Martini Racing is the name under which variousmotor racing teams race when sponsored by the Italian companyMartini & Rossi, a distillery that producesMartini vermouth inTurin. Martini's sponsorship program began in 1958 as Martini International Club, founded by Count Metello Rossi di Montelera of Martini & Rossi.[1] 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.
Martini's first sponsorship program happened at the Daytona 3 hours in 1962 with twoAlfa Romeo Giulietta SZ Coda 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 910 raced 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[2][3]-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 Ford-poweredMatra MS630, 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 theHockenheimring on 21 July 1968 it did not finish (Nr 13).
In the1969 World Sportscar Championship, Dechent raced asGerman BG Racing Team, entering twoPorsche 907 in several sports car races to back up the factory effort. The front of the cars were painted in two different colors.
By late 1969, Porsche had two dozens of thePorsche 917, and was looking to sell or race them. For twisty tracks, they also developed a third version of thePorsche 908, the /03, with the 1969-specPorsche 908/02 "Flunder" given to privateers.
The Martini brand came to prominence in the1970 World Sportscar Championship, when the team of Hans-Dieter Dechent entered as "International Martini Racing Team", with several chassis of Porsche 908/02, mostly white, fenders painted yellow and red, separated by a black belt with Martini logo. At the 1000 km Nürburgring,Gérard Larrousse/Helmut Marko andRudi Lins/Willi Kauhsen finished 5th and 6th.
For the1970 24 Hours of Le Mans, Porsche had updated the original long tail version of thePorsche 917, but there was low interest in racing it. The main factory team,Gulf Racing-sponsored JWA, preferred the 917K. The other factory team,Porsche Salzburg orPorsche Konstruktionen K.G., entered a 917K (the eventual winner) and only one 917L, which qualified first. As more or less a third factory entry, another 917L (chassis 043[4]) found its way to Dechent and was painted blue with green swirls, some Martini logos, and a large #3. Larrousse/Kauhsen qualified theHippie car 12th, best of all cars that still ran at the end, and finished 2nd. The Lins/Marko #27 908/02 came home 3rd.
Martini entered anotherHippie car in the1970 Watkins Glen 6 Hours, but this time with #35 on a 917K. It was the repaired chassis 021->012, rented from AAW[5][6]).
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For the1971 World Sportscar Championship, Gulf-Wyer remained as prime factory team, but the resources ofPorsche Salzburg were moved toMartini 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 Florio and1000km Nürburgring.
During the 1970s, Martini became famous in connection withPorsche in motorsport, sponsoring the worksPorsche 917 that won the1971 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In 1973, Martini sponsored thePorsche 911 Carrera RSR that won theTarga Florio.
The Martini Porsche cars won Le Mans once more in1976 and1977 withPorsche 936, as well as in many other events in the 1970s for the factory Porsche team, with theRSR Turbo,935 and 936. In1978, Martini only sponsored the works team in Le Mans, while in1980 they were associated withJoest Racing, once more only at Le Mans.
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In 1981, Martini Racing supported the ItalianLancia effort insports car racing with theGroup 5Lancia Monte Carlo,Group 6Lancia LC1 andGroup CLancia LC2.[7] The works Lancia Martini drivers lineup included several contemporaryFormula One racers, includingMichele Alboreto,Teo Fabi andRiccardo 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 Championship withGianni Giudici'sPicchio.
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Martini Racing's association with Formula One began in1972 with the Italian teamTecno.[8] 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 and1973 season.[9][10]
Martini returned full-time in1975, sponsoringBernie Ecclestone'sBrabham team.[11] The initial colour scheme incorporated the Martini colours on a white background on the Ford-Cosworth poweredBrabham BT44B in 1975.
When theAlfa Romeo flat-V12 poweredBrabham BT45 andBrabham BT45B were used for the1976 and1977 seasons, the main color was shifted to the traditional Italian red racingrosso corsa background.[12] Drivers such asCarlos Reutemann,Carlos Pace,Hans-Joachim Stuck andJohn Watson all drove for the team during this time.[13][14]
For the1979 season, the Martini sponsorship moved toTeam Lotus.[15] In spite of having the1978 championship winningLotus 79 andMario Andretti and 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 Ferrari in2006 with a minor presence.[16]
Williams Grand Prix Engineering announced a partnership with Martini beginning with the2014 season,[17] and continued their sponsorship by Martini into the2015,2016,2017, and2018 seasons. This partnership ended after the 2018 season.
Martini's first rally challenge was taken up by usual stalwart Porsche. In1978, Porsche made a return to theWorld Rally Championship as a works team, running a911 SC forBjörn Waldegård andVic 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 Delbar[18] andTimo Mäkinen.[19]
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 Bettega andMarkku Alen as drivers.[7] The Lancia Martini partnership in the World Rally Championship was one of the company's longest, remaining until the end of the1992 season, with several cars, including the Group BDelta S4 andGroup ADelta Integrale winning events and titles with drivers such asJuha Kankkunen,Bruno Saby,Massimo Biasion andDidier Auriol. The Martini Lancia cars won the WRCDrivers' title in1987 and1991 with Kankkunen, and1988 and1989 with Biasion, as well as theConstructors' title with the 037 in1983, and consecutively with the Group A Delta from 1987 to 1992.[7]
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 season onwards withFord Motor Company'sM-Sport-runWorld Rally Team. With drivers such asCarlos Sainz,Colin McRae andMarkko 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.[7]
It wouldn't be until 1992 that Martini Racing would be seriously involved withtouring car racing. The Italian company sponsored the worksAlfa Romeo 155 in theItalian Touring Car Championship, which the team dominated, withNicola Larini taking 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.
Between 1973 and 1975, Martini Racing sponsoredCarlo Bonomi andCesare Fiorio'sDry Martini boats 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 Championship supporting 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-Ferrari engines. After two seasons with poor results, Molinari switched to a newcatamaran design powered byLamborghini engines. 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 miles ahead of their nearest rival.[20] 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.[21]
