Durango (racing team)

Durango
Founded	1980
Folded	2016
Team principal(s)	;
Former series	Italian Formula Three Championship; International Formula 3000; 24 Hours of Le Mans; GP2 Series; GP2 Asia Series; Auto GP; Superleague Formula; World Series Formula V8 3.5
Noted drivers	Lucas di Grassi; Carlos Iaconelli; Yannick Schroeder; Rodrigo Sperafico; Davide Valsecchi

Durango Automotive SRL was an Italian auto racing team founded in 1980 by Ivone Pinton and Enrico Magro, which competed in Formula 3000, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the GP2 Series. The team finished racing after withdrawing from the Italian round of the 2009 GP2 Series season, although it was linked to Jacques Villeneuve and his bid to return to Formula One for the 2011 season.^[1]

History[]

Davide Valsecchi driving for Durango at the Silverstone round of the 2008 GP2 Series season.

The Durango team took part in the Italian Formula Three Championship from 1987 to 1992. They expanded to compete in the International Formula 3000 Championship and the British Formula Two Championship in 1991, and entered a Lancia LC2 in the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans, under the banner of Veneto Equipe. Durango took part in the Renault Formula Two championship and Euroseries in 1994 and continued to race in Formula Three until 1999.

In 2003, Durango designed and built a Le Mans Prototype car, the PM02, to compete in the FIA Sportscar championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours. The car was powered by a Judd GV4 V10 engine. The team participated for the 2nd time in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and finished in 24th position, after qualifying 18th. The car's best result was a 4th place at the Estoril round of the FIA sportscar championship. The car was never raced again after the 2003 season.

In 2005, Durango became part of the GP2 Series, a new series designed to help young drivers enter into Formula One. In 2006, the team participated in Formula Azzurra, a series supported by the Italian Karting Federation.^[2] Due to financial problems the team was forced to withdraw from the final races of the 2009 GP2 Series season, and pulled out of competing in the 2009-10 GP2 Asia Series season.^[3]

Formula One entry bid[]

Durango attempted to enter Formula One in 2010, when the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile opened an entry process for an additional thirteenth team.^[4] The team principal Ivone Pinton stated there were investors only interested with competing in F1,^[4] and announced a partnership with 1997 Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve. The team would compete as Villeneuve Racing and Villeneuve would initially be one of the two drivers.^[5] The FIA did not accept any of the applications for the 2011 season.^[6]

Results[]

GP2 Series[]

GP2 Series Results
Year	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	FLaps	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2005	Dallara-Mecachrome	Clivio Piccione	23	1	0	1	14	15th	11th
		Ferdinando Monfardini	17	0	0	0	5	17th
		Gianmaria Bruni	4	0	1	0	35	10th
2006	Dallara-Mecachrome	Lucas di Grassi	21	0	0	1	8	18th	13th
2006	Dallara-Mecachrome	Sergio Hernández	21	0	0	0	1	23rd	13th
2007	Dallara-Mecachrome	Borja García	21	0	0	0	28	10th	8th
2007	Dallara-Mecachrome	Karun Chandhok	21	1	0	2	16	15th	8th
2008	Dallara-Mecachrome	Davide Valsecchi	16	1	0	0	11	15th	11th
		Marcello Puglisi	2	0	0	0	0	33rd
		Ben Hanley	2	0	0	0	0	24th
		Alberto Valerio	20	0	0	0	0	26th
2009	Dallara-Mecachrome	Davide Valsecchi	12	0	0	0	10	17th†	11th
		Stefano Coletti	4	0	0	0	0	25th
		Nelson Panciatici	16	0	0	0	0	24th
Source:^[7]

GP2 Series[]

(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	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	T.C.	Points
2005	GP2/05 Renault B		SMR FEA	SMR SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	MAG FEA	MAG SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	HOC FEA	HOC SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	IST FEA	IST SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	BHR FEA	BHR SPR	11th	21
		Clivio Piccione	15	Ret	Ret	8	Ret	7	1	8	DSQ	6	Ret	Ret	17	Ret	16	Ret	11	11	14	12	19	13	7
		Ferdinando Monfardini	Ret	DNS	Ret	11	DNS	Ret	6	12	17†	14	10	Ret	15	Ret	11	Ret	Ret	8	4
		Gianmaria Bruni																				Ret	16	Ret	14
2006	GP2/05 Renault B		VAL FEA	VAL SPR	SMR FEA	SMR SPR	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	MAG FEA	MAG SPR	HOC FEA	HOC SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	IST FEA	IST SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR			13th	9
		Lucas di Grassi	17	16†	Ret	Ret	18	13	12	9	11	Ret	EX	7	6	Ret	Ret	13	Ret	5	9	10	14
		Sergio Hernández	Ret	Ret	Ret	13	12	Ret	Ret	13	8	10	EX	14	11	10	Ret	Ret	Ret	11	10	13	Ret
2007	GP2/05 Renault B		BHR FEA	BHR SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	MAG FEA	MAG SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	IST FEA	IST SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR			8th	44
		Borja García	8	4	5	14	16†	12	20†	20†	17	19	12	5	5	5	4	Ret	19	16	17	5	4
		Karun Chandhok	9	Ret	Ret	15	Ret	Ret	16	12	13	Ret	16	14	15†	8	Ret	5	6	7	1	17	Ret
2008	GP2/08 Renault B		CAT FEA	CAT SPR	IST FEA	IST SPR	MON FEA	MON FEA	MAG FEA	MAG SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	HOC FEA	HOC SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR				11th	11
		Davide Valsecchi	10	5	DNS	DNS					19	6	Ret	13	Ret	13	NC	7	Ret	6	8	1
		Marcello Puglisi					17	19
		Ben Hanley							Ret	Ret
		Alberto Valerio	13	Ret	18	7	Ret	Ret	18	17	21	9	9	15	DNS	17	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	12	15
2009	GP2/08 Renault B		CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	MON FEA	IST FEA	IST SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	NÜR FEA	NÜR SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	VAL FEA	VAL SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA	MNZ SPR	ALG FEA	ALG SPR				11th	10
		Davide Valsecchi	Ret	16	15†	18	3	Ret	10	14	13	10	5	9
		Stefano Coletti													Ret	Ret	12†	DNS
		Nelson Panciatici	12	18	Ret	15	Ret	Ret	18	Ret	19†	13	14	20	Ret	15	11	13

