Shannon Racing
Shannon Racing, or the Shannon Racing Team, was a short-lived motorsport team that was briefly involved with the Forti Formula One team during the 1996 season. It was owned by a parent company known as FinFirst. Both entities were registered in the Republic of Ireland, but funded by Italian backers.
Career
[edit]Shannon established an International Formula 3000 team in 1996, taking over the Danielson team[1] and running drivers Tom Kristensen and Luca Rangoni, and was also active in Formula Three.[2] Kristensen took a pole position and fastest lap in the F3000 team's second race, but the campaign was cut short as Shannon entered Formula One part-way through the season.
The team was known to be keen to move up to F1, and was expected to enter the 1998 season, but instead chose to buy 51% of the financially struggling Forti team prior to the 1996 Spanish Grand Prix.[2][3][4] The deal resulted in the Forti cars switching from a yellow to a green, white and red livery.[2] The deal, however, fell through and resulted in a dispute between Shannon and Guido Forti over ownership of the team, with Forti alleging non-payment.[5] The case went to court and resulted in the team running out of money and withdrawing from Formula One, meaning that Shannon's eventual victory was essentially meaningless.[2][6] By the end of the season, the teams run by Shannon in other formulae had also ceased to exist.
Racing record
[edit]Complete International Formula 3000 results
[edit](key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Chassis | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | TC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Lola T96/50 | Zytek-Judd | A | NUR | PAU | PER | HOC | SIL | SPA | MAG | EST | MUG | HOC | 10th | 4 | |
| Tom Kristensen | 4 | Ret | ||||||||||||||
| Luca Rangoni | 6 |
Complete Formula One results (as owner of Forti)
[edit](key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Points | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Forti Grand Prix | Forti FG03 | Ford Zetec-R V8 | G | AUS | BRA | ARG | EUR | SMR | MON | ESP | CAN | FRA | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | POR | JPN | 0 | NC | |
| Luca Badoer | DNQ | Ret | Ret | DNQ | DNP | ||||||||||||||||||
| Andrea Montermini | DNQ | Ret | Ret | DNQ | DNP |
References
[edit]- ^ "F2/F3000/GP2 team take-overs".
- ^ a b c d "Forti-Corse - full profile". f1rejects.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-10. Retrieved 2006-10-29.
- ^ "New name for Forti; Tests at Imola". atlasf1.autosport.com. 1996-06-07. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
- ^ "Shannon arrives early!". grandprix.com. 1996-06-03. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
- ^ "Constructors: Forti Corse S.R.L." grandprix.com. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
- ^ "The end of the road for Forti?". grandprix.com. 1996-07-16. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
- Henry, Alan, ed. (1996). AUTOCOURSE 1996-97. Hazleton Publishing. ISBN 1-874557-91-8.