Dario Franchitti made an emotional return to the race track under cloudless Sussex skies last month at the wheel of a Ferrari 250 GT SWB/C. His nostalgic race proved one of the highlights of this year’s Goodwood Revival.

It has been six years since Franchitti’s competitive career came to an end after a crash at an IndyCar race in Houston. He left the sport having won the IndyCar series four times, the Indy500 three times and Daytona 24 Hour once. After getting the all-clear from doctors for Goodwood, he qualified in 23rd position for the Kinrara Trophy after the car failed to complete the practice session. He then battled through the field to finish in eighth position with owner John Hugenholtz. The race was won by Gary Pearson and Andrew Smith, in their 250 GTO.

“That was really good fun, just being wheel-to-wheel again and basically not screwing it up,” Franchitti said afterwards. “The competition is what I’ve missed… it was just wonderful. It was in at the deep end but it was alright.”

The 2019 Goodwood Revival was blessed with good weather and a strong turnout as crowds queued to celebrate racing stars and cars of yesterday.

Highlights included a star-studded Barry Sheene memorial race featuring John McGuinness, Dani Pedrosa and Peter Hickman. The eclectic St Mary’s Trophy races included drivers such as Tom Kristensen, Jochen Mass and Peter Dumbreck going head-to-head with Christian Horner, Stuart Graham and eventual winner of race one, Emanuele Pirro.

---

DIGITAL EXTRA