Alessandro Rossini

Alessandro Rossini (also known as Milano Rossini, born September 11, 1988) is a former ARLA Elite Series and TM Junior Series driver. In 2010, Rossini earned his first pole position in the ARLA Elite Series, but would later retire due to the struggle under rain conditions. His TM Junior career, however, was much more fruitful with the backing of Corsa Automobiles, where he would go on to take two wins and finish a respectable fourth place in the final standings.

He will be making his return to racing in the Hanmore Formula Overdrive series, where he seeks more success. On his Formula Overdrive debut, he qualified 11th and recorded a 9th place finish. His best finish came at Milwaukee with a 2nd, in his 2nd race in the series.

He is the fostered son of former Formula A driver, Romano Rossini.

Early Years
Rossini was sent to live with his uncle, Romano, in the UK at the young age of 4 where he grew up under the care of his uncle. Romano Rossini was a Formula A driver in from 1989-1994. The initial move was to benefit Rossini's education career, but in the long term it was for Rossini's father, Giancarlo, to continue his day to day life without disturbance. Rossini declared his interest in motorsport at a young age, and by age 8 had joined the local Buckmore Bambino Kart Club, a timed trial championship. He won 4 of the 5 trials over the season, to take the championship before entering the Cadet club, also at Buckmore Park. 4 wins from 6 race meetins left him with a 2nd championship victory from 2 championship entrances.

With a promising career ahead of him, Romano dedicated most of his time into the work of Rossini Karting. A move to Italy to promote Rossini's career put him into the Formula Cadet Italia series, where he took 3 wins and 4 podiums, en route to a 2nd place. Sponsorship arrived from Petroleum company "Olio Italia", and Alessandro had a huge earning by the age of 10. Rossini re-entered the Italian Cadet championship, where he was slightly less successful, only scoring 2 wins and an overall 4th place. Rossini was also an entrant to the World Cadet Championship final in Belgium, where he recorded a 10th place finish.

At the age of 13, Rossini moved to Rotax karting, where he competed in the Italian and World Mini Max championships. It was highly successful, with 3 wins and 4 additional podiums sending Rossini to second. He improved slightly in 2004, taking 1 additional victory, yet still finding himself in 2nd place. Both seasons in the European Mini Max were ran with Formula Forte, and in 2004 he would be taken to the World Rotax Finals where he recorded 3rd place, after a successful season in the Italian Junior Rotax Max Championship gave Rossini his his first international title. With Scuderia Creazione, he would be taken to the World Rotax Championship series, and placed an impressive 7th with consistent point runs. Rossini preferred to drop back down to European level at the age of 16, and took his largest kart title, recording 2 victories and 7 podiums from 12 races.

2007
Rossini began his single-seater career in the Alps Formula C championship, competing across Italy, France and Austria, where he claimed the championship in his rookie season for family ran team, Rossini Sport. From 16 races, he won 8 races and took a further 6 podiums; he placed in the points in all 16 events. Rossini felt he had enough experience to make the move to the USA.

2008
Rossini began his career in the USA with the ARLA Elite Series, where he competed under Rossini Sport. Rossini failed to qualify for the majority of the races he attempted, completing the year in 48th after scoring 202 points.

2009
An abrupt change lead Rossini into the TM Master Cup series with Blitzkrieg Racing, while also remaining in the ARLA Elite Series. His lack of success remained in the ARLA Elites, where he failed to finish a race in those which he started. His TM Master Cup series campaign, however, was fairly more successful. His debut was made at the Round of Brazil, the 6th of the season, was a disappointment where he was taken out of the race in an accident. The following round, the Karjala Grand Prix, would prove Rossini had capability to drive at the top level, claiming an impressive 9th place. Despite his result in Karjala, Rossini failed to qualify for many further races. Those that he did qualify for resulted in a poor result within the bottom 10 due to incidents. He would, however, qualify for the Round of Italy where he finished in 20th place. He would only start 6 races, en route to a 49th position.

2010
Rossini would make a move to Squadra Corsa for 2010, competing in a part-time schedule turned full-time in the TM Master Cup, while competing for the entirety of the TM Junior series. Despite only starting 6 races, Rossini managed a 40th place finish overall, without making a single appearance in the top 10. He would, however, finish a high 4th place in the TM Junior series, after securing 2 victories, 5 top fives and 7 top tens across the 16 race season. Squadra Corsa would disband by the end of 2010, and would leave Rossini without a drive.

2011
Rossini returned to the Alps, where he formed a youth squad with drivers Franco Giovanardi and Giuseppe Marchetti, who had been driving for Rossini Sport in the previous season under Romano Rossini's control. They looked talented in 2010, but nothing to really note. 2011 looked much better with Alessandro's return, mounting a 1st and 2nd on the grid at Monza, the first race of the season. It didn't make it far, as the team mates collided. Giovanardi, who had started 17th of 24 had already climbed to 9th by the first corner. Giovanardi was on his own through most of the race, after taking the lead, and went on to win. Giovanardi had skill but lacked consistency, and Rossini went on to take his 2nd Formula C title, with 3 wins and 2 podiums, despite starting 2 less races than the entire calendar. Marchetti claimed a 2nd place with multiple podiums, and Giovanardi finding himself 4th.

