Martino Finotto facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Martino Finotto
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1933-11-11)11 November 1933 Camporosso, Italy
Died	13 August 2014(2014-08-13) (aged 80)

Martino Finotto was an Italian race car driver born on November 11, 1933, in Camporosso, Italy. He passed away on August 13, 2014. Martino was famous for his amazing skills in touring car and sports car racing. He was a champion driver and also a successful team owner.

In 1979, Martino Finotto became the European Touring Car Champion. He also placed third in 1975, fifth in 1977, and fourth in 1978. He raced his own BMW 3.0 CSL car under the Jolly Club team name. As a team owner, he helped his team win the first-ever World Group C Junior Championship in 1983. They also won the 1984 World C2 title. He often drove with his friend and business partner, Carlo Facetti. Later, in 1990, he finished second in the IMSA Camel Lights championship in the United States.

Martino Finotto's Racing Journey

Starting His Racing Career

Martino Finotto made a lot of money in the medicine business before he started racing professionally in 1971. He quickly became successful in the Italian Touring Car Championship. He won two class titles in a row in 1972 and 1973. During these years, he also began competing in the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC).

In the 1974 ETCC season, Finotto raced for Jolly Club. He drove both a BMW 3.0 CSL and a Ford Escort RS 1600. He got his first podium finish (a top-three spot) with the BMW. He finished second in a race in Austria with his teammate, Manfred Mohr. They also finished second in the next race in Vallelunga, Italy. He ended that season in seventh place overall.

In 1975, he joined the German Castrol Team Zakspeed. He immediately got another second-place finish with his new partner, Hans Heyer. This happened at the 4 Ore di Monza race. He also finished on the podium at the Grand Prix Brno. He ended the 1975 season in third place overall in the ETCC. The 1976 season was tough for him, with many races where he didn't finish.

A Brief Look at Formula One

For a short time, Finotto thought about racing in Formula One, which is the highest class of single-seater auto racing. He bought two Brabham BT42 cars. However, after just one test drive at Monza, he decided not to race them himself. Instead, he rented them out to other drivers under his team, Scuderia Finotto, for the 1974 season.

Returning to Touring Car Racing

After his brief Formula One idea, Finotto returned to the ETCC in 1977. He teamed up with Carlo Facetti and raced a new BMW 3.0 CSL. Their new partnership started strong with a second-place finish at the 1977 24 Hours of Daytona race. They also won their class in that race, even though they had to drive carefully.

Their return to the ETCC was a winning one. They won the first race of the season at Monza. They then took second place at Mugello. This helped Finotto move into second place in the driver's championship. At the Enna race, Facetti and Finotto led from start to finish, winning easily.

They won again in Czechoslovakia, beating stronger teams. After some tough races where they didn't finish, they took third place in Spain. In the final race of 1977 in Estoril, they won again. Finotto finished fifth overall in the championship that year.

For the 1978 season, Finotto bought an Alpina BMW CSL and continued to race with Facetti. They finished second at Brands Hatch in England. Then, they won the four-hour race at Monza by a large margin. They also won the Austria-Trophäe race.

Later in 1978, they faced some bad luck with car problems. They lost the championship lead due to a slipping clutch and fuel issues. However, they bounced back with a big win in Czechoslovakia. They left the series for a short time but returned in 1979.

In 1979, Finotto and Facetti continued to battle for wins. They had some close finishes, including a second place at Vallelunga and another close second at Mugello. At Brands Hatch, they were leading comfortably but had a gear problem and crashed. They also had more retirements due to fuel and cooling issues.

Despite the challenges, they started winning races again. They won at the Nürburgring, Zandvoort, and Salzburgring, completing three victories in a row. When the ETCC visited Enna, they finished second. Finally, they won the RAC Tourist Trophy at Silverstone, which secured them the European Touring Car title! They continued their winning streak with a fifth victory in six races at Zolder.

Venturing into Sports Car Racing

By 1980, Facetti was in charge of Achille Motors in Milan, a business he shared with Finotto. That year, they bought a new Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo car. They used it to score points for Lancia in the World Championship.

For 1981, Finotto and Facetti had a bold idea: to challenge the powerful Porsche cars with a Ferrari. Ferrari was mostly focused on Formula One, so Finotto and Facetti decided to build their own Ferrari race car at Achille Motors. They chose the 3.0-liter Ferrari 308 GTB as their starting point. Since the rules allowed many changes as long as the car looked like the road version, Facetti designed special parts.

They called their car the Carma FF, combining their names (CARlo Facetti and Martino Finotto, and FF for Facetti and Finotto). The standard Ferrari 308 GTB wasn't fast enough, so Facetti designed new cylinder heads and added two turbochargers. This made the engine produce an incredible 700 horsepower! They also made the car much lighter.

When the Carma FF arrived at the 24 Hours of Daytona race, it looked like a unique Italian creation. Facetti was a brave driver and managed to put the Ferrari in sixth place on the starting grid. However, the car had problems and retired early from the race. It continued to have mechanical issues in other races, like at Mugello, Monza, and Silverstone.

Only Facetti seemed to get the best performance out of the car. In 1982, they decided not to continue with the Carma FF. Instead, they tried a different car, the Osella-BMW PA9, but it also didn't finish any races that season.

In 1983, a new racing category called Group C Junior was introduced. Finotto knew they couldn't compete with big teams like Porsche. So, he asked Giorgio Stirano to build a new car for these rules. Facetti designed a special 1.8-liter turbocharged engine. The team became known as Giannini-Alba, and later Carma FF. Their first car, the Alba AR2, won its class regularly in 1983. This helped Alba win the Group C Junior Cup. In 1984, they didn't win races but still helped Alba win the Group C2 Prototype FIA Cup.

