Luis Pérez-Sala

Luis Pérez-Sala Valls-Taberner (born 15 May 1959) was a Spanish Formula 1 Driver and team principle. Sala drove two seasons for the small Minardi team between 1988 and 1989. He left Formula 1 after the1989 season and pursued a career in touring cars, retiring in 2008.
He returned to the F1 paddock in 2012 as the team principle of HRT, owned by former Minardi teammate Adrián Campos. He left this role at the end of the season when the team folded.
He made 26 starts from his 32 entries in Formula 1, with his
best finish of sixth providing his solitary championship point at the 1989
British Grand Prix. This result saw him placed 28th in the standings that year.
__TOC__
==Early Career (1982-1987)==
=== 1982-83 – Alfasprint European Cup ===
Sala began his driving career in the Alfasprint European
Cup, a single make touring car series with all competitors driving the Alfa
Romeo Alfasud Sprint. He debuted in the 1982 season, placing in 9th
place in the championship, scoring 47 points, but not reaching the podium all
season.
He returned for a second season in 1983 with more success.
He took six podiums including four wins, with no driver matching his win tally
in the ten races in the championship. However, he missed out on winning the
championship, finishing second to consistent Italian Luigi Calamai by one point,
who only missed out on the podium on two occasions. 
=== 1984 – Formula 3 ===
In 1984, Sala decided to make the move from touring cars to
single seaters, securing a drive with Ravarotto Racing in a Ralt RT3, powered
by a Alfa Romeo engine. He spent the majority of the year driving in the
European Formula 3 Championship for the team. It was a strong field with future
Formula 1 race winner Gerhard Bergher, along with other future F1 drivers, including
Johnny Dumfries, Ivan Capelli and Claudio Langes. Also competing was Tommy
Byrne who had already completed a handful of Formula 1 races in 1982.
He endured a difficult first half of the 13 race season,
only finishing inside the top ten once with eighth in the second round at Zolder.
Four other finishes were achieved in the first seven races, with retirements at
La Châtre and the Nurburgring. The following three
races were an improvement, with a pair of seventh places followed by 11th
at Mugello. 
The highlight of
his year came at the next race at the Ring Knutstorp in Sweden. Helped by
absences and retirements from the more competitive drivers in the series, Sala
managed to finish on the podium in second place, only a second behind winner Claudio
Langes. Eighth at the penultimate round at Nogaro was followed by another
points finish in the final race in Jarama where he finished 5th.
This brought his points tally up to eight in total, good enough for tenth
position in the championship.
One week after
the conclusion of the European Formula 3 Championship, Sala joined Equipo
Campsa for the final round of the Italian Formula 3 Championship at Misano. He
finished just outside the points in eighth, in his final race of the year.
=== 1985 – Formula 3 ===
Sala continued
his Formula 3 career in 1985 with Equipo Campsa, the team which he raced for in
the final round of the Italian F3 Championship the previous year. He was to
complete a full Italian F3 season paired with three non-championship races,
including the prestigious Monaco F3 support race, in a Ralt RT30, powered once
again by Alfa Romeo. The field was weaker than the series that Sala had driven
in previously, with some notable fellow competitors coming in the form of Alex
Caffi, Stefano Modena, Nicola Larini and Marco Acipella.
After seventh in
the opening round at Vallelunga, Sala would go on a three race point scoring
streak, starting with sixth at Misano. He won the following round at Spezzano,
his first win since 1983 and his first win in Formula 3. He backed this up with
a strong second place at the next race at Mugello.
Another strong
showing at the non-championship Monaco GP saw him finish sixth, but his
fortunes would take a turn for the worse when returning to Italy. Failing to
qualify at round five at Margione, he then crashed out of the next four races,
including twice at Monza. A pair of fifth places followed at rounds ten and
eleven, but he failed to finish for the third time in a row at Monza at round
twelve. Hopes wouldn’t have been high for the non-championship Monza Trophy
that would have followed, but Sala not only finished but earned a
morale-boosting podium in second place.
