Pipo Derani was born on October 12, 1993. He is the son of the late Walter Derani and the younger brother of Rafael Derani, both of whom were well-known Brazilian racing drivers.
Derani began his motorsport career in karting in 2003, at the age of ten, becoming champion of the São Paulo Junior Menor Championship in 2005. He transitioned to car racing in 2009, competing in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup with Motopark Academy, achieving two podium finishes at Alastaro Circuit and TT Circuit Assen. He also participated in six races of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 for the same team, securing two points with a ninth-place finish at the Nürburgring.
In 2010, Derani moved to the German Formula Three Championship with Motopark Academy, finishing tenth in the championship standings. He then competed in the British Formula 3 Championship with Double R Racing in 2011, achieving a single podium finish and finishing fifteenth in points. He also participated in the Formula 3 Brazil Open and Masters of Formula 3 during this period.
Derani remained in British F3 in 2012, switching to Fortec Motorsport where he improved to eighth in the championship, capturing wins at Oulton Park and Brands Hatch. He also drove in three Formula 3 Euro Series races and finished sixth in the Macau Grand Prix. In 2013, still with Fortec, he moved to the FIA European Formula Three Championship, finishing eighth in points with three podium finishes.
In 2014, Derani began his sportscar career, racing in the last two rounds of the 2014 European Le Mans Series with Murphy Prototypes, achieving a third-place finish at the 4 Hours of Le Castellet. His breakthrough in sportscar racing came in 2016, winning both the 2016 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring) for Extreme Speed Motorsports with a Ligier-Honda LMP2.
In 2017, Derani signed with Ford to become a factory driver, claiming a class win at Silverstone) in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK. He also drove an Oreca LMP2 for Rebellion at the FIA WEC Nürburgring round and seven rounds of the 2017 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Extreme Speed Motorsports with a Nissan Onroak DPi, winning at Road America.
Derani became a full-time driver at Extreme Speed Motorsports for the 2018 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, winning at the 12 Hours of Sebring. In 2020, racing for Action Express Racing, he was leading Petit Le Mans when contact with Ricky Taylor ended his contention for the win.
In December 2024, Derani was announced as a driver for the new Genesis LMDh program, intending to compete in the World Endurance Championship for the 2026 season alongside André Lotterer.
According to available results, Derani participated in multiple racing series, including Formula Renault 2.0 NEC, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, FIA Formula 3 European Championship, European Le Mans Series, FIA World Endurance Championship, and IMSA SportsCar Championship. While detailed results for each series are available, the long-form study of his complete open-wheel career belongs to specialist motorsport publications rather than this article’s corpus.
Gallery · 4 related images
