Franco Forini

Forini in his Osella overalls (1987)

**Franco Forini** (born 22 September 1958) is a former racing driver from Switzerland. He competed in Formula One between 1987 and 1988, failing to qualify for a single race from 20 entries.

## Early racing career

In addition to racing karts in the Italian championship in 1979 (an appropriate decision given Switzerland's ban on motorsport since the 1955 Le Mans disaster), Forini also competed in the Alfasud trophy. He stayed in the latter category until 1980, when he finished fifth overall and third in the ice racing series.

Forini debuted in Italian Formula Three in 1981, and in 1982 competed for the FB Squadra Corse team in a Martini Mk37 powered by an Alfa Romeo engine. He was 15th with 1 point, along with Lamberto Leoni. But, in the European F3 championship, he finished fourth at Enna and tied for 16th on 3 points with Carlos Abella, Roberto Moreno, Bernard Santal, and one Gero Zamagana, who the *Automobile Sport* annual described as "fast talking but slow driving." The next year, he switched to the Del Porto Venturini Racing squad and won his first Italian F3 race in a Dallara 383 powered by a Toyota engine, finishing a far improved third overall with 32 points, just one behind Stefano Livio. However, Ivan Capelli was the champion that year, with 91 points!

He stayed with Venturini in 1984, upgrading to a Dallara 384 chassis and employing both Toyota and Alfa Romeo engines. Fabrizio Barbazza joined him as a teammate. Despite winning two races, Forini finished fifth overall with 27 points in what proved to be a far more competitive series. However, Forini's attempts in the Euro F3 championship that year were less successful, with the Italian finishing third behind Gerhard Berger and Claudio Langes at Monza. However, in 1985, Forini joined the Forti team, driving a Dallara 385 powered by a Volkswagen engine. It worked well as Franco raced to the title with six wins and four poles on his way to 70 points, defeating Barbazza and Alessandro Caffi. This included a strong showing in the famous Lotteria Grand Prix at Monza, when he narrowly defeated Caffi. However, in the Monaco F3 race, he was narrowly beaten by Maurício Gugelmin, the British F3 champion that year, with Forini finishing second.

Without wanting to continue in F3 for another year (as if), the Swiss driver went up to Formula 3000, but found it difficult. He drove for the Coloni squad in round 2 at Vallelunga but did not qualify. Then he made a deal with the San Remo team for rounds 5 to 9, and with a Heini Mader-tuned Cosworth engine in the rear of his March 86B, he gave instant results at Imola, finishing sixth ahead of Satoru Nakajima, Pascal Fabre, Philippe Alliot, and Pierre-Henri Raphanel. He followed that up with a 14th at Mugello before failing to qualify for the final three races, resulting in a fantastic equal 21st place in the series on one point, the same as Canadian driver John Jones. Franco's once-promising career appeared to be on the rocks after he was unable to get a drive for 1987.

## Formula One

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## Formula One Statistical Overview

### Formula One Record

 **1988** |  Enzo Coloni Racing Car Systems SpA