Bertelli grew up in one of Italy's most prominent entrepreneurial families. His mother Miuccia Prada is the creative director and co-CEO of the Prada Group, while his father Patrizio Bertelli serves as chief executive. Lorenzo's dual career in motorsport and fashion business reflects that background: his racing activity is conducted entirely as a privateer with significant personal resources, while his corporate path through Prada has been steady and substantial.
Bertelli made his World Rally Championship debut during the 2011 season at the Rally d'Italia Sardegna, competing outside the main WRC points structure. In May 2013 he took the wheel of a Ford Fiesta RRC and began competing more regularly in the WRC 2 category. His first WRC 2 victory came at the 2014 Rally Sardegna, and he added four further podiums that season to finish third in the WRC 2 championship standings.
The 2015 season marked Bertelli's step up to the WRC proper. He was involved in an accident in Portugal and subsequently criticised the event organisers over their safety protocols — claims that were publicly rejected by the WRC Commission. He returned for the 2016 campaign, completing events in Mexico and Australia and earning five points to finish 22nd in the overall World Championship.
In 2017 Bertelli competed at Rally Sweden with an older Ford Fiesta RS WRC but retired, then switched to the new Fiesta WRC for the Rally Mexico and classified 16th. A gearbox failure ended his participation in the Rally Argentina. He was absent from World Championship competition in 2018.
Bertelli rejoined the WRC in 2019 under the banner of the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team, driving a Fiesta WRC. He placed 20th at Rally Sweden and 13th at Rally Chile before stepping away from the championship again in 2020. His 2021 return with the M-Sport Fiesta produced a 51st-place finish at the Arctic Rally Finland and 11th at the Safari Rally Kenya.
The 2022 season brought Bertelli his best WRC result. Driving the new Ford Puma Rally1 for M-Sport at Rally New Zealand, he finished seventh overall, scoring six championship points and ending the year 25th in the final standings. The seventh-place finish represented the high-water mark of his career in the top-tier WRC class.
Alongside his motorsport activity, Bertelli has built a substantial executive career within Prada. He held successive roles as Head of Digital Communication, Group Marketing Director, and Head of Corporate Social Responsibility before being appointed to the company's board. He has served as an executive director of Prada since May 2021.
Bertelli's career illustrates a particular niche in top-level rallying: the well-resourced privateer who sustains WRC participation over many seasons by personal commitment rather than manufacturer backing. His long association with M-Sport and the Ford Fiesta platform, culminating in his 2022 Rally New Zealand result in the Rally1 generation of car, demonstrates consistent improvement across more than a decade of WRC involvement.
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