George Dario Marino Franchitti[1] (born 19 May 1973) is a Scottish racing driver. He formerly competed in the CART series before switching to the IndyCar Series where he was 2007 champion, and won the rain-shortened 2007 Indianapolis 500. Franchitti is also a former NASCAR driver for Chip Ganassi Racing, competing until mid-2008 when his team shut down.[2] Franchitti returned to the IndyCar Series for the 2009 season, driving the #10 Target Honda/Dallara for Target Chip Ganassi Racing.[3] He is the current, four-time IndyCar Series champion after claiming a third title in 2010 and fourth title in 2011 in addition to his 2007 and 2009 titles. On 30 May 2010, he won his second Indianapolis 500 race. He is the second driver in IndyCar Series history to take four titles in four consecutive series of racing, after Sébastien Bourdais, after accounting for his 2008 absence from the series. On 27 May 2012, he won his third Indianapolis 500 race. He! also competed in the American Le Mans Series for Andretti Green Racing with his brother Marino and former IndyCar Series teammate Bryan Herta . He won the 2007 BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year award. Franchitti was born in Bathgate, West Lothian, Scotland. Contents 1 Early career 2 CART 3 IndyCar Series 3.1 2003 3.2 2004 3.3 2005 3.4 2007 3.5 2008 3.6 2009 3.7 2010 3.8 2011 3.9 2012 4 NASCAR 5 Sports Car Racing 6 Personal life 7 Media Appearances 8 Simraceway Game Design 9 Motorsports Career Results 9.1 Touring Car Racing 9.1.1 German Touring Car Championship 9.1.2 International Touring Car Championship 9.2 American open–wheel racing results 9.2.1 CART 9.2.2 IndyCar 9.2.3 Indianapolis 500 9.3 Sports Car Racing 9.3.1 American Le Mans Series results 9.3.2 Rolex Sports Car Series results 9.4 Stock Car Racing 9.4.1 NASCAR Sprint Cup results 9.4.2 NASCAR Truck Series results 9.4.3 ARCA results 10 References 11 Sources 12 External links [edit] Early care! er While attending Stewart's Melville College in Edinburgh, Fr! anchitti became interested in karting. Allan McNish credited a large part of the start given to himself, Franchitti and David Coulthard as being down to David Leslie senior and junior.[4] Franchitti won the Karting Scottish Junior Championship in 1984, the British Junior Championships in 1985 and 1986 and the Scottish senior title in 1988. He progressed to Formula Vauxhall Junior where he won the championship with four victories in 1991. He moved up to Formula Vauxhall Lotus in 1992, where he joined Paul Stewart Racing. In his first year, he finished fourth in the overall championship, and was named the McLaren/Autosport Young Driver of the Year. Staying with the team for the next season, he won the championship in 1993. He graduated to the British Formula Three Championship in 1994, where he finished fourth and won one race in his first year. However, he was not retained for 1995 which was his final year in single-seaters in Europe. Instead, Franchitti was contracted by AM! G Racing to drive a works Mercedes C-Class in the German Touring Car Championship and the related International Touring Car Championship, where he finished fifth and third respectively. He continued in the ITC in 1996, finishing fourth overall with one race win. Franchitti performed test driver duties for the Jaguar F1 team under his mentor Jackie Stewart in the 2000 Formula One season, but was not able to secure a drive in the World Championship. [edit] CART Champ Car career 114 race(s) run over 6 year(s) Years active 1997-2002 Team(s) Hogan Racing (1997), Team KOOL Green (1998-2002) Best finish 2nd - 1999 First race 1997 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami (Homestead) Last race 2002 Mexico Gran Premio Telmex/Gigante (Mexico City) First win 1998 Texaco/Havoline 200 (Road America) Last win 2002 2002 Sure For Men Rockingham 500 (Rockingham) Wins Podiums Poles 10 32 11 Dario's car being pushed up to qualify for the 2006 Indianapolis 500. With the demise of the ITC, Mercedes placed F! ranchitti in Hogan Racing in 1997, making his US debut in the PPG/CART ! Champ Car World Series where his best finish was a ninth at Surfers Paradise. In 1998 he joined Team Green (forerunner to Andretti Green Racing and the current Andretti Autosport), finishing third in the season standings with three wins (his first coming at Road America) and a season-high five pole positions. Franchitti finished runner-up in the 1999 CART season behind rookie Juan Pablo Montoya. Both drivers scored 212 points, but Montoya had seven wins to Franchitti's three and was crowned champion. Franchitti's close friend Greg Moore died in a crash during the final race of the year at California Speedway in Fontana, California. A heavy crash in pre-season testing the next year ruined Franchitti's 2000 season, and he only won once at Cleveland in 2001. In 2002 he won the Vancouver Molson Indy. He dedicated his win to Greg Moore, who was killed in 1999 and was from Vancouver, British Columbia. He finished fourth in Champ Car in 2002. [edit] IndyCar Series Franchitti waiti! ng to qualify on 12 May 2007, at Indianapolis. Practicing for the 2007 Indy 500. IndyCar Series career 99 race(s) run over 7 year(s) Team(s) Chip Ganassi Racing Best finish 1st – 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011 First race 2002 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis) Last race 2012 Indianapolis 500 (Indianapolis) Wins Podiums Poles 20 46 13 [edit] 2003 Franchitti moved with the Andretti Green team to the IndyCar Series in 2003 but his season was ended by a back injury sustained in a motorcycle accident while on holiday in Scotland.