Martini Racing

For the constructor of lower formulae single-seaters, seeAutomobiles Martini.

'71 Le Manswinning #22 Martini-Porsche 917KofMarko/Lennep

The #21 Martini Langheck-917 did not finish

Martini Racingis the name under which variousmotor racingteams race when sponsored by the Italian companyMartini & Rossi,a distillery that producesMartini vermouthinTurin.Martini's sponsorship program began in 1958 as Martini International Club, founded by Count Metello Rossi di Montelera of Martini & Rossi.The race cars were marked with the distinctive dark blue, light blue and red stripes mostly on white or silver background body cars, but also red or green ones.

Beginnings

Vic Elford,Nürburgring1971,Porsche 908

Hippe-Car 917LH as entered in 1970 Le Mans

Winner of 1971 Sebring

Martini's first sponsorship program happened at the Daytona 3 hours in 1962 with twoAlfa Romeo Giulietta SZCoda Troncas, but they had no Martini stickers or logos on them, only "Martini & Rossi Racing Team" written along the front quarter panels.

The two key individuals at the start of Martini Racing's grand adventure were Paul Goppert, head of publicity and public relations for Martini Germany, and his close friend Hans-Dieter Dechent (1940-2014), a racing driver specializing in endurance racing who ran his father's Opel dealership inSaarbrücken,Germany.

At the start of 1968, advertising unrelated to racing was permitted for the first time on the bodywork of racing cars. Paul asked Hans-Dieter to place a few stickers on his car in exchange for overalls and similar equipment.

Martini stickers then appeared, in April 1968 on thePorsche 910raced by Scuderia Lufthansa Racing Team set up by Robert Huhn, an executive manager of the German airline.

As Dechent wanted to race the sooner with its new car, the car's first appearance of 910-023 in its silver livery with front Lufthansa colors and Martini stickers was atEberbach-Schwanheimhill climb,the 28 April with n° 174. Then the same car appeared at Dijon-Longvic GP on the fifth of May (Nr 10) where it made 2nd just behind the Matra-Ford 630, then at Paris GP on May 12 (Nr 26) where it renewed its 2nd place and mostly known at the 1000 km of Nürburgring on May 19 (Nr 24). Later in a minor event at theHockenheimringon 21 July 1968 it did not finish (Nr 13).

Martini Racing was then formed to enter twoPorsche 907in several sports car races in 1969 to back up the factory effort.

Martini Porsche

The Martini brand came to prominence in the1970 World Sportscar Championship,when the team ofHans-Dieter Dechententered as "International Martini Racing Team".

the1971 World Sportscar Championship,when Porsche moved the second factory-backed entry, along the already famousGulf Racing-sponsored JWA team, fromPorsche SalzburgtoMartini International Racing.The team entered two cars in varying Martini liveries, mostly the mightyPorsche 917,but also the nimblePorsche 908/3 on twisty tracks likeTarga Florioand1000km Nürburgring.

The 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans

During the 1970s, Martini became famous in connection withPorsche in motorsport,sponsoring the worksPorsche 917that won the1971 24 Hours of Le Mans.The Martini Porsche cars won Le Mans once more in1976and1977withPorsche 936,as well as in many other events in the 1970s for the factoryPorscheteam, with theRSR Turbo,935and 936. In1978,Martini only sponsored the works team in Le Mans, while in1980they were associated withJoest Racing,once more only at Le Mans.

Targa Florio

1973Targa Floriowinner

In 1973, Martini sponsored the 911 Carrera RSR that won theTarga Florio.

Martini Lancia

Lancia LC11982

Lancia LC2racing car (front) in the colours of Martini Racing

In 1981, Martini Racing supported the ItalianLanciaeffort insports car racingwith theGroup 5Lancia Monte Carlo,Group 6Lancia LC1andGroup CLancia LC2.The works Lancia Martini drivers lineup included several contemporaryFormula Oneracers, includingMichele Alboreto,Teo FabiandRiccardo Patrese.The association lasted until the1986 24 Hours of Le Mans,but by then, Lancia was more involved with rallying. After that, Martini Racing has made only brief entries in sports car racing, including three seasons in theFIA Sportscar ChampionshipwithGianni Giudici'sPicchio.

Formula One

AnAlfa Romeo-Brabham BT45Formula One car in red Martini & Rossi livery.

Carlos Reutemannin his Martini liveredLotus 79at the1979 Monaco Grand Prix

Williams F1 Martini Racing (Felipe Massa,2015)

Williams F1 Martini Racing Testing (2018)

Martini Racing's association with Formula One began in1972with the Italian teamTecno.However, disagreements between Rossi and the team owners over technical and sporting directions, resulted in an uncompetitive car and Martini withdrew its support to the program after an unsuccessful 1972 and1973season.

Martini returned full-time in1975,sponsoringBernie Ecclestone'sBrabhamteam.The initial colour scheme incorporated the Martini colours on a white background on the Ford-CosworthpoweredBrabham BT44Bin 1975.

When theAlfa Romeoflat-V12 poweredBrabham BT45andBrabham BT45B were used for the1976and1977seasons, the main color was shifted to the traditional Italian red racingrosso corsabackground.Drivers such asCarlos Reutemann,Carlos Pace,Hans-Joachim StuckandJohn Watsonall drove for the team during this time.

For the1979 season,the Martini sponsorship moved toTeam Lotus.In spite of having the1978 championshipwinningLotus 79andMario Andrettiand Carlos Reutemann as drivers, the Martini Lotus association did not achieve a single win and by the end of the year, Martini withdrew from F1 once more.

After a long break from the category, the Italian company began sponsoringScuderia Ferrariin2006with a minor presence.

Williams Grand Prix Engineeringannounced a partnership with Martini beginning with the2014season,and continued their sponsorship by Martini into the2015,2016,2017,and2018seasons. This partnership ended after the 2018 season.

Rallying

Main article:Lancia in rallying

Lancia Delta S4

ALancia Delta Integrale HF 16Vdriven at the 2018 Rally Moritz Costa Brava

Martini's first rally challenge was taken up by usual stalwart Porsche. In1978,Porsche made a return to theWorld Rally Championshipas a works team, running a911 SCforBjörn WaldegårdandVic Preston Jr.in theSafari Rally.The project did not continue past this one-off entry, where Preston was 2nd and Waldegård 4th.

The second time Martini Racing sponsored a rally team was 1980, where Luigi Racing (Belgium) started with a BMW 323i E21 Group 2. Luigi Racing was before successful in the European Touring Car Championship with aBMW 3.0 Coupé CSL.Driver of the 323i have beenHermes DelbarandTimo Mäkinen.

In1982,just as they had done one year previously with sports cars, Martini Racing signed with the works Lancia team, sponsoring the brand newGroup BLancia 037,withAttilio BettegaandMarkku Alenas drivers.The Lancia Martini partnership in the World Rally Championship was one of the company's longest, remaining until the end of the1992season, with several cars, including the Group BDelta S4andGroup ADelta Integralewinning events and titles with drivers such asJuha Kankkunen,Bruno Saby,Massimo BiasionandDidier Auriol.The Martini Lancia cars won the WRCDrivers' titlein1987and1991with Kankkunen, and1988and1989with Biasion, as well as theConstructors' titlewith the 037 in1983,and consecutively with the Group A Delta from 1987 to 1992.

In the following years, Martini returned with a smaller sponsorship program, restricted to the Italian Rally Championship, which the Martini Racing driver,Gianfranco Cunico,won from 1994 to 1996 with aJolly ClubFord Escort Cosworth.

Martini returned to the WRC full-time for the1999 seasononwards withFord Motor Company'sM-Sport-runWorld Rally Team.With drivers such asCarlos Sainz,Colin McRaeandMarkko Märtin,the Martini-liveried Fords won several rallies, but never the title. This arrangement ceased at the end of2002.

The car model which has won the most titles for Martini Racing is theLancia Delta HF Integrale.

Touring car racing

Martini RacingAlfa Romeo 155 V6 TIfrom 1996

It wouldn't be until 1992 that Martini Racing would be seriously involved withtouring car racing.The Italian company sponsored the worksAlfa Romeo 155in theItalian Touring Car Championship,which the team dominated, withNicola Larinitaking the championship title.

This served as an appetizer to a bigger prize, most specifically theDTM,the German-based touring car series. Although the Martini Alfa Romeo connection only materialized in 1995 and by then the Alfas (driven by Larini andAlessandro Nannini,both ex-F1 drivers) weren't as competitive.

Powerboats

Between 1973 and 1975, Martini Racing sponsoredCarlo BonomiandCesare Fiorio'sDry Martiniboats in thePowerboat World Championship,winning back-to-back titles in 1973 and 1974. At the time, the Martini boat hit an average top speed of 66.9 mph. Martini returned to offshore racing in 1978 sponsoringGuido Niccolai's boats, who took the European titles in 1979 and 1981. The 35 foot Cigarette that was commissioned by Carlo Bonomi is currently owned and raced by Jonathan Sainsbury, a furniture designer from Dorset.

In 1982 Martini Racing entered theFormula 1 Powerboat World Championshipsupporting the defending championRenato Molinari:he missed the title by a single point, but won the following two seasons.

In 1987 Martini was back again in offshore racing with a Molinari-designed powerboat equipped withLancia-Ferrariengines. After two seasons with poor results, Molinari switched to a newcatamarandesign powered byLamborghiniengines. At the end of 1989 both Molinari and Martini retired from powerboat racing.

In 2014, the Vector-Martini team of Peter Dredge, Simon Powell and Mal Crease crossed the finish line at the Cowes Offshore Classic more than fournautical milesahead of their nearest rival.The following year, the same team of Dredge, Powell and Crease (with new memberDavid Gandy) won the race more than 19 minutes ahead of the second place team.

Notes

• Sponsors: Martini & RossionGrandprix.com

External links

• Official Martini Racing site
• All Formula 1 site