"Sign me up, please!"
Marino Franchitti of Panoz Motorsports
By Kate Shaw
Photos courtesy Craig Elliot and Jim DeFord
BRASELTON, Georgia (September 28, 2004) – Marino Franchitti has not been racing in North America for long (since 2001), but in those few years he has driven every type of sports car and done very well in every one. The old time drivers like Mario Andretti and the late Michele Alboretto prided themselves on their ability to jump into any car, any time, anywhere and wring the neck of the car no matter how good or limited its possibilities might be. Marino Franchitti seems to be cut out of that same cloth. A cheerful, well spoken young man with a clear love of racing that puts a spring in his step and a sparkle in his eye. In his first 9 races in the American Le Mans Series, Marino scored one second place and six top-five finishes, proving he had the right stuff for the job. However, Marino modestly declined to call this achievement success. “I have a long way to go,” he said, “before that, I think.” Marino admires such great drivers as Jim Clark and Mario Andretti, who could “drive any car, and drive it fast”, and would love to get the opportunity to emulate them in his career.

I asked Marino if he thought the chance he’d had to drive every class of car in the American Le Mans Series was the secret of his good results in the series to date. “I think the love I have for driving and for the cars themselves means I approach each class with a great sense of anticipation - just to get out there and drive as fast as I can,” he said. “I have been fortunate in being able to get on the pace quickly in each class. And if you ask why that is? It’s simply because I love getting the best out of myself and any team I drive for, whether it be during a test or a race. I’ve managed to get great feed back from every car I’ve ever driven, and that in itself, I believe, allows me to get much closer to the limit of the car.”

The most exciting part of the American Le Mans Series to the fans is the opportunity to watch four classes of cars driving four separate races on the track at the same time. For the drivers, this would seem to be one heck of a challenge, and some are clearly better at it than others. Since Marino had experience in every class of car, I asked him if that gave him more respect for the other cars on the track, and heightened his ability to get through traffic with more agility than those who specialized in one class of car. “For sure the biggest challenge is dealing with traffic, getting through it without compromising your lap time too much,” he agreed. “Whether you are passing in a P1/P2 or being passed in GT, you always have to be thinking how you will pass or be passed without losing too much time.

“I think I have an advantage because I’ve driven in every class, ‘a respect’ as you put it. When I started in sportscars [Audi driver Allan] McNish gave me a lot of advice on dealing with traffic, on how he liked to pass and how a GT car could help him get it done with the least loss of time. That really helped me.” But there are people out there, he continued, who could benefit from that kind of advice, if they would take it. “It amazes me how badly some drivers deal with traffic, from P1 to GT. In Petit this year some of the bigger cars would cost both themselves and me a lot of time. Some of the drivers don’t seem to have any forward thinking!” Remembering one particularly terrible accident this past weekend, one could only agree.

Although Marino Franchitti had participated in a test day at Le Mans, he has not yet had the opportunity to race there; however, he’s ready to step up when the chance arrives. “Unfortunately I have never raced at Le Mans – yet! It’s something I HAVE to fix next year. I have driven the Le Mans pre-test, but the team didn’t get an entry. It is something I have dreamed of for a long time, I can’t tell you how much. I don’t even go to watch the race now as it hurts not to drive.”

To the question about his preferred “Dream Car” he answered promptly, “Dream car is an obvious one: Audi R8.” And as for a dream team to drive with him? “My brother Dario and Allan McNish – a wee Scottish super team!” One can only imagine the pit-to -car radio commentary for such a team, and the discussion over which tartan would feature in the colour scheme of those Audis …
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Many drivers think of sports car racing as kind of a way station, either coming from or going to Formula One. But Marino has no particular ambition in that direction, although he’s not about to turn down a drive in any kind of car. “I love driving race cars,” he emphasized, “I don’t care where or what. I want to race every weekend if I can and I want to experience every type of racing. Sportscars is my focus, but if I had an opportunity come my way in single seaters I’d look at it for sure. It’s not something I’m pursuing, but I’m open to offers!”

Besides his experience in the ALMS and Grand Am, Marino got a chance to drive as “Michael Galati’s wingman” in a Champion Audi in the Speed World Challenge a couple of years ago. It was only a weekend gig, but he performed admirably in his mission and enjoyed the experience, both driving the car and helping Galati win the championship (“He’s a great driver.”) But there was another advantage to that drive, and that was teammate Derek Bell. “The coolest thing was being Derek Bell’s team mate, we would have 2 hour de-briefs, 15 minutes on the car, and the rest of the time was spent with him telling me old stories; so amazing,” he remembered. And would he drive in the Speed World Challenge again? In a heartbeat. But he does think that the competition adjustments have gone a little bit too far.