Formula 3000[]

International Formula 3000 Championship Results
Year	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	FLaps	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2001	Lola T99/50-Zytek	Gabriele Lancieri	12	0	0	0	0	NC	10th
		Jaime Melo	9	0	1	0	8	12th
		Antonio García†	3	0	0	0	0	NC
2002	Lola B02/50-Zytek	Alexander Müller†	5	0	0	0	0	NC	7th
		Derek Hill	7	0	0	0	0	NC
		Rodrigo Sperafico	12	1	0	0	20	6th
2003	Lola B02/50-Zytek	Giorgio Pantano	10	2	2	2	41	3rd	3rd
2003	Lola B02/50-Zytek	Raffaele Giammaria	10	0	0	0	14	10th	3rd
2004	Lola B02/50-Zytek	Yannick Schroeder	8	0	0	0	13	9th	7th
		Matteo Meneghello	1	0	0	0	0	NC
		Michele Rugolo	1	0	0	0	0	NC
		Rodrigo Ribeiro	4	0	0	0	1	17th
		Ernesto Viso	6	0	0	0	7	12th
Source:^[7]

After the end of FIA Formula 3000 championship Durango participated in various other Formula 3000 series.

† These drivers also drove for other teams during the season and their final place includes all results.
D.C. = Drivers' Championship position, T.C. = Teams' Championship position.

Sports car[]

24 Hours of Le Mans results
Year	Class	No	Tyres	Car	Drivers	Pole	Fast lap	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
2003	LMP900	19	D	Durango LMP1 Judd GV4 4.0L V10	Sylvain Boulay Michele Rugolo Jean-Bernard Bouvet	no	no	277	25th	9th

Series	Year	Drivers	Car	Notes
Italian Formula 3000	2005		Lola-Zytek	As technical part of Fisichella Motor Sport
Euroseries 3000	2006		Lola-Zytek	As technical part of Fisichella Motor Sport
Euroseries 3000	2007	Omar Julian Leal, Luiz Razia	Lola-Zytek

Other Series History[]

Series	Year	Drivers	Car
European Formula Renault 2000	2002
European Formula Renault 2000	2003
Italian Formula Renault 2000	2004
Italian Formula Renault 2000	2006
Italian Formula Azzurra	2006
Endurance GT Series	2007	Niccolò Valentini, Enrico Moncada, Matteo Meneghello	Porsche 911 GT3

References[]

^ "Villeneuve confirms Durango tie-up". autosport.com. Haymarket Media. 21 July 2010. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
^ "Origin and History". Durango. Archived from the original on 26 August 2007. Retrieved 19 October 2007.
^ "Durango pulls out of Asia Series". gpupdate.net. JHED Media. 22 October 2009. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Durango pursuing 2011 Formula One entry". Formula1.com. Formula One World Championship. 8 April 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
^ "Jacques Villeneuve confirms Durango commercial link". BBC Sport. BBC. 21 July 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
^ Beer, Matt (8 September 2010). "FIA decides against new team for 2011". Autosport.com. Haymarket Media. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
^ ^a ^b GP2 and Formula 3000 entry list and complete results speedsportmag.com

[1] "Villeneuve confirms Durango tie-up". autosport.com. Haymarket Media. 21 July 2010. Retrieved 21 July 2010.

[2] "Origin and History". Durango. Archived from the original on 26 August 2007. Retrieved 19 October 2007.

[3] "Durango pulls out of Asia Series". gpupdate.net. JHED Media. 22 October 2009. Retrieved 1 February 2011.

[F1-4] "Durango pursuing 2011 Formula One entry". Formula1.com. Formula One World Championship. 8 April 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2013.

[5] "Jacques Villeneuve confirms Durango commercial link". BBC Sport. BBC. 21 July 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2013.

[6] Beer, Matt (8 September 2010). "FIA decides against new team for 2011". Autosport.com. Haymarket Media. Retrieved 9 December 2013.

[GP2/F3000-7] GP2 and Formula 3000 entry list and complete results speedsportmag.com

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