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Simon Hawkins talks to Giacomo Petrobelli

Giacomo Petrobelli (photo courtesy of Blackthorn)

I first met Giacomo during the test and media day for the 2025 British GT Championship in March this year. Giacomo was partnering Jonny Adam in the Blackthorn Vantage GT3 Evo.

Attending the press conference in the BRDC centre at Silverstone Giacomo he was eloquently describing to the assembled UK motoring press the latest position with the GT3 Vantage Evo and how developments over the winter racing in the Asian Le Mans Series had helped inform the performance and set up of the car for this year.

After the press conference I arranged a follow up interview to learn more about Giacomo and how he came to race Aston Martins.

I asked Giacomo how he journey into GT Racing started. "Racing is in my blood. My late father Antiono was a successful powerboat racer and I remember spending many weekends of my childhood lakeside watching the races and I knew then that Racing was for me."

Antionio Petrobelli won the Italian Championship in 1963, 1966 and 1970 he became Italian Champion in the 2,500-cc class. In 1966 and 1971 he won the European Championship, and in 1967 and 1969, he became World Champion. Tragically Antonio lost his life Po near Pontelagoscuro on 1 April 1994 due to an accident while he was testing his motorboat.

"My father showed immense skill and bravery and was a factory driver for Alfa Romeo in the Formula 1 category at this time. These boats could reach 280 km/h on open water. During the Pavia-Venezia race he averaged an astonishing 199km/hr. This powerboat race is the longest in the world covering some 300km."

Giacomco was born in Italy in 1975 but has lived very much an international life and has spent many years in the UK initially coming here to undertake studies at the London School of Economics. After graduating, he held various positions at banks in Italy and the UK. He worked for UBS Investment Bank, the alternative asset manager Apollo Global Management and Bremer Kreditbank. Since 2022, he became Chief Investment Officer and a member of the Board of Management for Corporate Clients at German bank Oldenburgische Landesbank.”

In 2006, Giacomo began motorsport as an amateur racing driver. He competed in the Formula Palmer Audi, where he finished 4th in his first season as a driver. "I started to realise my racing ambition late on life having until then been 100% immersed in my career. It was at the relatively late age of 27 before I started racing in karting championships before progressing into Formula Palmer Audi series (FPA). A series that was developed and launched by ex F1 driver and BBC F1 commentator Jonathan Palmer."

Giacomo was already showing that he had good pace and was comparable with others who went on to race professionally in F1. It was whilst showing competitive pace in FPA series that he was invited, through a personal contact, to enter into endurance racing.

In 2007, he made the switch to GT Racing and subsequently drove Ferraris in the Spanish and British GT Championships, the International GT Open, the Le Mans Series and, from 2012, almost exclusively in the Blancpain Endurance Series. His best finish of the year was third place in the 2012 GT3 Pro-Am Cup driving a Ferrari 458 Italia for the Vita4One Team Italy driving alongside Eugenio Amos.

At the end of 2014 Giacomo took a break from racing to concentrate on his business interests. It was during the Covid lockdown period that he decided to get back into racing and started to have discussions with Tom Ferrier (TF Sport) who was running the successful Vantage GTE programme and had just secured a class win at Le Mans in 2020. TF Sport made it a double win for Aston Martin that year at Le Mans alongside the AMR Pro entry and became the first Aston customer team in the modern era to claim a Le Mans win in the process.

In the same year Giacomo teamed up with Tom Canning (AMR Academy Winner) to drive TF Sport's championship-winning Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT3, at the Intelligent Money British GT Championship's blue riband event, the Silverstone 500.

TF Sport Vantage V8 GT3, Silverstone 500, 2021 driven by Giacomo and Charlie Eastwood (photo courtesy of Giacomo Petrobelli)

Speaking at the time Giacomo stated "Having been out of a race car for a while, I am really looking forward to driving the Aston at the most prestigious race in the British GT calendar. I have known Tom Ferrier and TF Sport for a long time and I am confident the car will be well prepared, and together with Tom Canning we will make a good pairing. I can't wait!"

In 2023 and 2024 Giacomo secured the opportunity to drive at Le Mans. Stepping back again into a Ferrari with the UK Based JMW Motorsport team. In 2023 he drove the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo and the car was retired after an accident and in 2024 he drove the Ferrari 296 GT3 but again the car was retired this time due to a fuel pump issue.

Giacomo driving the Ferrari 296 GT3 at Le Mans in 2024 (photo courtesy of Giacomo Petrobelli)

Giacomo stated "Le Mans left an indelible mark on my racing career. It was always a lifelong dream to race there and to be part of the occasion was incredible. Le Mans is unique in the its location, preparation and sense of occasion. Being part of the drivers’ parade was amazing and being at the centre of the action was personally a special moment."

It was whilst Giacomo was driving for TF Sport he started working with Le Mans class winner Jonny Adam. Giacomo said "Jonny and myself had developed a positive working relationship and in 2024 he mentioned this new exciting team, Blackthorn, which was being formed. Jonny was excited about the team and its prospects and encouraged me to make contact and get on board. I have always enjoyed working alongside Jonny and he has helped me to develop my driving over the years. We freely work on the data together and analyse in depth where lap times can be improved and how best to work on our race strategy."

Being a competitive Bronze Driver in international GT racing requires high levels of personal fitness. I asked Giacomo how he balances this with a busy professional life. "I have to be really disciplined with my diary. I train at least four times a week. My training regime also needs to change depending on the type of race. For the long distance races I increase my cardio/stamina regime and for the shorter sprint races I concentrate on strength and reaction training."

Returning our attention back to the upcoming British GT Championship Giacomo spoke optimistically. "The 2024 season was a development year for us. We started the year with the existing GT3 and the Evo package did not arrive until part way through the season. So, we were learning and developing the car all year. We were particularly strong in Spa that year and should have claimed a win as our race pace was very high. We competed in the Asian Le Mans series this winter and had great race pace. I led the race in Abu Dhabi as well as qualifying second. This also proved a great learning curve for us and we have brought that back to the UK this year."

The final race of the 2024 season saw Giacomo and Jonny secure a strong second place. They were gaining on the leader at a rate 1.5 seconds per lap and would be have been in a strong position to challenge but a series of yellow flags meant that there was not enough time left at the end to secure victory.

Giacomo driving the Vantage GT3 Evo at Donington 2024 (photo by Simon Hawkins)

"The Vantage GT3 EVO has good race pace and is strong through very fast corners favouring tracks such as Spa and Silverstone." It was right at the end of the test day that Giacomo put in a very fast lap which proved encouraging. "Donington will be like the first day back at school. Until then we won’t know what other teams’ pace will be and where we stand in terms of qualifying and race pace. All we do know is that we will be there to win races and hopefully the championship."

I asked Giacomo what are his plans are for the future. "I am aware of my age and that time is not on my side. The day I realise that I cannot challenge for the lead of a race then I will probably retire from top class racing. However, until then I remain 100% focussed and believe that I have at least 3-4 competitive years ahead of me. I would love to return to Le Mans for another drive and will be exploring all avenues to secure this."

Giacomo proved a true gentleman and is a great ambassador for the sport and the Aston Martin brand. We look forward to reporting on his progress in 2025 as he writes another chapter of his fascinating racing career. AMOC wish Giacomo and the rest of Blackthorn team the best of luck over the coming years.