He couldn’t
replicate this result in the final three races in the Italian F3 season,
failing to score points in any of them. He finished fifth in what would be his
final F3 race, the European Cup at Paul Ricard. He scored 20 points during the
season, showing flashes of talent, but the string of crashes meant he could
only manage seventh in the championship.
=== 1986 - Formula 3000 ===
After showing his
talent in Formula 3, Sala earned a ride for the Pavesi team in the Formula 3000
International Championship for the 1987 season. He would again be driving a
Ralt, this time the RT20, but for the first time in his career he would not
have an Alfa Romeo engine, instead using Cosworth power. As the final step
before Formula 1, he came up against a strong field with drivers such as Ivan
Capelli, Pierluigi Martini, Philippe Alliot and Satoru Nakajima.
He failed to
score at round one at Silverstone and retired from round two at Vallelunga.
However, he began to show speed, picking up his first points next time out at
Pau with fifth, then went one better at Spa. Another fifth place followed at
Imola before failing to qualify at Mugello. He then took his maiden F3000 race
win at Pergusa, followed by yet another points finish at the Osterreichring. 
The following
round was in Birmingham, with torrential rain all through the race, with
several drivers crashing out. Sala however, flourished in the wet weather
conditions and took a superb win, although unfortunately for him he received
half points due to the race being called off early. He rounded off the season
with fifth at the Le Mans Bugatti circuit before finishing outside the points
at Jarama in the final round.
It was a superb
maiden season for Sala, with two wins and a total of 24.5 points landing him
fourth in the championship. It would have been third on countback had the
Birmingham round been worth full points.
In addition to
the successful F3000 campaign, Sala got his first taste of Formula 1 machinery
in 1986. With regular Zakspeed driver, Huub Rothengatter’s sponsorship money
running out, both Sala and Kris Nissen tested the 861 in a test before the
penultimate round of the F1 championship. However, Rothengatter finished the
season for Zakspeed so Sala would have to wait for his chance at a race seat.
=== 1987 - Formula 3000 and World Touring Car Championship ===
Sala would
continue in F3000 for 1987, moving to the works Lola team, driving the Cosworth
powered T87/50. Again he faced a strong field, which included Stefano Modena, Roberto
Moreno and Mauricio Gugelmin. When his F3000 commitments allowed, Sala would
also race in the inaugural World Touring Car Championship, driving a Bigazzi
entered BMW M3, sharing a car with Oscar Grouillard. 
Sala started his
F3000 season by retiring from the opening race at Silverstone, but finishing
second from third on the grid at the next race at Vallelunga. He was then off
the pace at Spa, finishing a lowly 18th, and retired from the
prestigious following race at Pau. This left him with only 1 points finish in
the first four races, leaving him 12 points adrift of championship leader and
title rival Stefano Modena. He responded at the next race with pole and a win
at Donnington, with Modena finishing closely behind in second.
He qualified a
strong third at Pergusa, but again failed to score with another retirement. He
was off the pace again at Brands Hatch but scored points at Birmingham, the
scene of his famous win the previous year. Modena won the Birmingham race, and
the following round in Imola, where Sala stood on the podium in third. This
left Sala 18 points behind Modena with only two rounds to go, meaning that Sala
required to win the next two rounds and hope Modena didn’t finish in the top
five at either round.
Pole and a win at
the Bugatti circuit, paired with a Modena retirement, meant that the
championship was still mathematically available going into the final round at
Jarama. Both title contenders started well outside the top 15, and Salas title
dreams were ended as he could only finish fifth, one position ahead of Modena.
This meant Sala secured second place in the championship, with 33 points, and
two poles, two wins and four podiums in total. His performances did not go
unnoticed by the F1 paddock and he was in strong contention for a drive in
1988.
Sala’s WTCC
campaign began with a disqualification from the opening round at Monza, as his
car was found to be 50kg underweight. However, he managed a podium at the next
round at Jarama with third. Missing a round due to F3000, he returned at the
Nurburgring with fourth, and won at Spa. Another podium followed at Brno and he
retired at Silverstone.
Sala missed the
rounds in Oceania but returned for the final race at Fuji, where he finished
sixth. This meant he ended up 11th in the drivers championship, with
Bigazzi finishing 5th in the teams championship, with drivers
Winfried Vogt, Markus Oestreich and Altfrid Heger standing in when the regulars
were unavailable.
== Formula 1 Career (1988-1989) ==
=== 1988 – Minardi ===
With Alessandro
Nannini leaving to go to Benetton, there was a spare seat at the Minardi team
alongside Adrian Campos. When Josele Garcia was denied a superlicense, Sala
joined the team to form an all-Spanish lineup. The team used the new for 1988
Minardi M188, with the team moving to normally-aspirated Ford power after
almost three years using Motori Moderni engines.
At the opening
round in Brazil, Sala qualified in 20th position, 0.3s ahead of his
teammate. He worked his way up to 11th place but was halted on lap
46 when his rear wing fell off. He again outqualified his teammate to start 18th
at Imola, eventually ending up 11th despite being hampered by poor
straight line speed. Driveshaft failure at Monaco ended his race prematurely.
He continued to
qualify near the back of the grid in both Mexico and Canada, but capitalised on
other car’s retirements to finish 11th and 13th
respectively. By this point, Sala had outqualified Campos in each of the first
five races, and had generally been quicker in the races. Campos’ poor form
prompted him to be replaced by Pierluigi Martini by Detroit, where he
immediately scored Minardi’s only points of the season in sixth while Sala
retired from last with gearbox issues.
He was still
running at the end of the race in France, but was not classified as he was a
huge 10 laps behind winner Alain Prost. He qualified 18th at
Silverstone but spun off on the opening lap in torrential conditions and
retired, his third non-classification in a row. He was faster than Martini in
qualifying for the German GP but missed out on starting the race by 0.3s. A
third eleventh place of the year in Hungary was followed by another failure to
qualify at Spa, this time missing out by a single tenth. 
More gearbox
gremlins ended his Italian GP after 12 laps, but at the next race at Estoril he
qualified in 19th and finished a season best eighth. This led to
high hopes for his home race but he only managed 12th in the race.
He made no impact on the season ending flyaway races, finishing an off the pace
15th in Japan, and retiring in Australia when his Ford engine
expired.
It was an
unremarkable rookie year for Sala, scoring no points and as such was unincluded
in the championship standings that year, with his eighth in Estoril being his
best finish. His best qualifying performance came at the Hungarian Grand Prix
where he lined up 11th. He was clearly the faster driver up against
the more experienced Campos, although he was outperformed when Martini joined
the team. Martini’s single point in Detroit meant that Minardi finished 10th
in that years constructors standings.
Sala competed in
the inaugural F1 indoor trophy in Bologna. It was structured as a knockout
tournament, with six entries from the lower end of the F1 Grid. Sala beat
Fabrizio Barbazza in the quarter finals, Nicola Larini in the semi finals, to
face Alex Caffi in the final. Sala won, winning his first, albeit non-championship
F1 race.
=== 1989 – Minardi ===
Minardi retained
the lineup of Martini and Sala for the 1989 season, whilst they switched from
Goodyear to Pirelli rubber. The team started the season with an upgraded 1988
car, the M188B, and stuck with Ford power for a second year.
It was a
disastrous start to the year. Sala was a first corner casualty at Jacarepagua,
when he plowed into the back of Olivier Groulliard’s slow moving Ligier. Another
crash at Imola and ignition issues in Monaco meant that the Spaniard had three
retirements on the bounce since the start of the season. The bad form continued
when he couldn’t even qualify for the Mexican GP, despite the introduction of
the new car, the M189.
Overheating in
America and an accident in Canada was followed by yet another failure to
qualify in France, meant that Sala was almost halfway through the season
without a finish. Teammate Martini had a similar record with the Minardi
proving unreliable. The following GP however, turned the formbook upside down.
The team had to score points to avoid having to take part in pre-qualifying
sessions, and hope was provided by the fact that the car was well-suited to
fast circuits. Martini finished in fifth and Sala followed him home in sixth,
fending off Groulliard to score his only career point.
Sala was brought
back down to earth when he failed to qualify at Hockhenheim, and he suffered
another collision next time out in Hungary. He was the last car circulating at
Spa but finished a strong 8th in Italy, which was succeeded by a
career best 9th on the grid at Estoril, where he finished 12th.
A collision with
Mauricio Gugelmin brought an early close to his home race at Jarama, where he
qualified 16 places behind Martini. He had new teammate for the Japanese GP,
Paolo Barilla, replacing the injured Martini for a single race. Both Martinis
retired on Lap 1, Sala involved in yet another collision in what would be his
final Grand Prix start. He failed qualify in Australia, his final involvement
in Formula 1.
Sala was
classified 28th in the drivers championship, thanks to his singular
point finish in Great Britain. Although his career best finish and qualifying
position came in this season, he proved erratic and was involved in far too
many crashes. His lack of consistency was shown by the fact he only finished
four of the sixteen races in 1989. Furthermore, he was well beaten by his
teammate Martini, who scored five points across the season, which along with
Sala’s point, left Martini in 11th place in the constructors
championship. Despite outqualifying Barilla in their only race together, Sala
was replaced by the Italian for the next season, and would never drive in
Formula 1 again.
For a second
consecutive year, Sala would race in the F1 Indoor Trophy, again held in
Bologna. It was again structured as a knockout tournament. Sala defeated Pierre
Henri Raphanel in the quarter final, before advancing to the final by knocking
out the experienced Andrea de Cesaris. He would face teammate Pierluigi Martini
in the final, and for the second year running, Sala won. With his second win,
Sala would go down in history as the most successful driver in the competition.
== Post Formula 1 Career (1990-2008) ==
After the
conclusion of his F1 career, Sala returned to touring cars, with a decent
amount of success. His only race in 1990 was the 480km of Suzuka, driving a
Porsche. He finished 15th with his codriver Manuel Rueter from
Germany. The race was the opening round of the World Sportscar Championship,
but as Sala finished outside the points, he was unclassified in the standings.
Between 1991 and
1996, Sala competed in the Spanish Touring Car Championship, the most
successful period of his career. In his debut season driving a Alfa Romeo 75
America, he managed to win the championship, five points ahead of Jossep
Bassas. For the rest of his STCC career, he moved to the Nissan team, starting
in 1992. That year he managed 1 win and 5 podiums but could only reach 4th
in the championship, a disappointment compared to the previous year.
He made amends in
1993 however, becoming a double champion in the series, scoring 8 podiums from
11 races, including four wins. Despite scoring 5 podiums in 1994, he went
winless and finished 5th in the championship. In 1994 he also
competed in the Touring Car World Cup, a single race series, finishing 19th.
He returned to the winners circle in 1995 with two wins and five podiums,
although again he wasn’t in the championship fight. With the Touring Car World
Cup extended to two races, he made little impact on either. He finished 27th
and last in the first and retired from the second. 
1996 was his
final STCC season. It was his best championship finish since 1993, taking two
wins and five podiums to score a third place in the championship. After the
season, he took a break from motorsport, eventually returning in 2003. He won
back to back Spanish GT championship victories in the GT3 class, driving a
Ferrari 360 Modena. He continued in the Spanish GT championship with little
success until his final season in 2008, where he finished second in the GTA
class behind swede Peter Sundberg.
In 2007 and 2008
he also competed in the International GT Open, again with little success in his
latter years. The only other races he competed in the 21st century
was the Spanish round of the 2004 Porsche supercup, where he finished 15th.
That was Sala’s only venture into the series. He also competed in the little
known Formula Q 24 hours of Barcelona race, which he won alongside Manel
Cequeda Jr and Marcel Costa, driving a Seat Leon. 
In 2008, Sala
officially ended his 25 year career in Motorsports. He wasn’t away for long
however, as he replaced Colin Kolles as team principle at HRT for 2012, the
team owned by former Minardi teammate Adrian Campos. He was only in this role
for a year as slow and cashstrapped team went into liquidation in December of that
year.
