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 90's, 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. Some^[who?] suggested that it was only thanks to the family name that Marino was able to put his poor initial form at Oulton behind him and move forward 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 will move to Highcroft Racing for three events in 2010.^[3] He also now does commentating on some Izod Indy car races for Sky Sports.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Team	Co-Drivers	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2005	GT2	78	P	Panoz Esperante GT-LM Ford (Élan) 5.0L V8	Panoz Motor Sports	Patrick Bourdais Bryan Sellers	185	DNF	DNF
2009	GT2	87	M	Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 Aston Martin 4.5L V8	Drayson Racing	Paul Drayson Jonny Cocker	272	DNF	DNF
2010	LMP2	26	M	HPD ARX-01C HPD AL7R 3.4L V8	Highcroft Racing	David Brabham Marco Werner	296	25th	9th

Personal life

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.^[4]

References

1. ^ "Andretti Green Racing Team Profile". Acura. 2007-01-03. http://www.hondanews.com/categories/1150/releases/3961. Retrieved 2008-12-02. 
2. ^ Pruett, Marshall. Interview with Dyson Racing’s Marino Franchitti, SpeedTV.com, January 21, 2008
3. ^ English, Steven (2010-01-14). "Franchitti to join Highcroft in 2010". autosport.com (Haymarket Publications). http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80857. Retrieved 2010-01-14. 
4. ^ Allan McNish interview part 1 on qosfc.com

External links

• Official Website

Persondata
Name	Franchitti, Marino
Alternative names
Short description	Race car driver
Date of birth	1978-07-07
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death