Franchitti Ready for Acura Debut at St. Petersburg

Franchitti Ready for Acura Debut at St. Petersburg

Posted: March 26th, 2007 in American Le Mans
Author: American Le Mans Series
Photo By: Joe Martin

Marino Franchitti is counting down the days to the biggest opportunity of his sports car career. The energetic Scot will make his return to prototype racing next week at the inaugural Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg with Sebring LMP2 winner Andretti Green Racing.

Franchitti, a veteran of 21 American Le Mans Series starts and two runner-up class finishes, will team with Bryan Herta in Round No. 2 of the 2007 Series season. Older brother Dario teamed with Herta and Tony Kanaan for the historic victory for Andretti Green Racing and Acura, the first for both.

“I’m very proud of the job that Andretti Green Racing and Acura have done producing a car that was capable of winning the Sebring 12 Hours,” Marino Franchitti said. “I thought Bryan (Herta) and my other teammates drove a fantastic race.”

Franchitti has driven at nearly every level in the American Le Mans Series for marques such as Dodge, Panoz and Ferrari in the GT classes to Lola in the prototype ranks. His lone appearance last year resulted in a runner-up GT2 finish for Risi Competizione at Petit Le Mans. The prior year he was part of the factory Panoz effort in North America and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Franchitti also was part of the GT2-class winning Ferrari team at the FIA GT round at Adria in Italy and was second in class at the Britcar 24 Hours at Silverstone in a Porsche.

“We certainly feel that this is a good opportunity for Marino and we’re looking forward to seeing him perform at a key event for XM, Acura and Andretti Green,” said Andretti Green Racing CEO and principal Kim Green. “The class win at Sebring was a big boost for everyone involved with our program and we’re hoping Bryan and Marino can ride that momentum for another good result in the Acura Sports Car Challenge.”

“Testing the car has been fun and educational, especially in Sebring last week,” Franchitti said. “Now I’m ready to go racing in St. Petersburg. It looks like an amazing race track and hopefully we’ll be able to earn a second victory for Acura.”

The next round of the American Le Mans Series is the Acura Sports Car Challenge of St. Petersburg. The race will start at 5:05 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 31. SPEED will provide a same-day broadcast event from 8 to 11 p.m. MotorsTV in Europe, SPEED Latin America and 7TV in Russia will carry the race live. American Le Mans Radio and IMSA’s Live Timing & Scoring will be available at americanlemans.com.