Franco Cortese

Cortese celebrates a victory in Varese on 29 June 1947
Cortese with Maserati 4CL at Targa Florio on 23 May 1940

Franco Cortese (10 February 1903 in Oggebbio, Piedmont – 13 November 1986 in Milan)[1][2] was an Italian racing driver. He entered 156 races between 1927 and 1958, of which one was a Formula 1 Grand Prix and three were Formula 2 Grands Prix. Cortese holds the record of most finishes in a Mille Miglia race: fourteen.

Besides having entered many races in an Alfa Romeo, Cortese became most famous for his affiliation with Ferrari between 1947 and 1949, driving the first race car built by Ferrari in 1947,[3] the Ferrari 125 S, which brought victories at four races in 1947. In 1950 he co-founded the Formula One team Scuderia Ambrosiana with Giovanni Lurani, Luigi Villoresi and Eugenio Minetti.

  1. ^ "Franco Cortese | Racing career profile | Driver Database".
  2. ^ "The Golden Era of Gp Racing 1934-40 – Drivers (C)". Archived from the original on 17 February 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  3. ^ (in Italian) Franco Cortese, il primo pilota Ferrari Archived 13 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine