Gianfranco Gaetano Brancatelli (born 18 January 1950) is an Italian former racing driver whose brief encounter with Formula One was followed by a far more successful career in touring cars and endurance racing. His major achievements include the 1985 European Touring Car Championship, the 1988 Italian Touring Car title, victory in the Spa 24 Hours and second place at Le Mans.
Driver Bio
| Nationality | Italian |
| Birthplace | Turin, Italy |
| Born | 18 January 1950 |
| First Grand Prix | 1979 Spanish Grand Prix |
| Last Grand Prix | 1979 Monaco Grand Prix |
| Years Active | 1979 |
| Current/Last Team | Merzario |
Career
Brancatelli began racing in Formula Abarth in 1973 and stepped up to Italian Formula Three two years later. His progress eventually carried him to the fringes of Formula One, although the machinery at his disposal gave him little opportunity to make an impression.
He entered three Grands Prix during the 1979 season. Two attempts with the struggling Kauhsen team ended in qualifying, while a later appearance for Merzario finished even earlier when he failed to clear pre-qualifying. That was the extent of his Formula One adventure, but leaving the Grand Prix paddock proved less an ending than a change of direction.
Touring cars quickly became Brancatelli’s speciality. Driving an Eggenberger Motorsport BMW 635 CSi, he finished fourth in the 1984 European Touring Car Championship. For 1985, Eggenberger replaced the BMW with the turbocharged Volvo 240T, while defending champion Tom Walkinshaw Racing exchanged its muscular V12 Jaguar XJS for the V8-powered Rover Vitesse.
Sharing the Volvo campaign with Swedish driver Thomas Lindström, Brancatelli swept to the European title. The pair won six of the season’s 14 races—at Anderstorp, Zeltweg, the Salzburgring, the Nürburgring, Zolder and Estoril—and supplemented those victories with three second places and two thirds. It was a remarkably consistent campaign and the defining championship success of Brancatelli’s career.
He moved to Tom Walkinshaw Racing in 1986 to drive a Rover Vitesse in the newly named FIA International Touring Car Championship. The season was less productive: Brancatelli slipped to 12th in the standings, although he did collect one victory at Anderstorp.
Another change followed in 1987 when he joined the Italian CiBiemme Sport operation. Driving a BMW M3 alongside fellow former Formula One racer Johnny Cecotto, Brancatelli won the 500 Kilometres of Burgundy at Dijon-Prenois. He finished eighth in that year’s World Touring Car Championship and fifth in the parallel European series, adding further victories at Estoril and Zolder.
Brancatelli returned to Eggenberger in 1988, appearing in selected European rounds at the wheel of the team’s third Texaco-backed Ford Sierra RS500. His principal success that season came at home, where he won the Italian Touring Car Championship in a privately entered Jolly Club Alfa Romeo 75.
His trophy cabinet also contains two of touring-car racing’s most prestigious prizes. He won the 1985 Guia Race of Macau in the Volvo 240T, then triumphed in the 1989 Spa 24 Hours with Bernd Schneider and Win Percy aboard an Eggenberger Ford Sierra RS500.
Brancatelli also made several trips to Australia for the Bathurst 1000, though Mount Panorama rarely treated him kindly. His best result came in the 1987 World Touring Car Championship round, when he and Cecotto finished seventh overall and third in class. As the first championship-registered crew to reach the finish, they nevertheless collected maximum WTCC points for the event.
His three subsequent Bathurst appearances—in 1989, 1990 and 1991—produced two retirements and one disqualification for a technical infringement.
Endurance racing supplied another important chapter. Brancatelli started the 24 Hours of Le Mans five times, with four of those attempts ending in retirement. The exception was spectacular: in 1989, he shared a Sauber-Mercedes C9 with Mauro Baldi and Kenny Acheson and finished second overall. His other appearances, in 1979, 1980, 1986 and 1990, all ended before the chequered flag.
Brancatelli remained active behind the wheel until retiring during the late 1990s, closing a career that ultimately found its greatest rewards far beyond Formula One.
Grand Prix Stats
| Race Entries | 3 |
| Race Starts | 0 |
| Did Not Start | 0 |
| Best Race Start | 0 |
| Best Race Finish | 0 |
| Retirements | 0 |
| First-Lap Retirements | 0 |
| Not Classified | 0 |
| Disqualified | 0 |
| Did Not Qualify | 2 |
Qualifying
| Qualifying Sessions | 3 |
| Reached Q3 | 0 |
| Q2 Eliminations | 0 |
| Q1 Eliminations | 0 |
| Did Not Qualify | 2 |
Stats by Season
| Year | Constructor | Entries | Starts | Wins | Podiums | Poles | Fastest Laps | Front Rows | DNF | Best Start | Best Result | Pts Finishes | Points | Championship |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Kauhsen, Merzario | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | DNQ | DNQ | 0 | 0 | Not classified |
