Marino Franchitti

Marino Franchitti

Franchitti at Le Mans in 2012
Nationality United Kingdom British
Born (1978-07-07) 7 July 1978
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years 2005, 20092010, 2012-2013, 2016
Teams Panoz Motorsports
Drayson Racing
Highcroft Racing
Best finish 25th (2010)
Class wins 0

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 and 2001). 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

Marino is married to Holly Mason, second daughter of Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason[6] 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.[7]

Motorsports career results

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 UNC 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 No Car Co-Drivers Laps Class Pos. Class
Pos.
2012 SpeedSource 70 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

References

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