“I would love to race in SWC again, but they need to stop these knee jerk reactions every week,” he said candidly. “By all means tweak the rule if a car is doing well, but don’t make changes like they just did to Champion or they will alienate manufacturers and fans alike.”

Since Marino has done sports car races in Europe as well as in North America, I was curious as to whether the European fans and the North American fans were different in any way. “Sportscar fans are the same the world over, passionate!” he said. But he has fond memorize of his first meeting with North American fans. “I do remember in my first race in ALMS, Petit 2001,” he recalled. “I was driving John McLoughlin’s Ferrari 360, a brand new car with no development. We broke after an hour and I remember getting out at turn six to try and fix the car and fans cheering like crazy> They just loved seeing this car, didn’t care that it had broken. It was a Ferrari, and they loved it.

“That was cool.”

Driving in a prototype with one or two co-drivers, and driving a sports car in which you are the only driver, are two very different kettles of fish. I asked him “What do you think are the biggest challenges in each form of racing – the compromise on set up, for example, against the total responsibility for getting the car just right?”

Clearly this was something he had thought about before. “Compromise is way more difficult for sure; it’s easier when the car is set up just for you as everyone drives with a different style. Also not having to compromise your comfort and have a car totally tailored to your body makes it easier to perform at 100%. I think there is equal pressure in each. If you are one driver it is down to you and you alone to get it all right. As part of a driver pairing you have someone to share the pressure with you, but then you also have someone who, if you don’t get it right, you can let down.”

A few years ago the ALMS made a couple of forays into international venues, Donington Park in England and Adelaide, Australia. I wondered if Marino thought that had been the right direction and if he’d like to see it go back to some international tracks. He surprised me by saying he thought the ALMS was doing well enough in North America and should keep up their good work there. He would, however, like to experience more street circuits. “I would like to see some street circuits come back on the calendar, I really like racing on them. It’s a challenge I enjoy. No margin for error.”

Since Marino has been a “rolling stone” in sports cars, I asked him what the busiest year was he’d had, and how he liked the variety of cars he’d gotten to drive. “2002 for sure,” he said. “I drove every type of sportscar. I wish the 2 years since then had been as busy, but in both 2003 and again this year I’ve had my season fall apart immediately following the Sebring race. Aside from the huge and extreme disappointment, it has left me each time without a full time drives and therefore without any championship hopes.

“The variation is fun, but I would love the chance to run a championship with the same team for the whole year. I thrive on building a relationship with a team and building a championship challenge together. The last time I raced a whole championship, I won it, so I’d like the chance to do that again!”

Two of my own favourite series are the Paris-Dakar and Baja 1000 Rally Raids, and I asked Marino if he had any ambitions in that direction some day. Naturally he was keen. “Both of them sound good to me; sign me up please!” he said at once. Then he added, “I’d love to try rallying, my good friend Robert Reid (world championship winning co-driver with Richard Burns) says I’m a closet rally driver!”

Finally I asked him what he’d like people to think when they heard the name “Marino Franchitti” (And we’re assuming it’s not “Isn’t his name Dario?”) And here is his reply:

“I’d always like to believe that anyone ever thinking of me, in whatever context, would only ever say that I was always positive and gave of my best, and that I was never mediocre about anything I did, but if I wanted to be more specific…….

“Right now in my life I’d like a manufacturer or a team to think – “Looking at the limited amount of experience young Franchitti has had, he’s done a pretty good job in all the different cars he’s driven, that can’t be coincidence – let’s give him a chance!”

“And I’d like the fans to think – “Marino’s always approachable, chats freely, and entertains us on the track, he’d be a good regular to have so that we can get to see more of him.”

I know that everyone who has seen Marino Franchitti drive, whether in Grand Am, any of the four classes of the ALMS, the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring, or the Speed World Challenge, would love to get the chance to watch him again; and we all hope that one day we’ll be able to celebrate an Audi championship for him, too!

RFM Sports thanks Kaye Wilson and Marino Franchitti for this great interview, and we wish him all success with the pursuit of a full time drive in the ALMS.