Alessandro Rossini

Alessandro Rossini (also known as Milano Rossini, born September 11, 1988) is a TM Master Cup Series driver for Volpi Racing Team.

Rossini formerly competed in both the ARLA Elite Series and the TM Junior Series. In 2010, Rossini earned his first pole position in the ARLA Elite Series, but would later retire from the race due to the struggle under rain conditions. His TM Junior Series 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.

Notably, Rossini is one of few drivers to have scored a pole position in every series in which he has started a race in the United States. Despite this, he had only won a race in the disbanded TM Junior Series up until his Karjala Grand Prix victory in 2014.

He is the adopted 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 following sporadic appearances the season prior in an older Formula C car, competing across Italy, France and Austria, where he claimed the championship in his rookie season for his family run 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 also competed in the annual season finale in Macau, where he finished a commendable 11th place. 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, compete in the Round of Italy where he finished in 20th place after a popular pole position. 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 6 wins and 4 more 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
He will drove for Tutino in the 2013 TM Master Cup season running the Rossini Scarfiotti 312S chassis, developed by Italian vehicle manufacture FIAM and re-branded for Tutino.

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. At the 2013 Round of Carbondale, Rossini ran toward the front and nearly led a lap before falling back and later retiring with an engine failure. Rossini recorded 3 points scoring finishes from the first 7 races, the first at California, the second of which at the 2013 Round of Georgia where he placed 14th and the third at the 2013 Round of France where he placed 19th.

At the 2013 Round of Wales, Rossini would equal for Tutino's best result, set by Vijay Pushanda at the 2012 Round of England and 2013 Round of Russia, when he finished 13th for Tutino following a consistent performance. Despite starting in a lowly 32nd position, Rossini avoided incident to come home a fine 13th place, beating his previous best with Tutino of 14th in Georgia. This would mean that Rossini doubled the number of top 20 results prior to 2013, where he scored 2 in 2009 and 2 in 2010. Rossini would fail to back up the result, however, at Darlington where the Tutino was significantly less favoured than in previous tracks after Rossini qualified 32nd and would finish only 27th.

Rossini continued to have a varied season with a 15th in Quebec and a strong showing recording one of Tutino's best results with a 12th in Wisconsin, however a set of poor results including two 40th's would soon follow.

2014
Prior to the 2013 Round of Queensland, Volpi Racing Team officially announced the signing of Alessandro Rossini to partner Leonid Roderick in the second Volpi. This would not be the first time Rossini would drive a Volpi, having driven a privateer Volpi SR560 in 2009 for Blitzkrieg Racing. Two steady first races saw him net a 5th at the 2014 Round of California and a 3rd at the 2014 Round of Carbondale. Rossini led a TM Master Cup race for the first time in his career, leading for 18 laps before falling behind Melanie Clevenot and later Adrien Devereux despite a spirited fight back from the Italian to try and retake 2nd place. At the 2014 Round of Georgia, Rossini drove a calm race despite a poor start and a collision with Melanie Clevenot onward to his third top 5 finish of the season. While yet to finish higher than 3rd place, the misfortunes of those around him allow the Italian into first place in the championship.

At the 2014 Round of France, Rossini retired while running 7th. Rossini cooked his clutch on the grid during the standing start in which he dropped from 4th to 7th and only a couple laps later it soon gave way resulting in the Italian's first missed points of the season yet remained 3rd in the championship. Another retirement in Sweden pushed Rossini down to 4th in the standings.

However, Rossini would bounce back at the following round at the 2014 Karjala Grand Prix. Having started on the 13th row of the grid in 25th, Rossini steadily progressed up through the order to find himself in 4th place at halfway distance. He would be promoted a further position when Jacob Kard retired from the race and would continue to close on the 2 leaders, David Krikorian and Scott Bates, whilst trying to maintain grip in the tyres. With the help of lap traffic, Rossini closed in and passed both leaders. Coming to the white flag, Rossini continued to lead but was quickly closing on lapped traffic ahead with both Krikorian and Bates continuing to give chase. Through the Dwyer-S, Rossini nearly threw away victory when banging doors with Yamino Tenchi but fast reactions kept him out of the wall and he would take the chequered flag in 1st place, giving him his fist win at the same track where he claimed his first top 10 5 years earlier (also driving in a Volpi).

He was unable to repeat his success and continue his 100% top 5 (in all finishes) streak, after contact with Snake Plisken left him 12th. He would secure the lead of the championship after beating both Melanie Clevenot and Zelda Ashby. Despite another retirement, Rossini would retain the lead of the championship at Germany.

Management
Rossini took over the management role of Rossini Sport in 2013 following the death of step-father Romano Rossini. The team was absorbed by FIAM Engineering in late 2012, leaving Rossini to run the entire FIAM Engineering project as the Sporting Director. After signing for Volpi Racing Team in 2014, he left his post at FIAM however he re-started the Rossini Sport project. He continues to run FIAM development drivers in his team in single seaters, although the team is no longer an official entity of FIAM. His younger half-brother Giuseppe Rossini, a former FIAM development driver, now drives for the team.

Alongside his team management, Rossini manages a number of young karting drivers through his kart brand, Rossini Kart. He is currently the manager of David Savoldelli, Gianni Corelli and Andrea Sinigallia, all of which he has helped signed to the FIAM Engineering Young Driver Academy, as well as several kart drivers from Italy, Britain and Sweden.

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. Additionally, he makes guest appearances on Italian TV show "Commedia Sportivo" on the Italian TV channel Rai, on the panel with other sportsmen and comedians of Italy as well as guest appearances on motor racing shows in the UK. Rossini is married to British-American-Thai model, Rachel Thomson, after a private family wedding following the 2013 Karjala Grand Prix. They had their first child in late 2014.

He is a devout fan of the Milan football club, AC Milan, and has a tattoo of the clubs badge on his right forearm. He is a regular at the Milan Curva at the San Siro during the winter break, attending matches with the Ultra group Brigate Rossonere.

In 2007, Rossini was arrested for drink driving offences, whilst out with friends.

He is fluent in Italian, British, French and Thai.

Career summary
*Season in progress **Final position in class. Rossini finished 14th overall.

TM Master Cup Race Results
(Races in bold indicate pole position)

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 Delano Pole Award - 2009 Round of Italy 2010 TM Juniors Series 4th Place 2011 Alps Formula C Drivers Champion 2012 International F3000 Italian Grand Prix 2014 Karjala Grand Prix winner