Marino Franchitti

Marino Alessandro Cesare Franchitti (born 7 July 1978) is a British racing driver, and the younger brother of Dario Franchitti. He has spent the majority of his career racing in sports cars and grand tourers, with a career highlight of winning the 2014 12 Hours of Sebring.

Racing career

Born in Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland, Franchitti began his career in the mid/late 1990s, initially finding his feet in Formula Ford 1600, competing in The Champion of Oulton series against circuit specialists such as Alaric Gordon (Champion 1999, 2001 and 2018). These were times for learning, and initially, results were poor, and it was not clear that Marino had the talent to succeed. He moved on to Formula Vauxhall in 1998.

In 2001, Franchitti 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 one race in the LMP 675 class.

In 2003, Franchitti 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, Franchitti 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, Franchitti 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. Petersburg. 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.

Franchitti remained with the team for 2009, which fielded a Mazda powered Lola B09/86. He moved to Highcroft Racing for three events in 2010.

In 2011, Franchitti finished second at the Twelve Hours of Sebring in the Highcroft Racing Honda Performance Development ARX-01e, which turned out to be the car's first and only race. He made an end-of-year start with Level 5 Motorsports in one of its Honda Performance Development ARX-01g's at the Petit Le Mans.

For 2012, Franchitti was confirmed as the first driver of the Highcroft Racing DeltaWing, which ran as the 56th and unclassified entrant in the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans. He also drove for the PR1/Mathasian Motorsports PC team in select races, winning in his class at Mid-Ohio.

In 2013, Franchitti was hired by Level 5 Motorsports to drive an HPD ARX-03b for the 2013 12 Hours of Sebring. Franchitti won the P2 class with Scott Tucker and Ryan Briscoe and came sixth overall. Later, Level 5 signed on Franchitti for a full-season effort in P2.

Media career Franchitti portrayed racer Eugenio Castellotti in the 2023 film Ferrari.

Personal life

Franchitti is the son of Marina and George Franchitti, both born in Scotland. He is of Italian heritage, from the town of Cassino in Southern Italy.

Franchitti is married to Holly Mason, the second daughter of Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason and a racer of historic cars herself. In June 2017, one month before the Silverstone Classic car festival, Marino and Holly were involved in a car crash when her pink Austin A35 car flipped twice a corner of the British Grand Prix track, a racing circuit during a practice drive. Holly was pulled out of the wreckage and was unscathed, while Marino sustained minor injuries.

Marino and Dario Franchitti are also cousins of fellow Scottish racing driver Paul di Resta, and are friends off the track with Allan McNish.

Motorsports career results

Complete British GT Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 DC Points 2001 Parr Motorsport Porsche 996 GT3-RS GTO SIL1 SNE1 DON1 OUL1 CRO1 ROC1 CAS1 BRH1 DON1 KNO1 THR1 BRH1 SIL1 1st ?

12 Hours of Sebring results

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps 2005 Panoz Motor Sports Patrick Bourdais Bryan Sellers Panoz Esperante GT-LM GT2 185 DNF DNF 2009 Drayson Racing Paul Drayson Jonny Cocker Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 GT2 272 DNF DNF 2010 Highcroft Racing David Brabham Marco Werner HPD ARX-01C LMP2 296 25th 9th 2012 Highcroft Racing Michael Krumm Satoshi Motoyama DeltaWing-Nissan 75 DNF DNF 2013 Level 5 Motorsports Scott Tucker Ryan Briscoe HPD ARX-03b LMP2 242 NC NC 2016 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Andy Priaulx Harry Tincknell Ford GT GTEPro 306 40th 9th

Complete V8 Supercar results Year Team No. Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Pos Points 2011 Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport 30 Holden VE Commodore YMC R1 YMC R2 ADE R3 ADE R4 HAM R5 HAM R6 PER R7 PER R8 PER R9 WIN R10 WIN R11 HDV R12 HDV R13 TOW R14 TOW R15 QLD R16 QLD R17 QLD R18 PHI R19 BAT R20 SUR R21 SUR R22 SYM R23 SYM R24 SAN R25 SAN R26 SYD R27 SYD R28 NC 0

24 Hours of Daytona Year Team Car Co-drivers Laps Class Pos. Classpos. 2012 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 GT 2.0L 3-Rotor Jonathan Bomarito James Hinchcliffe Sylvain Tremblay 722 GT 16 6

Complete FIA World Endurance Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Class Car Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Rank Points 2016 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK LMGTE Pro Ford GT Ford EcoBoost 3.5 L Turbo V6 SIL SPA LMS NÜR MEX COA FUJ SHA BHR 13th 54.5

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series results

Season still in progress