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.

History

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. 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.

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. The team principal Ivone Pinton stated there were investors only interested with competing in F1, 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. The FIA did not accept any of the applications for the 2011 season.

Results GP2 Series GP2 Series Results Year Car Drivers Races Wins Poles FLaps Points D.C. T.C. 2005 Dallara GP2/05-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 GP2/05-Mecachrome Lucas di Grassi 21 0 0 1 8 18th 13th Sergio Hernández 21 0 0 0 1 23rd 2007 Dallara GP2/05-Mecachrome Borja García 21 0 0 0 28 10th 8th Karun Chandhok 21 1 0 2 16 15th 2008 Dallara GP2/08-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 26th2009 Dallara GP2/08-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

In detail (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year ChassisEngineTyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Points 2005 GP2/05RenaultSMRFEASMRSPRCATFEACATSPRMONFEANÜRFEANÜRSPRMAGFEAMAGSPRSILFEASILSPRHOCFEAHOCSPRHUNFEAHUNSPRISTFEAISTSPRMNZFEAMNZSPRSPAFEASPASPRBHRFEABHRSPR 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 GP2/05RenaultVALFEAVALSPRSMRFEASMRSPRNÜRFEANÜRSPRCATFEACATSPRMONFEASILFEASILSPRMAGFEAMAGSPRHOCFEAHOCSPRHUNFEAHUNSPRISTFEAISTSPRMNZFEAMNZSPR 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 GP2/05RenaultBHRFEABHRSPRCATFEACATSPRMONFEAMAGFEAMAGSPRSILFEASILSPRNÜRFEANÜRSPRHUNFEAHUNSPRISTFEAISTSPRMNZFEAMNZSPRSPAFEASPASPRVALFEAVALSPR 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 GP2/08RenaultCATFEACATSPRISTFEAISTSPRMONFEAMONFEAMAGFEAMAGSPRSILFEASILSPRHOCFEAHOCSPRHUNFEAHUNSPRVALFEAVALSPRSPAFEASPASPRMNZFEAMNZSPR 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 GP2/08RenaultCATFEACATSPRMONFEAMONFEAISTFEAISTSPRSILFEASILSPRNÜRFEANÜRSPRHUNFEAHUNSPRVALFEAVALSPRSPAFEASPASPRMNZFEAMNZSPRALGFEAALGSPR 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

GP2 Asia Series (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year ChassisEngineTyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Points 2008 GP2/05RenaultDUB1FEADUB1SPRSENFEASENSPRSEPFEASEPSPRBHRFEABHRSPRDUB2FEADUB2SPR 8th 19 Davide Valsecchi 17 6 Ret 19 4 4 6 6 14 4 Alberto Valerio 9 5 Ret Ret Ret 17 DNS 17 13 15 2008–09 GP2/05RenaultSHIFEASHISPRDUB3FEADUB3SPRBHR1FEABHR1SPRLSLFEALSLSPRSEPFEASEPSPRBHR2FEABHR2SPR 5th 34 Davide Valsecchi 8 1 2 C 5 2 6 5 8 3 16 Ret Carlos Iaconelli 11 Ret Michael Dalle Stelle 17 C 19 20 20 22 18 20 Ret 19

Formula 3000 International Formula 3000 Championship Results Year Car Drivers Races Wins Poles FLaps Points D.C. T.C. 2001 Lola B99/50-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 Alex Müller† 5 0 0 0 0 NC 6th 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 Raffaele Giammaria 10 0 0 0 14 10th 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

In detail (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Chassis Engine Tyres Driver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 TC Points 2001 Lola B99/50 Zytek INT IMO CAT A1R MON NÜR MAG SIL HOC HUN SPA MNZ 10th 8 Gabriele Lancieri Ret 13 Ret 12 Ret 14 13 10 9 9 14 Ret Jaime Melo 2 Ret 21 5 11 13 14 12 12 Antonio García 10 16 11 2002 Lola B02/50 Zytek INT IMO CAT A1R MON NÜR SIL MAG HOC HUN SPA MNZ 6th 20 Alex Müller 11 Ret Ret 13 DSQ Derek Hill 7 Ret Ret 9 Ret 7 Ret Rodrigo Sperafico 1 2 7 12 Ret 8 9 8 3 Ret 12 8 2003 Lola B02/50 Zytek IMO CAT A1R MON NÜR MAG SIL HOC HUN MNZ 3rd 55 Giorgio Pantano Ret 1 3 Ret 16 1 2 7 4 Ret Raffaele Giammaria 7 Ret 14 3 7 8 Ret 10 6 Ret 2004 Lola B02/50 Zytek IMO CAT MON NÜR MAG SIL HOC HUN SPA MNZ 7th 21 Yannick Schroeder 7 Ret 10 3 4 14 Ret Ret Matteo Meneghello 15 Michele Rugolo Ret Rodrigo Ribeiro 13 8 Ret 16 Ernesto Viso 8 11 7 6 10 8

Sports car 24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Class No Tyres Car Drivers Pole Fastlap Laps Pos. ClassPos. 2003 LMP900 19 Durango LMP1Judd 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 Notes 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