2012
Alessandro Rossini made his return to the US in the Formula Overdrive series, driving for self-run Rossini Sport. The season begun well with a 9th place at Infineon, before taking a second place at Milwaukee the following race meeting. However, Rossini's luck turned when collisions caused by other drivers carelessness left a promising 4th place grid spot in tatters. Another accident at Memphis threw Rossini to the middle tables, before a salvation arrived in a 3rd place in Cleveland after taking 1st place in qualifying. Alessandro Rossini was involved in the incident which injured Tanya Carter and Meghan Gallagher. Rossini failed to finish in the points in this race. Rossini failed to score points again at Mosport when he was taken off the track by Cliff Raymond. As a consolidation for Mosport, Rossini took a 5th place at Atlanta. In the following two races, he scored a 6th and an 8th, before another retirement. He would take his 3rd podium at Las Vegas. At the Hanmore World Championship, Rossini was involved in a large accident with Garry Carter and Tiffany Matthews. Rossini suffered a fractured vertebrate in his spine, leaving him bed ridden for the winter, while Garry Carter was left with paralyses. Tiffany Matthews was fatally injured.

Alessandro also competed in the F3000 Italian Grand Prix for Scuderia Colletti, where he took the Race 1 win after starting 2nd. This would place him 19th of 32 in the International F3000 Championship.

2013
Rossini will be competing for Rossini Sport in 2013. He will return to the Formula Overdrive for the Rounds of Italy and London, while also making appearances in both the Italian and European F3000 series. He will drive for Tutino in the 2013 TM Master Cup season running the Rossini Scarfiotti 312S chassis, developed by Italian vehicle manufacture FIAM.

Rossini made his first appearance for Tutino at the 2013 Round of California where he qualified in 29th beside last years runner-up, Luciano Soveral. Rossini drove a steady race en route to finishing in 21st position but would later be promoted to 20th, in the points, after Packer Carroll was excluded from 10th.

Helmet
Rossini has sported the same helmet since karting, with a white stripe around the centre of the helmet separating a green stripe from a red stripe, symbolising the flag of Italy. On the top of the helmet is a British flag which has been painted in the colours of the Italian flag, rather than the typical red, white and blue. In 2013, Rossini updated his helmet keeping with a green-white-red scheme, however the traditional British flag was absent from the lid of the helmet.

Personality
While Rossini is generally happy to comment for the media or to sign autographs, he generally remains quiet throughout the weekend and keeps to himself and the team. On his appearances on TV, Rossini is generally perceived as good-humoured but not particularly funny, making many rather dry jokes.

Driving Style
During his younger years, Rossini was seen as an erratic but fast driver. In karting, he was common to rashly swing the steering wheel into the corner, lacking the smooth touch required for karting. This driving style become more useful in larger Formula C cars, however the style was very cruel on the tyres and also led to him turning in on cars in many occasions. Over the course of 2007 and 2008, Rossini developed a smoother and more cautious style in order to better hone the required traits of oval racing. His current style has received great acclaim due to his ability in coaxing the car through corners, applying a large amount of the brake prior to the corner before easing off the brakes in a "trail-braking" style, and easing the steering wheel toward the corner. The style causes considerably lesser amount of strain on the tyres, which was seen at the 2013 Round of Carbondale where Rossini was able to stay out several laps longer than others.

Personal Life
Alessandro Rossini was born into a rich family. Rossini was the outcome of an affair between businessman Giuglio Rossini and housemaid, Leana Giovanni. Alessandro was thus sent to live in the UK with his uncle, as to not disgrace his fathers name. He has 3 sisters and 4 brothers, 2 of which are also drivers. He was later adopted by his uncle, Romano, an ex-racing driver. Rossini is commonly seen travelling to Italy and Britain while he is not driving, to spend time with friends and family in his countries of origin. Additionally, he makes guest appearances on Italian TV show "Commedia Sportivo", on TV channel Rai, on the panel with other sportsmen and comedians of Italy. Rossini is currently dating British-American model, Rachel Thomson. In 2007, Rossini was arrested for drink driving offences, whilst out with friends. He is fluent in Italian, British, French and Thai.

Rossini has one child born to ex-wife Siam Thunia. He does not hold custody of him, nor is allowed to see him.

Career summary
*Season in progress

2012 Formula Overdrive Results
(Races in bold indicate pole position)

=Notable Achievements= 2000 Formula Cadet Italia Runners-Up 2004 Italian Junior Rotax Trophy Champion 2006 European Senior Rotax Champion 2007 Alps Formula C Champion 2009 TM Juniors Series 4th Place 2011 Alps Formula C Drivers Champion 2012 International F3000 Italian Grand Prix