Gianfranco Brancatelli

Gianfranco Brancatelli

Nation:	Italy
DTM
First race:	Zolder 1989
Last race:	Hockenheimring III 1989
Teams (manufacturers)
1989 Eggenberger ( Ford )
statistics
Starts Victories Poles SR 20 (10) - - -
Podiums:	-
Overall wins:	-
Points:	162

Gianfranco Brancatelli (born January 18, 1950 in Turin ) is a former Italian racing driver who was particularly active in formula and touring car racing .

Career

Beginnings

From 1973 Brancatelli drove in the Italian "Formula Abarth", in which he won overall victory the following year. In 1975 he finished second overall in the Italian Formula 3 , one point behind Luciano Pavesi . In 1975 and 1976 Brancatelli started in the European Formula 3 on March and was able to achieve two race victories in his second season, which gave him third place in the overall standings. In 1977 Brancatelli switched to Formula 2 and drove for the Scuderia Everest team , which fielded a Ralt every year that was powered by a problematic Ferrari Dino engine. Due to lack of success, he left the team in 1978 and competed in a race in the European sports car championship, where he started from second place, but retired due to clutch problems.

formula 1

In 1979 Brancatelli was registered for the German team Kauhsen in Formula 1 at the Grand Prix of Spain and Belgium . At the Spanish Grand Prix in Jarama Brancatelli did not qualify, the Italian set by far the slowest time of the 27 participants. The situation was similarly bad at the Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit Zolder , where Brancatelli also failed to qualify as 28th and last. After these two disastrous racing weekends, Kauhsen withdrew from Formula 1.

Brancatelli competed in the next race, the Monaco Grand Prix , for the Italian team Merzario , which had taken over the material and equipment from Kauhsen after the race in Belgium. Brancatelli replaced the team principal Arturo Merzario , who usually drove the cars himself, but could not start in Monaco because he had broken his hand in an accident. At that time, the Merzario team was using the A3 , a self-constructed wing car that was considered technically immature and overweight. Brancatelli could not drive a timed lap in qualifying, so that a Grand Prix participation failed here as well. At the French Grand Prix, Arturo Merzario himself drove his team's car again, which ended Brancatelli's Formula 1 career without participating in a race.

Touring car

In the following years Brancatelli competed in touring car races in various series, including the World Touring Car Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans . His greatest successes were overall victory in the European Touring Car Championship in 1985, victory in the Spa-Francorchamps 24-hour race and second place in Le Mans in 1989. In 1999, Brancatelli ended his motorsport career.

statistics

Race results in Formula 1

year	team	chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	WM	Points
1979	Willi Kauhsen Racing Team	Kauhsen WK	Cosworth V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	ETC	ESP DNQ	BEL DNQ										-	0
	Team Merzario	Merzario A3								MON DNPQ	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	United States	CAN

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1979	Carlo Pietromarchi	De Tomaso Pantera	Carlo Pietromarchi	Maurizio Micangeli	not classified
1980	Scuderia Lancia Corse	Lancia Beta Montecarlo	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Markku Alén	failure	Oil pump
1986	Silk Cut Jaguar	Jaguar XJR-6	Hurley Haywood	Win Percy	failure	Clutch damage
1989	Team Sauber Mercedes	Clean C9	Mauro Baldi	Kenny Acheson	Rank 2
1990	Nissan Motorsports Europe	Nissan R90CK	Julian Bailey	Mark Blundell	failure	differential

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
1979	Carlo Pietromarchi	De Tomaso Pantera	DAY	SEB	MUG	VALLEY	DIJ	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	BY	DAY	WAT	SPA	BRH	ROA	VAL	ELS
											DNF
1980	Lancia	Lancia Beta Montecarlo	DAY	BRH	SEB	MUG	MON	RIV	SIL	ONLY	LEM	DAY	WAT	SPA	MOS	ROA	VAL	DIJ
											DNF
1985	Cheetah Automobiles Jaguar	Cheetah G604 Jaguar XJR-6	MUG	MON	SIL	LEM	HOK	MOS	SPA	BRH	FUJ	SEL
			DNF	DNF								DNF
1986	jaguar	Jaguar XJR-6	MON	SIL	LEM	NOW	BRH	JER	ONLY	SPA	FUJ
			DNF	7th	DNF		6th	DNF	DNF		17th
1987	Brun Motorsport	Porsche 962	JAR	JER	MON	SIL	LEM	NOW	BRH	ONLY	SPA	FUJ
			6th	6th	5
1990	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan R90CK	SUZ	MON	SIL	SPA	DIJ	ONLY	DON	MOT	MEX
				DNF	DNF	10	21st	9	4th		4th

Web links

Commons : Gianfranco Brancatelli  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• detailed biography on f1rejects.com
• Image: Gianfranco Brancatelli