Marino Franchitti
Franchitti at Le Mans in 2012
NationalityUnited Kingdom British
Born (1978-07-07) 7 July 1978
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Years2005, 20092010, 20122013, 2016
TeamsPanoz Motorsports
Drayson Racing
Highcroft Racing
Best finish25th (2010)
Class wins0

Marino Alessandro Cesare Franchitti[1] (born 7 July 1978) is a British racing driver, and the younger brother of Dario Franchitti. He has spent the majority of his career racing in sports cars and grand tourers, with a career highlight of winning the 2014 12 Hours of Sebring.

Career

Born in Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland, Franchitti began his career in the mid/late 1990s, initially finding his feet in Formula Ford 1600 competing in The Champion of Oulton series against circuit specialists such as Alaric Gordon (Champion 1999, 2001 and 2018). 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. Petersburg. 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 was confirmed as the first driver of the Highcroft Racing DeltaWing, which ran 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]

Personal life

Franchitti is the son of Marina and George Franchitti, both born in Scotland. He is of Italian heritage, from the town of Cassino in Southern Italy.

Marino is married to Holly Mason, second daughter of Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason and a racer of historic cars herself.

Marino and Dario Franchitti are also cousins of fellow Scottish racing driver Paul di Resta, and are friends off the track with Allan McNish.[6]

Motorsports career results

Complete British GT Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 DC Points
2001 Parr Motorsport Porsche 996 GT3-RS GTO SIL
1

9
SNE
1

3
DON
1

5
OUL
1

4
CRO
1

4
ROC
1

4
CAS
1

Ret
BRH
1

5
DON
1

5
KNO
1

2
THR
1

3
BRH
1

3
SIL
1

6
1st  ?

12 Hours of Sebring results

Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
pos.
2002 United States MSB Motorsport Germany Ralf Kelleners Ferrari 360 Modena GT GT 12 DNF DNF
2003 United States Risi Competizione United Kingdom Kevin McGarrity Ferrari 360 Modena GTC GT 243 DNF DNF
2004 United States Rand Racing United States Derek Hill
United States Andy Lally
Lola B2K/40-Nissan LMP2 12 DNF DNF
2005 Netherlands Spyker Squadron Netherlands Peter van Merksteijn Sr.
Netherlands Frans Munsterhuis
Spyker C8 Spyder GT2-R GT2 18 DNF DNF
2008 United States Dyson Racing United States Butch Leitzinger
United States Andy Lally
Porsche RS Spyder Evo LMP2 351 2nd 2nd
2009 United States Dyson Racing Team United States Butch Leitzinger
United Kingdom Ben Devlin
Lola B08/86-Mazda LMP2 149 DNF DNF
2010 United States Patrón Highcroft Racing Australia David Brabham
France Simon Pagenaud
HPD ARX-01C LMP2 349 5th 2nd
2011 United States Highcroft Racing Australia David Brabham
France Simon Pagenaud
HPD ARX-01e LMP1 332 2nd 2nd
2013 United States Level 5 Motorsports United States Scott Tucker
Australia Ryan Briscoe
HPD ARX-03b P2 346 6th 1st
2014 United States Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates United States Scott Pruett
Mexico Memo Rojas
Riley Mk XXVI-Ford P 291 1st 1st

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
pos.
2005 United States Panoz Motor Sports France Patrick Bourdais
United States Bryan Sellers
Panoz Esperante GT-LM GT2 185 DNF DNF
2009 United Kingdom Drayson Racing United Kingdom Paul Drayson
United Kingdom Jonny Cocker
Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 GT2 272 DNF DNF
2010 United States Highcroft Racing Australia David Brabham
Germany Marco Werner
HPD ARX-01C LMP2 296 25th 9th
2012 United States Highcroft Racing Germany Michael Krumm
Japan Satoshi Motoyama
DeltaWing-Nissan 75 DNF DNF
2013 United States Level 5 Motorsports United States Scott Tucker
Australia Ryan Briscoe
HPD ARX-03b LMP2 242 NC NC
2016 United States Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK United Kingdom Andy Priaulx
United Kingdom Harry Tincknell
Ford GT GTE
Pro
306 40th 9th

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 Car Co-drivers Laps Class Pos. Class
pos.
2012 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 GT 2.0L 3-Rotor United States Jonathan Bomarito
Canada James Hinchcliffe
United States Sylvain Tremblay
722 GT 16 6

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Entrant Class Car Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rank Points
2016 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK LMGTE Pro Ford GT Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6 SIL
4
SPA
2
LMS
10
NÜR
12
MEX
5
COA
4
FUJ SHA BHR 13th 54.5

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series results

Year Team Class Make Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Rank Points
2014 Chip Ganassi Racing P Ford EcoBoost Riley DP Ford Ecoboost 3.5 L V6 Turbo DAY
8
SEB
1
LBH
LGA
DET
WGL
MOS
IMS
ELK
COA
PET
29th 60
2017 Mazda Motorsports P Mazda RT24-P Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4 DAY
SEB
8
LBH
COA
DET
WGL
9
MOS
ELK LGA PET 27th 45
2018 Mazda Team Joest P Mazda RT24-P Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4 DAY
SEB
LBH MDO
DET WGL
MOS ELK LGA PET
3
48th 30

* Season still in progress

References

  1. "Andretti Green Racing Team Profile". Acura. 3 January 2007. Archived from the original on 29 August 2008. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  2. Pruett, Marshall. Interview with Dyson Racing's Marino Franchitti Archived 2008-01-23 at the Wayback Machine, SpeedTV.com, 21 January 2008
  3. English, Steven (14 January 2010). "Franchitti to join Highcroft in 2010". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  4. "LE MANS: Marino Franchitti Named First DeltaWing Driver". Web. Archived from the original on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
  5. "ALMS: Level 5 Commits to Full Season Entries". Archived from the original on 18 April 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  6. Allan McNish interview part 1 on qosfc.com
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