In January, racing legend Dario Franchitti returned to contemporary professional motorsport for the first time in over 12 years when he raced in the Michelin 24H Dubai, driving Team Parker Racing’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.
Last weekend, Franchitti was one of a handful of high-profile guest drivers who entered the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ inaugural race around the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.
And in-between, he was placed third on the reserve list for the 94th 24 Hours of Le Mans, as part of Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn’s prospective LMGT3 class entry with an Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3.
It’s the best chance that Franchitti has had to making a long sought-after debut at Le Mans since the 6 October 2013 IndyCar accident at Houston, Texas forced him to retire from the series, or risk severe threat to his quality of life if he continued.
The accident took from Dario what could have been an incredible post-IndyCar opportunity to race for Porsche in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2015. Before the accident, a handshake deal was in place for him to drive one of the Porsche 919 Hybrid LMP1s that went on to finish 1-2 at Le Mans that year.
And it wasn’t even Franchitti’s first time missing out on a Le Mans debut; in the late 2000s, he was in talks with Prodrive’s David Richards to drive one of the factory Aston Martin DBR9s, but it could never come together due to Franchitti’s IndyCar schedule.
Well enough to resume vintage and now professional racing, it still took some convincing from Blackthorn owner Claude Bovet to get Franchitti to go along with the idea of getting another chance to one day race at Le Mans.
“The Blackthorn guys had mentioned it before, and I kept saying, ‘I’m not sure,’” Franchitti recalled. “Then Johnny Adam called and said Claude, who owns Blackthorn, really wanted to do this and wanted to talk to me. He called, and he had such enthusiasm that I thought, ‘Absolutely, let’s try to do it.’
“But it was late in the day to put everything together, and even though they put a lot of effort into getting the entry, it was quite late. We might regroup. I’d like to do something with them. There’s the Ecurie Ecosse connection, and they’re raising funds for Race Against Dementia — Jeremy Stewart’s charity — so there’s a lot of good behind it.”
The likelihood of Blackthorn’s entry making it off the reserve list and into this year’s Le Mans grid is very, very small. But it’s clear that Franchitti is as eager as he’s ever been to finally get the chance to race in the event, if not this year, then some time in the near future.
“I’d like to do Le Mans at some point,” he affirmed. “I’ve gone from being in a headspace where I always said no to being in one where I’m saying yes a lot more. I mean, I ran in Jimmie (Johnson)’s Mint 400 truck with a passenger seat — definitely the dumbest and possibly the scariest thing I’ve ever done. That tells you my mindset right now. And I’m lucky to have a very understanding wife who just shakes her head and says, ‘Have fun, darling.’”
Franchitti had made a detour into NASCAR racing in 2008, a short-lived departure into stock car racing that yielded none of the success he’d found elsewhere. The Truck Series race in St. Petersburg was his first NASCAR race in over 17 years.
And were it not for a gearbox failure late in the race, the 52-year-old Franchitti might have been on his way to one of his best-ever stock car racing results – he looked competitive enough for a top-five finish behind the wheel of the #1 Toyota Tundra entered by Johnson’s Legacy Motor Club team. This was despite the effects of heat exhaustion when the blower motor to his helmet cooling device failed.
Other notable guest drivers from the world of sports car racing enjoyed better fortunes at the end of the race at least. Colin Braun, driving for Kaulig Racing and the returning Ram Trucks brand, took the manufacturer’s best finish to date in ninth.
He was one place ahead of James Hinchcliffe (“Jimmy Hinch”, as he was referred to at times throughout the race), who recovered from a late incident to finish tenth for Spire Motorsports.
Also racing in St. Petersburg were two Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA drivers, making cameo appearances in the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup races.
Earl Bamber, returning to the series with Hendricks Motorsports, finished eighth and fourth in the two races. Meanwwhile co-driver and teammate Sébastien Bourdais didn’t enjoy the same level of success. Bourdais was dropped from 11th to 27th in Race 1 due to a late-race incident, but he’d salvage ninth in Race 2.
The MX-5 Cup weekend saw two first-time winners, Bobby Gossett and Justin Adakonis, with Gossett taking the championship lead after four rounds.
Images courtesy of Creventic, Blackthorn
