Marino Franchitti
24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
---|---|
Participating years | 2005, 2009 - 2010 |
Teams |
Panoz Motorsports Drayson Racing Highcroft Racing |
Best finish | 25th (2010) |
Class wins | 0 |
Marino Alessandro Cesare Franchitti[1] (born July 7, 1978 in Bathgate, West Lothian) is a Scottish race car driver, and the younger brother of Dario Franchitti. He is also the cousin of Scottish racing driver Paul di Resta.
Career
He began his career in the mid/late '90s, initially finding his feet in Formula Ford 1600 competing in The Champion of Oulton series against circuit specialists such as Alaric Gordon (Champion '99 and '01). These were times for learning and initially, results were poor and it was not clear that Marino had the talent to succeed. He moved on to Formula Vauxhall in 1998.
In 2001, he began driving sports cars and won the GTO Championship in the British GT Championship series. He joined his brother in America in 2002, and drove in Grand Am and the American Le Mans Series, winning 1 race in the LMP 675 class.
In 2003, he was a development driver for Scuderia Ecosse's Ferrari 360 effort, racing with the team at the 12 Hours of Sebring. In 2004, he was a driver for the Panoz Esperante factory team in ALMS as well as making a few Le Mans Series starts in a Porsche. He continued with the Panoz works outfit for the 2005 season, driving in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In 2006, he returned to Scuderia Ecosse for their effort in FIA GT as well as making assorted other appearances in high-profile sports car endurance races, including the 24 Hours of Daytona for SAMAX Motorsport.
In 2007, he signed a full-season deal to join his brother at Andretti Green Racing and to be the full-time driver for their new ALMS P2 class Acura entry with teammate Bryan Herta. Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan, and Herta teamed up to win the P2 class in the first outing for the team and the car: the 2007 12 Hours of Sebring. Marino started with the team at the next race in St. Pete. Both Franchitti brothers left the team after the 2007 season and while Dario went to NASCAR, Marino continued in the ALMS, switching to Dyson Racing's Porsche RS Spyder, partnering with Butch Leitzinger.[2]
He remained with the team for 2009, which fielded a Mazda powered Lola B09/86. He moved to Highcroft Racing for three events in 2010.[3]
In 2011, Franchitti finished second at the Twelve Hours of Sebring in the Highcroft Racing Honda Performance Development ARX-01e, which turned out to be the car's first and only race. He made an end-of-year start with Level 5 Motorsports in one of its Honda Performance Development ARX-01g's at the Petit Le Mans.
For 2012, Franchitti has been confirmed as the first driver of the Highcroft Racing DeltaWing, which will run as the 56th and unclassified entrant in the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans.[4] Marino also drove for the PR1/Mathasian Motorsports PC team in select races, winning in his class at Mid-Ohio.
In 2013, Franchitti was hired by Level 5 Motorsports to drive an HPD ARX-03b for the 2013 12 Hours of Sebring. Franchitti won the P2 class with Scott Tucker and Ryan Briscoe and came 6th overall. Later, Level 5 signed on Franchitti for a full-season effort in P2.[5]
24 Hours of Le Mans results
Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2005 | Panoz Motor Sports | Patrick Bourdais Bryan Sellers |
Panoz Esperante GT-LM | GT2 | 185 | DNF | DNF |
2009 | Drayson Racing | Paul Drayson Jonny Cocker |
Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 | GT2 | 272 | DNF | DNF |
2010 | Highcroft Racing | David Brabham Marco Werner |
HPD ARX-01C | LMP2 | 296 | 25th | 9th |
2012 | Highcroft Racing | Michael Krumm Satoshi Motoyama |
DeltaWing-Nissan | UNC | 75 | DNF | DNF |
Complete V8 Supercar results
Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | Final Pos | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2011 | Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport | YMC R1 |
YMC R2 |
ADE R3 |
ADE R4 |
HAM R5 |
HAM R6 |
PER R7 |
PER R8 |
PER R9 |
WIN R10 |
WIN R11 |
HDV R12 |
HDV R13 |
TOW R14 |
TOW R15 |
QLD R16 |
QLD R17 |
QLD R18 |
PHI R19 |
BAT R20 |
SUR R21 Ret |
SUR R22 Ret |
SYM R23 |
SYM R24 |
SAN R25 |
SAN R26 |
SYD R27 |
SYD R28 |
NC | 0 |
24 Hours of Daytona
Year | Team | No | Car | Co-Drivers | Laps | Class | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | SpeedSource | 70 | Mazda RX-8 GT 2.0L 3-Rotor | Jonathan Bomarito James Hinchcliffe Sylvain Tremblay |
722 | GT | 16 | 6 |
Personal life
Marino is married to Holly Mason, second daughter of Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason[6] and a racer of historic cars herself.
Both Marino and Dario Franchitti are friends off the track of fellow Scottish driver Allan McNish. Prior to McNish's wedding both Franchittis attended McNish's stag party in Dumfries taking in a Queen of the South F.C. football match.[7]
References
- ↑ "Andretti Green Racing Team Profile". Acura. 2007-01-03. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
- ↑ Pruett, Marshall. Interview with Dyson Racing’s Marino Franchitti, SpeedTV.com, January 21, 2008
- ↑ English, Steven (2010-01-14). "Franchitti to join Highcroft in 2010". autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). Retrieved 2010-01-14.
- ↑ "LE MANS: Marino Franchitti Named First DeltaWing Driver". Web. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
- ↑ http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/alms-level-5-commits-to-full-season-entries/
- ↑ Boshoff, Alison (2011-12-03). "Pink Floyd family values: It's not just rioter Charlie Gilmour... how four rock stars had EIGHTEEN children by eight women". Mail Online (London). Retrieved 20 December 2011.
- ↑ Allan McNish interview part 1 on qosfc.com