Franco Patria

Franco Patria (born 1943 in Turin ; † October 11, 1964 on the Montlhéry circuit ) was an Italian rally and circuit racing driver.

Career

At the beginning of the 1960s, Franco Patria belonged to a group of highly talented aspiring Italian racing drivers alongside Giancarlo Baghetti , Lorenzo Bandini , Bruno Deserti and Giacomo Russo . Although his career was short-lived, as he died on the race track at the age of 21, he had some success as a driver. Partria made his first racing experience in the Scuderia Grifone of Genova , to which Luigi Taramazzo and Leo Cella also belonged. Patria had a close friendship with both of them.

After only eight races in national races, Patria signed a contract with Lancia Corse in early 1963 . Cella also became a works driver there. Even the first outing of the two young Italians led to a great success. With Patria and Cella at the wheel of two Lancia Flavias , the Lancia team celebrated a double victory at the Rallye dei Fiori , with Patria in first place. At this year's Targa Florio , Patria and Cella achieved eleventh place overall. In 1963 Patria also competed in races in the European Touring Car Championship and in the Italian Championship, where he won the title of Italian touring car champion for Lancia in the class for cars up to 1.6 liters.

In 1964 Patria switched to Abarth and competed in the sports car world championship . In the 1000 km race on the Nürburgring , the German Kurt Ahrens was his partner; the duo dropped out after a technical defect. At the Coppa Cittá di Enna he finished second behind his team mate Hans Herrmann . He also drove successfully hill climbs that year and made his debut in Formula 3 .

Death in Montlhéry

Patria was involved in the accident of Peter Lindner on October 11, 1964 at the 1000 km race in Paris and tragically died. Patria had taken over the class-leading Abarth-Simca 1300 Bialbero from Luigi Taramazzo and was on the way out of the pit lane back onto the track with new tires and a full tank. The pit lane in Montlhéry was only separated from the track by bales of straw. In order to ensure a minimum of security, two stewards and a stewardship, including the former racing driver Jean Pairard , monitored the exit and only allowed cars back on the track when it was free. As Patria was waiting at the exit, Peter Lindner came out of the steep bend in front of the start and finish on the wet track, seemed to be braking and skidded. Lindner lost control of the Jaguar on the smooth track, touched the straw bales, and vehicle parts came loose. The car was thrown up about ten meters, turned on its own axis, so that Lindner fell out. The jaguar hit Patrias Abarth with full force and pushed him against a wall. Franco Patria as well as the stewards and the steward who were in the immediate vicinity died immediately. Peter Lindner was initially conscious, but died a little later in the hospital from serious internal injuries despite a blood transfusion. - The race went on and ended with a success for Graham Hill and Joakim Bonnier in a Ferrari 330P .

statistics

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st	22nd
1963	Leo Cella	Lancia Flaminia Lancia Flavia	DAY	SEB	SEB	TAR	SPA	MAY	ONLY	CON	ROS	LEM	MON	WIS	TAV	FRE	CCE	RTT	OVI	ONLY	MON	MON	TDF	BRI
						11				17th													DNF
1964	Abarth	Abarth-Simca 2000 Abarth-Simca 1300 Bialbero	DAY	SEB	TAR	MON	SPA	CON	ONLY	ROS	LEM	REI	FRE	CCE	RTT	SIM	ONLY	MON	TDF	BRI	BRI	PAR
					DNF	1	16		DNF				2	2		4th		DNF	DNF			DNF

Web links

• Franco Patria at Motorsport Memorial
• Franco Patria at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ↑ auto motor and sport. Issue 22, 1964, ISSN  0005-0806 , p. 44.