Cecotto made his four wheeled debut with Minardi in the 1980 Formula Two Championship. In the 1982 Formula Two season, driving for the March-BMW team, he won three races and finished the season tied for first place with his team-mate Corrado Fabi but, was relegated to runner up by the tie breaker system. Nevertheless, his performance garnered enough attention that he was offered a seat in Formula One. In Formula One, Cecotto participated in 23 races, debuting on March 13, 1983 for the Theodore Racing team. He had a promising start as he scored a sixth place in only his second race, however, the team suffered from lack of funding and he was forced to sit out the final two rounds. For the 1984 season, he joined the Toleman racing team with Ayrton Senna as his team mate. While qualifying for the British Grand Prix, he crashed heavily, breaking both of his legs which effectively ended his Formula One career.After recovering from his injuries, Cecotto returned to competition in the flourishing Touring Car category, winning the 1989 Italian Touring Car Championship. From 1988 to 1992 Cecotto competed in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM, German Touring Car Championship). Driving a Schnitzer Motorsport BMW M3, he finished as runner up in the 1990 season. In 1994 and 1998 he won the German STW Supertouring Championship for BMW. In 1995 he raced in the BTCC for BMW. In 2001 and 2002, he switched to the Irmscher Opel Omega and won the German V8 Star Championship two years running.Cecotto currently devotes most of his time to supporting the racing career of his son, Johnny Cecotto Jr.