Racing in America: IMSA Camel Lights

By 1986, Finotto decided to focus on the IMSA Camel Lights series in America. He and Facetti, who prepared the Ferrari engines, teamed up with Gaston Andrey Racing. They also brought in fellow Italian driver, Ruggero Melgrati, who was very fast in the Lights division.

Finotto had a good season in 1986. He finished fifth in class at Charlotte and won his class at The Löwenbräu Classic at Road America. He had a shorter season in 1987, but started 1988 very well. He raced an Alba AR6 with a Ferrari engine. Finotto, along with Guido Daccò and Pieter Silva, finished seventh in class at the Daytona 24-hour race. Then, Finotto and Melgrati won races at the Miami Grand Prix Street Circuit and Road Atlanta. He finished sixth overall in the championship that year.

In 1989, he switched to Bieri Racing and continued with them in 1990. Here, he scored three class wins with Melgrati at Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, and Road America. These wins helped him secure second place in the IMSA Camel Lights series. After a short season in 1991, he returned to race a Ferrari 308 GTB one last time at the 1995 12 Hours of Sebring.

Martino Finotto's Legacy

Martino Finotto passed away on August 13, 2014, at the age of 80, after a long illness. He left a big mark in motorsports as a driver, a team owner, and an engine builder.

Almo Coppelli, another driver who raced with Finotto, described him as a passionate but tough person. Coppelli said, "Finotto was driven by his passion, but he always gave me a hard time. He and Facetti were old-school guys and really tough with me, but I learned a lot – racing with them was part of my schooling. Facetti did everything in the team: he was the driver, the manager and the engineer. Finotto paid the bills, but he was decent driver who was never far off the pace."

Racing Record

Career Highlights

24 Hours of Le Mans Results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1974	BMW Jolly Club	Manfred Mohr Carlo Facetti	BMW 3.0 CSL	T	155	DNF	DNF
1980	Jolly Club – Lancia Corse	Carlo Facetti	Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo	Gr.5	273	19th	2nd
1981	Jolly Club	Giorgio Schön Giorgio Pianta	Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo	Gr.5	293	14th	4th
1983	Scuderia Jolly Club	Carlo Facetti Marco Vanoli	Alba-Giannini AR2	C Junior	158	DNF	DNF
1984	Jolly Club	Carlo Facetti Marco Vanoli	Alba-Giannini AR2	C2	258	21st	7th
1985	Carma F.F.	Guido Daccò Aldo Bertuzzi	Alba-Giannini AR2	C2	228	DNF	DNF

24 Hours of Daytona Results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1977	Jolly Club	Carlo Facetti Romeo Camathias	Porsche 935	Gr.5	679	2nd	1st
1978	Jolly Club	Carlo Facetti	Porsche 935	GTX	6	DNF	DNF
1979	Jolly Club – Sportswagen Racing Team	Carlo Facetti Giampiero Moretti	Porsche 935	GTX	164	DNF	DNF
1980	Jolly Club	Carlo Facetti	Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo	GTX	597	10th	6th
1981	Jolly Club	Carlo Facetti	Ferrari 308 GTB Turbo	GTX	4	DNF	DNF
	Jolly Club Italia	Carlo Facetti Emanuele Pirro	Lancia Beta Montecarlo Turbo	GTX	609	5th	3rd
1986	Carma Racing	Ruggero Melgrati Almo Coppelli	Alba-Ferrari AR6	Lights	291	DNF	DNF
1988	Gaston Andrey Racing	Pietro Silva Guido Daccò	Alba-Ferrari AR6	Lights	506	27th	7th
1989	Bieri Racing	Paolo Guatamacchi Uli Bieri	Tiga-Ferrari GT286	Lights	475	22nd	2nd
1990	Bieri Racing	Paolo Guatamacchi Loris Kessel	Spice-Ferrari SE89P	Lights	306	DNF	DNF

12 Hours of Sebring Results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1986	Gaston Andrey Racing	Carlo Facetti Ruggero Melgarti	Alba-Ferrari AR6	Lights	41	DNF	DNF
1987	Gaston Andrey Racing	Ruggero Melgarti Pietro Silva	Alba-Ferrari AR6	Lights	177	DNF	DNF
1988	Gaston Andrey Racing	Uli Bieri Angelo Pallavicini Paolo Guatamcchi	Alba-Ferrari AR6	Lights	269	13th	2nd
		Ruggero Melgarti Guido Daccò	Tiga-Ferrari GT286	Lights	264	18th	4th
1989	Bieri Racing	Paolo Guatamacchi Uli Bieri	Tiga-Ferrari GT286	Lights	193	DNF	DNF
1990	Bieri Racing	Ruggero Melgrati Paolo Guatamacchi	Spice-Ferrari SE89P	Lights	261	12th	3rd
1991	Bieri Racing	Ruggero Melgrati Fermín Vélez	Spice-Ferrari SE89P	Lights	147	DNF	DNF
1995	Martion Finotto	Ruggero Melgrati John Finger	Ferrari 308 GTB	GTS-2	74	DNF	DNF

24 Hours of Spa Results

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1976	Luigi Racing	Jean Xhenceval Pierre Dieudonné	BMW 3.0 CSL	Div.4		DNF	DNF
1978	Luigi Racing Lotto	Jean Xhenceval André Gavage	BMW 530i	Grp.1+2.5		DNF	DNF
1981	Van Hove Mobil Smit Jet	Raijmond van Hove Georges Cremer	Chevrolet Camaro Z28	serT+2.5	393	22nd	14th