Historic GP bringing back top drivers
‘‘Brancatelli will join close to 12 other drivers in the Historic Touring Cars category’’
He has been retired from Formula racing since 1990 but thanks to the Historic Grand Prix hitting Taupo’s motorsport park, Italian Gianfranco Brancatelli, will be back behind the wheel.
January 28-29 marks the Historic Grand Prix at Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park and after about 25 years of retirement, Brancatelli is getting behind the wheel of a 1987 BMW M3 and will be taking part in the Historic Touring Cars category.
Brancatelli started his racing career in 1973 when he was only 23 years old, in the Formula Abarth series. In his second year, he won the championship in Formula Italia.
That win won him a Formula 3 drive and in his first year he won the Italian Championship and the next year he was third in the European Championship.
Formula 2 was the next big step for Brancatelli where he raced against the likes of Didier Pironi, Keke Rosberg, Rene Arnoux, Eddie Cheever and Patrick Tambay.
He nearly stopped competing after his stint in Formula 2 but Brancatelli was convinced to enter Touring Cars where he drove for top teams such as Eggenberger, CiBiEMME Sport and the works Volvo team.
He had a lot of success in the Touring cars as he won the 1985 European Touring Car Championship with a Volvo 240 Turbo and the 1989 Spa 24 Hour Race in Touring Cars, along with Group A European Touring Cars Championship with Ford.
Later on in 1995 Brancatelli entered and took part in the Daytona 24 Hours with a Ferrari 333 SP IMSA and finished eighth.
Having not raced in about sixteen years, he jumped behind the wheel for the Historic Touring class at the Evolution Motorsport Classic SpeedFest in Teretonga Park raceway, Invercargill, in February last year.
Brancatelli had the BMW M3 and Volvo 240T at his disposal. He test drove both to decide which one he would drive in the SpeedFest.
The Taupo Historic GP commemorates the 50th anniversary of Denny Hulme’s world title with the first ever visit to New Zealand of Formula One cars from the 1960s and ‘70s.
Qualifying is on Saturday 28 in the morning at the Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park.