date of birth: 03 June 1973 to Milan

lives: Milan

marrital status: married

height: 163 cm

weight: 48 kg

first rally: Rally Città di Torino 1995

               (Fiat Cinquecento with Walter Ussai)

first world rally: Rally MonteCarlo 1996

                      (Fiat Cinquecento with N. Caldani)

Giovanni E-mail: giovanni@gigigalli.com

Giovanni Bernacchini started racing in 1995. He had followed in the family tradition, his father Arnaldo has been a great co-drivers in the 70’s and 80’s. In 1995 Giovanni took part in the Fiat Cinquecento Trophy together with Walter Ussai. In the following years he went on racing in this trophy sharing the cockpit with Nicola Caldani, Luca Pedersoli and Valter Ballestrero. These experiences brought him to become European Champion in 1995 and 1997.

In 1997 he won the Golden Kinzica as best co-driver of the year.

In few seasons Giovanni became one of the most popular co-driver in Italian rallying.

In 1998 he took part in the Italian Rally Championship with Luca Pedersoli in a Renault Megane Maxi of the Autorel team. A great season, at their debut in the most important Italian series, they won the Italian Privateers Trophy.

In 1999 he started racing with the powerful and fast WRC class rally cars, in this case with a Subaru Impreza of the Procar Team. The aim is high: join the battle for the Italian rally title. The premises were soon confirmed by the results obtained. The crew Andreucci-Bernacchini won Rally Piancavallo, third round of the Italian Rally Championship and their first race in a Subaru Impreza WRC. They repeat that result in the next race, Rally Salento and thanks to these performances they finished the season third overall in the Italian Rally Championship, contending for the first place until the very last rally. In the next season the couple Andreucci-Bernacchini finished second overall the Italian Rally Championship, winning Rally 1000 Miglia, Rally Salento and Rally Piancavallo.

After competing for three years in a row in the Italian Championship, now is time for the jump into the World Rally Championship! In 2001 Giovanni is at Gigi Galli’s side in a Mitsubishi Lancer Group N of the Vieffe Team taking part in the Production World Rally Championship. After the unlucky participation in Rally Montecarlo, due to a contentious occurrence the crew had been banned from Rally Sweden. Giovanni decided to leave rallying for a few months. In that period he find an agreement with Andrea Dallavilla to  conclude the season together competing in the Junior World Rally Championship in a FIAT Punto 1600. A srtriking end of the season for them, crowned by a Class win in the home round of the WRC, Rally Sanremo. The crew Dallavilla-Bernacchini finished second overall the JWRC.

In 2002 the aim is the same, winning the Junior WRC, but it’s been add also the participation in the Italian Rally Championship.

In 2003 Giovanni is still competing in the World Championship, actually in the World Championships, because he takes part both in the S1600 Championshipand the Group N Championship, respectively with Mirco Baldacci and Alfredo De Dominicis.

With Baldacci he took part in the whole Junior WRC with a FIAT Punto S1600 of the Hi-Tech Team. They started with a steady pace, they went on improving and at the end of the season they won their Class at Rally Sanremo. They finished the championship fourth overall.

Also the adventure with Alfredo De Dominicis brought great satisfaction and lot of experience. They took part in all the races of the Production WRC with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII Group N. A season with ups and downs, good performances but also technical problems that prevent them form obtaining the results they hoped.

In 2004 Giovanni kept on racing with Mirco Baldacci in the Junior WRC and this time there is also the satisfaction to be part of an official team, Suzuki. They drove an Ingnis S1600 of the official Japanese manufacturer. There were high expectations and the good performances of the first races confirmed them. Unfortunately the fast times in the stages were frustrated by mechanical problems, punctures or mistakes that brought them to gather only bits of what they expected and deserved. They finished the season fifth overall in the Junior WRC with much to their regret for the lost opportunities.

In addition to their engagement in the JWRC they took part also in few other world rallies in a Mitsubishi Lancer Group N catching a great tenth place overall at Rally Australia.

In the next season they took part again in the Junior WRC but with a FIAT Punto S1600 of the N Technology team. The season starts with ups and downs and the results were not what they  

At the end of year 2005 Giovanni got an agreement with Gigi and to be at his side in a Lancer WRC of the official Mitsubishi team for the 2006 season.

As everybody knows the three diamonds team retire from competitions and the situation became quite worrying. All the teams were ready to start the new season and that point it seemed almost impossible to find a team and a car, but at the very last minute they found an agreement with the Italian subsidiary of RalliArt, that gave them a Mitsubishi Lancer WRC 2005 version to start the season with and they took part in the first two races Rally Montecarlo and Rally Sweden.

When the program with the RalliArt team was over, Pirelli came forward to lend them a hand. A short program has been organized for them with the Bozian team to race in France, Argentina and Italy with a Peugeot 307 WRC.

The podium obtained in Argentina is the jewel among these three races.

In the month of August they took part at Rally Finland always with a Peugeot 307 WRC but this time with the BSA team. The result obtained is very good, a fifth place overall, that for Italians has been always very difficult to achieve, the last time it has been obtained by Miki Biasion and Tiziano Siviero. Let’s hope this could be a good omen!