Franco Cortese

Franco Cortese 1947

Franco Cortese (born February 10, 1903 in Oggebbio ; † November 13, 1986 ) was an Italian racing driver .

Career

The Italian Franco Cortese was one of those drivers whose skills flashed several times, but who failed to achieve great success. His domain was long-distance races (no other driver started the Mille Miglia as often as he did). In 1940 he started with Conte Giovanni Lurani in a BMW 328 (Kamm limousine) in the Mille Miglia. In the circuit races he was mostly on Voiturettes and after the Second World War on Formula 2 cars.

His career began in 1926 and it remained associated with Enzo Ferrari for many years . Cortese's best results include second place in the 1932 Le Mans 24-hour race and second place in the 1933 Mille Miglia with Carlo Castelbarco . From 1937 to 1939 he competed in Voiturette races on Maserati and won in Varese and Modena in 1938 , among others .

After the Second World War, Cortese rejoined Enzo Ferrari and his Scuderia and was the first driver to celebrate a win in a Ferrari in 1947 (at the Rome Grand Prix ). With a Frazer-Nash , he won the Targa Florio in 1951 . Several Formula 2 races were followed by sports car races until the mid-1950s, before he retired and entered the auto accessories business.

gallery

• 

  In the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 at the 1933 Mille Miglia

• 

  In the Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 at the Mille Miglia 1938

• 

  1940 next to a Maserati 4CL

• 

  Franco Cortese in the Ferrari 125 Spyder Corsa at the 1947 Piacenza sports car race

• 

  1947 in Varese

• 

  at the Mille Miglia 1948

• 

  at the Mille Miglia 1949

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1932	Soc. Anon. Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 LM	Giovanni Battista Guidotti	Rank 2
1933	Capt. GET Eyston	Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 MM	Louis Chiron	failure	accident

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
1953		Fiat 8V	SEB	MIM	LEM	SPA	ONLY	RTT	CAP
				14th
1954		Ferrari 500 Mondial	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	CAP
					14th
1955		Fiat 8V Ferrari 500 Mondial	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	TAR
					46			DNF
1956		Fiat 8V	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	KRI
					97
1958		Ferrari 500TRC	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
					7th

Web links

Commons : Franco Cortese  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Leif Snellman: Franco Cortese (I). www.kolumbus.fi, April 26, 2015, accessed April 30, 2015 (English).