Martino Finotto

Martino Finotto (born November 11, 1933 in Camporosso ; † August 13, 2014 ) was an Italian racing car driver and racing team owner.

Career in motorsport

Martino Finotto was one of the Italian racing drivers who played a dominant role in the European Touring Car Championship from the mid-1970s to 1988 ; In addition to Finotto, Carlo Facetti , Umberto Grano , Gianfranco Brancatelli and Roberto Ravaglia belonged to this group of drivers. They all have at least one championship title in the European Touring Car Championship at that time.

Finotto contested from 1972 touring car races in the Italian series and the European championship. He celebrated his first notable success in 1972 when he finished eleventh in the 2-hour race in Brno . He drove the race on a Ford Escort belonging to the Italian Jolly Club team. This racing team was financed by Finotto and therefore he repeatedly competed for the team from Milan in touring and sports car races . He achieved his first podium with second place in the 4-hour race at the Salzburgring ; the first victory in 1977 at the Monza 4-hour race . At the Salzburgring in 1974 the German Manfred Mohr was his teammate; in Monza he shared the cockpit with Carlo Facetti and Umberto Grano.

Two years later he had his strongest season when he secured the title of European Touring Car Champion with victories on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring , in Zandvoort , at the Salzburgring, in Silverstone and Zolder .

In 1974 he made his debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans . The race ended prematurely due to a retirement. Finotto competed at Le Mans six times; he achieved the best placement in 1981 when he was 15th overall.

At the end of 1984 the collaboration between Finotto and Jolly Club ended. From 1985 he started for various teams in the World Sports Car Championship and the US IMSA-GTP series ; after a retirement at the Sebring 12-hour race in 1995 , he ended his racing career.

Scuderia Finotto

→ Main article : Scuderia Finotto

In the 1974 Formula 1 season , the Scuderia Finotto, named after Martino Finotto, competed in several rounds of the Formula 1 World Championship .

At the end of 1973 Finotto bought two older Brabham BT42 Formula 1 vehicles with the intention of competing in Formula 1 with them in 1974. After a test drive in November 1973, Finotto came to the conclusion that Formula 1 was not for him. He then offered his cars to other racing drivers. One of them was Silvio Moser from Ticino , who leased it with the financial support of Swiss businessman Bretscher. Moser reported at least one of Finottos Brabhams for the Spanish Grand Prix for his own team, which he named Bretscher Racing Team after his sponsor. Moser's racing team was not used in this form. The Swiss driver died in the spring of 1974 as a result of a racing accident before he even competed in one race with Finottos Brabham. Finotto then loaned one of the cars to various paydrivers who registered it for Scuderia Finotto for several world championship races in the 1974 season. Among them was the two-time Le Mans winner and later Formula 1 team boss Gérard Larrousse , who contested his only Formula 1 Grand Prix with the 1974 Finotto-Brabham in Belgium . This was also the only Formula 1 race in which the team took part. Helmut Koinigg and Carlo Facetti , Finotto's other drivers, each failed to qualify in their attempts. A few more reports from the team for drivers Andy Sutcliffe , Manfred Mohr and Jean-Louis Lafosse were not even accepted by the race organizers.

Even by the standards of the 1970s, the racing stable was exceptionally poorly financed and organized. The team only had one permanent mechanic and did not have its own premises. Instead, it used an automobile workshop in Buscate for technical work.

At the end of 1974 the unsuccessful venture was ended and the cars were sold again.

CARMA

Finotto had a long friendship with Carlo Facetti. At the beginning of the 1980s, they jointly founded a company - CARMA (CAR for Carlo and MA for Martino) - that dealt with the development of racing engines. The 1.8-liter 4-cylinder turbo engine in the Alba AR2 - known as the Giannini Carma for regulatory reasons - was developed by CARMA.

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1974	BMW Jolly Club	BMW 3.0CSL	Carlo Facetti	Manfred Mohr	failure	Cylinder overheated
1980	Jolly Club Lancia Corse	Lancia Beta Montecarlo	Carlo Facetti		Rank 19
1981	Jolly Club	Lancia Beta Montecarlo	Giorgio Pianta	Giorgio Schön	Rank 15
1983	Scuderia Jolly Club	Alba AR2	Carlo Facetti	Marco Vanoli	failure	Chassis broken
1984	Scuderia Jolly Club	Alba AR2	Carlo Facetti	Marco Vanoli	Rank 21
1985	Carma FF	Alba AR6	Guido Daccò	Aldo Bertuzzi	failure	Electrics

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1986	Gaston Andrey Racing	Alba AR6	Carlo Facetti	Ruggero Melgrati		failure	Gearbox damage
1987	Gaston Andrey Racing	Alba AR6	Pietro Silva	Ruggero Melgrati		failure	Gearbox damage
1988	Gaston Andrey Racing	Tiga GT286	Paolo Guatamacchi	Uli Bieri	Angelo Pallavicini	Rank 13
1989	Bieri Racing	Tiga GT286	Paolo Guatamacchi	Uli Bieri		failure	suspension
1990	Bieri Racing	Spice SE89P	Paolo Guatamacchi	Ruggero Melgrati		Rank 11
1991	Bieri Racing	Spice SE89P	Fermín Vélez	Ruggero Melgrati		failure	accident
1995	Martino Finotto	Ferrari 308	John Finger	Ruggero Melgrati		failure	Intake manifold

Web links

• Martino Finotto at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Martino Finotto 1933-2014
2. ^ Brno 2-hour race
3. ↑ 4-hour race in Salzburg in 1974
4. ↑ Monza 4-hour race in 1977