84 Hours of Argentina, 3rd place in an Alfa Romeo 156 Diesel with Lopez and Ratazzi. |
| 2001 | • Argentine TC2000 series, 10th overall, 47 points in a Honda Racing Argentina Honda Civic. |
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