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Franco Scapini

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Franco Scapini (born April 7, 1962)[1] is a former Italian racing driver from Varese.

European racing

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Scapini was passionate about cars and technology from an early age, because he attended his father's workshop, where racing cars were prepared and classic cars were restored. He began to frequent the racetracks with his father and also to have the first experiences with go-karts. After racing go-karts for 3 years, he began his professional career in 1981 in the Italian F.Fiat Abarth Championship, having suffered from a serious accident at Imola. Once recovered from the accident he joined the F2000 Championship immediately getting a fourth and a third place. After these results, the team gave him the opportunity to debut in F3 at Mugello European Formula Three Championship. Without any sponsor's support he participated in partial seasons there until 1983 but always with excellent results, being always among the fastest drivers with a very aggressive but profitable driving. Much appreciated by the team's engineers for his technical skills in the development of the chassis and engines, he moved to Italian Formula Three in 1984 and finished 4th in the series points with 3 wins for the Automotor team. In 1984 he was awarded the coveted Autosprint gold medal ( famous international Motorsport newspaper ) for sporting and competitive merits. Following is successes in 1984, he remained in the same team as well in 1985, spending a large part of the season testing and developing the electronic injection system on the VW Brabham-Judd factory engine and also a system of special air shock absorbers on the flat-bottomed Ralt RT30, devoid of coil springs, but another serious accident put an end to his season. Shortly supported by sponsors he participated in a partial season of Formula 3000 in 1986 with little success. In 1987, he came back to Italian F3 with Automotor, Coloni and Euroteam and also became a test driver for Minardi in F1. In 1988 he made one more Formula 3000 start as well as making his only American Racing Series appearance. In 1989 he returned to F3000 for 2 more starts and also drove the Mussato Lancia LC2-Ferrari in the World Sport Prototype Championship. In 1990 he signed on as the official test and reserve driver for the Life team in Formula One, however, as the team only had a single chassis, he reportedly only drove in few practice sessions.[2] The Life team and car was a colossal failure and failed to pre-qualify for the first 14 events of the 1990 Formula One season before the team shut down. In 1991 he has the American experience in the IndyCar Championship with the Euromotorsport Lola-Cosworth DFS. Later he decided to prepare a Ferrari F355 for the GT3 category and he did it independently with his own company, the Supertech Racing team. He deserves credit for having brought Ferrari cars back to compete in international GT championships and endurance races such as the 24 Hours of Daytona. And this has probably convinced Ferrari to reconsider the importance of GT racing for sporting customers. At the wheel of the Ferrari F355 GT3 he raced in the French, Spanish and Italian GT Championships, with some good results in the top three and 2 wins, before retiring to become a racing instructor and F1 Powerboat team manager for the D.A.C. Racing team winning 2 European Championships, 8 World Championships and 2 World speed records. He is currently involved in motorsport management and collaborates as a motorsport technical commentator with a major European pay per view network. He also manages a small executive flight company owned by him and he often personally flies planes of this company [3]

American racing

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He made one CART IndyCar World Series start for Euromotorsport in 1991 at Surfers Paradise where he finished a surprising 11th, good enough for 2 points and 28th in series points. He later competed in two Grand-Am events in 1999 and 2000 driving a Ferrari F355. Both events were the Daytona 24 Hours race. His best finish was 12th in class (1999).

Career results

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Season Series Team Name Races Poles Wins Points Final Placing
1981 European Formula Three Ermolli 1 0 0 0 NC
1982 European Formula Three Mario Crugnola 4 0 0 0 NC
Italian Formula Three Mario Crugnola 11 0 0 7 10th
1983 European Formula Three Cesare Gariboldi 1 0 0 0 NC
Italian Formula Three Cesare Gariboldi
Team Merzario
8 0 0 8 10th
1984 Italian Formula Three Elf Alloni
Automotor Racing
10 2 2 34 4th
1985 Italian Formula Three Automotor Racing 12 0 0 7 11th
1986 International Formula 3000 Italia 3000
Lola Motorsport
4 0 0 0 NC
1987 Italian Formula Three Automotor
Coloni Racing
Euroteam
10 0 0 1 20th
1988 International Formula 3000 Italia 3000
Lola Motorsport
1 0 0 0 NC
Indy Lights TEAMKAR International 1 0 0 2 28th
1989 International Formula 3000 Automotive BVM 2 0 0 0 NC
1990 Formula One Life F1 Test driver
1991 CART World Series Euromotorsports 1 0 0 2 28th
1997 Ferrari Challenge - Italy Motor 8 0 0 ? 7th
1998 French GT Championship S.B. Racing Supertech 2 0 0 0 NC
1999 Spanish GT Championship Supertech 5 1 0 0 NC

Complete International Formula 3000 results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points
1986 Corbari Italia
Italia F3000
SIL
17
VAL
Ret
PAU
DNQ
SPA
DNQ
IMO
DNQ
MUG
NC 0
Lola Motorsport PER
Ret
ÖST
13
BIR
BUG
JAR
1988 Cowman Racing JER
DNQ
VAL
15
PAU
DNQ
SIL
DNQ
MNZ
DNQ
PER
DNQ
BRH
BIR
DNQ
BUG
ZOL
DIJ
NC 0
1989 Automotive / BVM SIL
VAL
PAU
JER
DNQ
PER
Ret
BRH
DNQ
BIR
10
SPA
DNQ
BUG
DNQ
DIJ
NC 0

Complete CART/Indycar results

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(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rank Points Ref
1991 Euromotorsports SRF
11
LBH PHX INDY
MIL DET POR CLE MEA TOR MIS DEN VAN MDO ROA NAZ LS 28th 2 [4]

Complete Indy Lights results

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(key)

Year Team Series 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rank Points
1988 TEAMKAR International ARS PHX
MIL
POR
CLE
TOR
MEA
POC
MDO
ROA
NAZ
LS
MIA
11
28th 2

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

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Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of the winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC).

Year Pos Class No Team Drivers Chassis Tyre Laps
Engine
1989 DNQ C1 26 Italy Mussato Action Car Italy Almo Coppelli
Austria Ernst Franzmaier
Lancia LC2 D -
Ferrari 308C 3.0L Turbo V8

References

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  1. ^ "Franco Scapini". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Life - Profile". F1 Rejects. Archived from the original on 21 October 2007. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  3. ^ Where are They Now? - Franco Scapini, OldRacingCars.com
  4. ^ "Franco Scapini – 1991 CART Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
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