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

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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

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Complete International Formula 3000 results

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(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)

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(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

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  1. ^ "F2/F3000/GP2 team take-overs".
  2. ^ a b c d "Forti-Corse - full profile". f1rejects.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-10. Retrieved 2006-10-29.
  3. ^ "New name for Forti; Tests at Imola". atlasf1.autosport.com. 1996-06-07. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  4. ^ "Shannon arrives early!". grandprix.com. 1996-06-03. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
  5. ^ "Constructors: Forti Corse S.R.L." grandprix.com. Retrieved 2008-03-14.
  6. ^ "The end of the road for Forti?". grandprix.com. 1996-07-16. Retrieved 2009-03-06.