Formula Three The son of a miner, Zorzi was born in
Ziano di Fiemme, Trentino, near the Austrian border. He became an engineer with
Pirelli, and began his motor racing career in 1972, driving a
Tecno for Scuderia Mirabella in
Italian Formula Three. He debuted at
Monza on 3 September, where he failed to qualify for the final. Zorzi competed more regularly the following year, initially with a
Brabham BT38C, and then with a Quasar, finishing 12th at
Vallelunga, before finishing 13th at Casale with the Brabham. He then managed 10th at
Misano driving a Branca, before his best result of the season, sixth place at Varano in a Brabham BT35. In 1974, Zorzi campaigned a
GRD 374 for Scuderia Mirabella, with
Giorgio Francia as his team-mate. and fifth at Monza beating Francia, before fifth place at
Monaco driving a
March 743. Back in the GRD, he managed 13th at the
Nürburgring in a race won by Francia, followed by fifth again at Casale and sixth at Monza. He finished tenth in the championship. For 1975, Zorzi helped to develop a Formula Three engine for
Lancia, built by the Repetto company. As he was still without a win in the Italian category, it was a surprise when he won the European Formula Three Monaco Grand Prix support race in May, having qualified second to
Larry Perkins and won heat two by eleven seconds. In a chaotic final, he gained two places when
Tony Brise and
Alex Ribeiro collided in front of him, and finished second on the track, 21 seconds behind
Conny Andersson. When Andersson was penalised a minute for a jump start, Zorzi inherited the victory, just 0.89 seconds ahead of the
Safir of
Patrick Nève. Back in the Italian championship, Zorzi subsequently finished seventh at Vallelunga, and sixth at
Mugello. In the European category, he achieved two sixth places at the Nürburgring and the
Ring Djursland in Denmark. But his Monaco success had provided the impetus for a step towards Formula One before the end of the 1975 season. He qualified the car 22nd of the 28 entrants, just 0.71 seconds slower than his team-mate
Jacques Laffite in the newer
FW04. Running as high as 12th in the race, he was delayed by a puncture and finished 14th and last, six laps adrift of winner
Clay Regazzoni. The arrangement continued at the first race of 1976, the
Brazilian Grand Prix, although the team was now 60% owned by
Walter Wolf and renamed Wolf-Williams. Zorzi drove the FW04 while new team-mate
Jacky Ickx drove the new
FW05. Zorzi qualified 17th of the 22 entrants, outqualifying 19th placed Ickx. He finished ninth of 14 classified finishers, just 2.44 seconds behind Ickx.
1977: Shadow Zorzi returned to Formula One in 1977 with the
Shadow team as team-mate to the highly-rated Welsh driver
Tom Pryce, backed by their Italian sponsor
Franco Ambrosio. Ambrosio demanded an Italian driver as part of the agreement for his financial support, and Zorzi was chosen for this reason rather than through the choice of the team. At the first race in
Argentina, driving the team's older
DN5B, he qualified last of the 21 entrants, and climbed to 18th at the start before retiring on lap three with a gearbox failure. At the next race in
Brazil, Zorzi qualified 18th and in a race of attrition, finished sixth of the seven finishers, winning his only World Championship point in only his fourth Grand Prix. However, tragedy struck in the following race in
South Africa. Driving the team's new
DN8, Zorzi qualified 20th, and was running near the back of the field when he pulled off the track with a fuel leak caused by a broken metering unit. the first marshal narrowly avoided the passing cars but the second marshal, Frederick Jansen Van Vuuren, was struck and killed by the car of Zorzi's teammate Pryce. Van Vuuren's fire extinguisher struck Pryce on his helmet, causing fatal head and neck injuries. Pryce was replaced by future World Champion
Alan Jones, who outperformed Zorzi at the following two races. At
Long Beach, Zorzi qualified 20th and retired with a gearbox failure, and in
Spain he qualified 24th and retired with an engine failure. His last appearance in the event came in 1985, when the
Porsche 956 he shared with
Oscar Larrauri and
Massimo Sigala for
Brun Motorsport finished sixth. After retiring from racing, Zorzi returned to work for Pirelli, running a driving school for the company at
Binetto in southern Italy. ==Death==