A process for starting an internal combustion engine, providing the use of an electric motor acting on the driveshaft of the internal combustion engine, provides a positioning step, activated upon switching-off the engine, and a switching-on step, activated after a starting control, wherein said positioning step comprises: a forward rotation by a predetermined forward rotation angle; a detection of a possible stall state followed, in negative case, by an additional forward rotation until reaching a predetermined maximum forward rotation angle; an inverse rotation by a predetermined angle; and a detection of a possible stall state followed, in negative case, by an additional inverse rotation until reaching a predetermined maximum inverse rotation angle.