Franco Scapini


Franco Scapini is a former Italian racing driver from Varese.

European racing

After racing go-karts for 3 years, he began his professional career in 1981 in the Italian F.Fiat Abarth Championship, having suffered after 3 races 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. He moved to Italian Formula Three in 1984 and finished 4th in the series points with 3 wins for the Automotor team. Following his successes in 1984, he remained in the same team as well in 1985 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 with Bruno Giacomelli. 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. 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, after his American experience in the IndyCar Championship with the Euromotorsport Lola-Cosworth DFS, he raced in the French, Spanish and Italian GT Championships, driving the Ferrari F355 GT3 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 uses to fly himself.

American racing

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.

Career results

Complete International Formula 3000 results

YearEntrant1234567891011DCPoints
1986Corbari Italia
Italia F3000		SIL
17		VAL
Ret		PAU
DNQ		SPA
DNQ		IMO
DNQ		MUG
NC0
1986Lola MotorsportPER
Ret		ÖST
13		BIR
BUG
JAR
NC0
1988Cowman RacingJER
DNQ		VAL
15		PAU
DNQ		SIL
DNQ		MNZ
DNQ		PER
DNQ		BRH
BIR
DNQ		BUG
ZOL
DIJ
NC0
1989Automotive / BVMSIL
VAL
PAU
JER
DNQ		PER
Ret		BRH
DNQ		BIR
10		SPA
DNQ		BUG
DNQ		DIJ
NC0
-------------NC0

Complete CART/Indycar results

YearTeam1234567891011121314151617RankPoints
1991Euromotorsports
SRF
11
LBH
PHX
INDY

MIL
DET
POR
CLE
MEA
TOR
MIS
DEN
VAN
MDO
ROA
NAZ
LS		28th2

Complete Indy Lights results

YearTeamSeries123456789101112RankPoints
1988TEAMKAR InternationalARS
PHX

MIL

POR

CLE

TOR

MEA

POC

MDO

ROA

NAZ

LS

MIA
11		28th2

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Class winners in bold. Cars failing to complete 70% of the winner's distance marked as Not Classified.
YearPosClassNoTeamDriversChassisTyreLaps
YearPosClassNoTeamDriversEngineTyreLaps
1989DNQC126 Mussato Action Car Almo Coppelli
Ernst Franzmaier		Lancia LC2-
1989DNQC126 Mussato Action Car Almo Coppelli
Ernst Franzmaier		Ferrari 308C 3.0L Turbo V8-