== Racing Record ==
=== Complete Racing Record ===
 Year	
 Championship	
 Car	
 Position
 1982	
 AlfaSprint European Cup	
 Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint	
 9th
 1983	
 AlfaSprint European Cup	
 Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint	
 2nd
 1984	
 European Formula 3	
 Ralt RT3-Alfa Romeo	
 10th
 1984	
 Italian Formula 3	
 Ralt RT3-Alfa Romeo	
 NC
 1985	
 Italian Formula 3	
 Ralt RT30-Alfa Romeo	
 7th
 1985	
 F3 Monaco Grand Prix	
 Ralt RT30-Alfa Romeo	
 6th
 1985	
 F3 Monza Trophy	
 Ralt RT30-Alfa Romeo	
 2nd
 1985	
 F3 European Cup	
 Ralt RT30-Alfa Romeo	
 5th
 1986	
 Formula 3000	
 Ralt RT20-Ford Cosworth	
 4th
 1987	
 Formula 3000	
 Lola T87/50-Ford Cosworth	
 2nd
 1987	
 World Touring Car Championship	
 BMW M3	
 11th
 1988	
 Formula 1	
 Minardi M188-Ford Cosworth	
 NC
 1988	
 Formula 1 Indoor Trophy	
 Minardi M188-Ford Cosworth	
 1st
 1989	
 Formula 1	
 Minardi M188B-Ford
 Cosworth	
 28th
 1989	
 Formula 1	
 Minardi M189-Ford Cosworth	
 28th
 1989	
 Formula 1 Indoor Trophy	
 Minardi M189-Ford Cosworth	
 1st
 1990	
 World Sports Prototype
 Racing	
 Porsche 962GTi	
 NC
 1991	
 Spanish Touring Car
 Championship	
 Alfa Romeo 75 America	
 1st
 1992	
 Spanish Touring Car
 Championship	
 Nissan Skyline GT-R	
 4th
 1993	
 Spanish Touring Car
 Championship	
 Nissan Skyline GT-R	
 1st
 1994	
 Spanish Touring Car
 Championship	
 Nissan Primera GTE	
 5th
 1994	
 Touring Car World Cup	
 Nissan Primera	
 19th
 1995	
 Spanish Touring Car
 Championship	
 Nissan Primera GTE	
 6th
 1995	
 Spanish Touring Car
 Championship	
 Nissan Primera 4x4	
 6th
 1995	
 Touring Car World Cup	
 Nissan Primera	
 NC
 1996	
 Spanish Touring Car
 Championship	
 Nissan Primera eGT	
 3rd
 2003	
 Spanish GT Championship
 (GTB)	
 Ferrari 360 Modena
 Challenge	
 1st
 2004	
 Spanish GT Championship
 (Overall)	
 Ferrari 360 Modena
 Challenge	
 4th
 2004	
 Spanish GT Championship
 (Overall)	
 Porsche 996 GT3	
 4th
 2004	
 Spanish GT Championship
 (GTB)	
 Ferrari 360 Modena
 Challenge	
 1st
 2004	
 Porsche Supercup	
 Porsche 911 GT3	
 NC
 2005	
 Spanish GT Championship (GTA)	
 Unknown	
 18th
 2005	
 Formula Q 24 Hours of
 Barcelona	
 Seat Leon Cupra R	
 1st
 2006	
 Spanish GT Championship (GTA)	
 Unknown	
 17th
 2007	
 Spanish GT Championship (GTA)	
 Ferrari 430 GT2	
 8th
 2007	
 International GT Open (GTA)	
 Ferrari 430 GT2	
 45th
 2008	
 Spanish GT Championship
 (GTA)	
 Ferrari 430 GT2	
 2nd
 2008	
 International GT Open
 (GTA)	
 Ferrari 430 GT2	
 NC
===Formula One Record===
Year	Entrant 	Team	WDC Points	WDC Pos.	Report
 	Lois Minardi Team	 	0 	NC 	Report
 	Lois Minardi Team	 	1 	28th 	Report
===Career Statistics===
===Career Results===
==References==
Category:Spanish Drivers
Category:1959 births
Category:Living people
Category:1988 Début Drivers
Category:Minardi Drivers