[5][6] Franchitti missed most of the year, and his place was taken by Dan Wheldon at Motegi,[7] Robby Gordon at Indianapolis,[8] and Bryan Herta for the remainder of the year (with Wheldon taking over a regular role from retiring team boss Michael Andretti). [edit] 2004 Franchitti returned to the cockpit in 2004, and won his first IRL IndyCar Series race on 25 July at the Milwaukee Mile.[9] He followed this win up with a win at Pikes Peak on 22 August.[10] [edit]! 2005 Franchitti returned to Andretti Green Racing again, and had 2 win! s. The first win came at Nashville.[11] His last win of the year came at the 2005 season finale at California.[12] [edit] 2007 On 3 January 2007, Andretti Green Racing announced that Franchitti had re-signed for the IRL team for a tenth consecutive season in American Open Wheel racing.[13] That year he also undertook a limited programme in the American Le Mans Series driving an Acura ARX-01, teaming up with his younger brother, Marino Franchitti and long-time AGR team-mate Bryan Herta.[14] On 27 May 2007, Franchitti won a rain-shortened Indianapolis 500, finishing under a yellow flag after an accident involving Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti following lap 163. The race was halted due to rain three laps later. His prize money of $1.6m was equal to the entire purse for the 1982 race. During the 2007 season, Franchitti survived two huge crashes which saw his car flip upside down both times. The first at Michigan saw him tangle with Dan Wheldon resulting in his car flipping bef! ore being hit again by Scott Dixon. The contact with Dixon was only inches away from his head and the accident saw seven cars (including Franchitti) retire from the race. The second flip came a week later at Kentucky. As Franchitti crossed the start/finish line to finish the race, the Scotsman who had not realised the chequered flag had been waved continued to race and crashed into the back of Kosuke Matsuura flipping yet again and hitting the outside wall. Franchitti took full responsibility for the incident. Franchitti won the IndyCar Championship with four wins finishing ahead of Scott Dixon by just 13 points. Dixon ran out of fuel on the last lap of the season-ending race, allowing Franchitti to take the win and the championship, his first championship win since Formula Vauxhall Lotus in 1993. Franchitti returned to the IndyCar series for 2009 in the Target Chip Ganassi Racing #10 car, replacing Dan Wheldon who moved to Panther Racing. He debuted for the team in the non! points race at Surfers Paradise in Australia on 25 October 2008. He qu! alified 4th of 24 drivers and was running third when he spun and stalled the car, resulting in a lap-down finish of 16th. He led 2 laps and set the fastest lap of the race. [edit] 2008 Franchitti missed the 2008 Indianapolis 500 as he pursued a NASCAR career. He rejoined the IndyCar Series in 2009 with Target Ganassi Racing and went on to win his second and third IndyCar titles in 2009 and 2010. [edit] 2009 2009 marked a successful return to Indycar for Dario scooping five wins, two second and two third placings and taking the series championship in his second consecutive attempt over teammate Scott Dixon by 11 points. [edit] 2010 Franchitti got off to a steady if unspectacular start; through the first 5 races, Dario had 1 pole, 3 Top 5 finishes and 4 Top 10s. However, at the 94th running of the Indianapolis 500, it all came together for him. Starting on the outside of the first row (#3), Franchitti had the best car of the day, leading over 150 laps to take his 2nd win in t! he past four years. This is also his 24th win in American Open-wheel driving, placing him in the top 20 all-time. The win also makes him the 18th multiple-win driver in the history of the Indianapolis 500.[15] In October, Franchitti will travel to Australia to compete in a special round of the V8 Supercar championship in which he and 17 other international drivers will pair up with regular V8 drivers in two 300 km (186 mi) endurance races at the Gold Coast Street Circuit, a former venue for Indycar. He will drive for Jim Beam Racing with Steve Johnson. By finishing eighth in the 2010 Izod Indycar series championship final at the Homestead Miami Speedway, and leading the most laps on top of qualifying in pole position, Dario overhauled Will Power's 12 points l
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