In our latest profile of the Sports Car Championship Canada’s most distinguished alumni, we take a look at the first champion of SCCC’s GT4 class: Marco Signoretti.
Born in Toronto, Signoretti is one of the local stars of Canadian motorsport giant Multimatic Motorsports, employed as a Multimatic driver and a specialist behind the wheel of the Ford Mustang GT4.
Signoretti was nine years old when he made his karting debut in 2007, and by 2012, he was a regular front-runner and contender in the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship, from the Rotax Junior to the Senior classes. He qualified for the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals in back-to-back years in 2016 and 2017, and in ‘17 he finished fifth in the 24 Hours Karting Le Mans too with top team Energy Corse – Signoretti had already been a star for Energy Corse’s Canadian division for a few years to that point, and was even coaching younger drivers.
After racing karts for 12 years he finally got his first chance in tin tops. Motorsports In Action gave Signoretti a chance to drive in the Nissan Micra Cup, a popular one-make series in Canada. There, he won the series championship as a rookie, with three wins in the last four races of the season.
It was towards the end of the season that Multimatic Motorsports, running – among other projects – a two-car Ford Mustang GT4 programme in the British GT Championship, began to take notice of Signoretti. The 2019 Donington Decider was Signoretti’s first GT4 race event with the team, though regretfully his first race ended before he could run.
Just a few months later, Signoretti was back with Multimatic, this time making his debut at Daytona International Speedway as part of the firm’s successful Michelin Pilot Challenge efforts. He formed an all-Canadian team alongside national sports car racing legend Scott Maxwell, perhaps one of the best mentors a young driver could have when entering multi-class endurance racing. But thanks to the many ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Signoretti wouldn’t be back behind the wheel of a race car again until Sebring – in November.
The establishment of FEL Motorsports and the Sports Car Championship Canada gave Signoretti and Multimatic a new opportunity for 2021 that benefitted all parties. Multimatic would be able to continue its GT4 programme without having to barrel through the logistics of traveling into and out of Canada for races. FEL Motorsports and the SCCC would have Canada’s biggest motorsport technology enterprise giving it instant credibility at a crucial time for Canadian national motorsport.
And Signoretti would finally get his first full-time opportunities in multi-class sports car racing. He’d respond with a perfect first season: 12 wins in 12 races for Signoretti in the #22 Multimatic Ford Mustang GT4, and of course, the honour of being SCCC’s first GT4 champion.
But as Multimatic founder Larry Holt said following Signoretti’s title win, the experience that his young driver gained was the most important part of this endeavour. “That was an outstanding season of racing for Marco. He has now contested two national road car championships and won them both, a pretty amazing record so far.
“We have used this year as an education for Marco, and the weather, tracks and racing have fully cooperated by throwing every possible scenario at him, and he fully rose to those challenges. I predict that he will enjoy a strong future in cars after an impressive career in Go-Karts.”
Since becoming SCCC’s first GT4 champion, Signoretti has continued his development with Multimatic in GT4 racing. He returned to the British GT Championship as a full-time driver in 2022, eager to show that his Canadian success could translate into a more established championship.
With Academy Motorsport and co-driver Matt Cowley, Signoretti returned to Donington Park in May and not only got to drive for the first time, he scored his first British GT class victory. Signoretti, Cowley, and the #61 Academy Motorsport Mustang finished seventh in the championship that season, adding two poles and another podium in Snetterton.
2023 presented a different opportunity for Signoretti, away from competitive racing. He’d spend the year as the lead test driver for the next-generation Ford Mustang GT4 that was being prepared ahead of its 2024 launch.
He also helped develop the incredible Ford GT Mk. IV track vehicle, and the Ford Bronco DR, a purpose-built off-road racer for events such as the Baja 1000.
With the seventh-generation Mustang GT4 now ready to race, Signoretti was ready to return to GT4 competition. This time, he re-joined Academy Motorsport to drive the new car in both the British GT Championship and the GT4 European Series.
In the European Series, Signoretti and Evans reeled off back-to-back runner-up finishes at the Hockenheimring, and finished the season eighth in the Silver Class Championship. In British GT, they were seventh in the GT4 Drivers’ standings with a best finish of fourth in Spa-Francorchamps.
Signoretti’s progression from late-starting karting graduate to one-make champion, to one of the most dependable and capable front-runners in European GT4 competition, would not have been possible without the faith that Multimatic showed in the young Canadian driver by giving him that first opportunity five years ago. But the skills learned in the Sports Car Championship Canada’s inaugural season were also equally as important towards his development in recent years, setting a standard for others to follow in the years to come.
Images © FEL Motorsports, Multimatic Motorsports, British GT/Jakob Ebrey Photography
