Martino Finotto, who made his fortune in the pharmaceutical industry, only started racing internationally in 1971, in the Campionato Italiano di Turismo, taking two successive class titles in 1972 and 1973.
It was with the ex-works BMW that Finotto first visited the podium, with a second place in the Austria-Trophäe, at the Salzburgring alongside Manfred Mohr.
Having switched to the German Castrol Team Zakspeed outfit for 1975 to race their Escort RS 1600, he immediately returned to the podium, finishing second in the 4 Ore di Monza, with his new partner, Hans Heyer, and again in the Grand Prix Brno.
His last podium finish occurred in the 4 Horas de Jarama, when paired with Umberto Grano and Walter Dona in the Jolly Club entered Escort.
He brought a pair of Brabham BT42s, but after a solitary test at Monza, he decided against racing them and instead they were leased to Jürg Dubler under the Scuderia Finotto banner for a number of driver throughout the 1974 season.
[5] For the following season, Finotto successfully returned to the ETCC with a new partner, Carlo Facetti, and a new car, BMW 3.0 CSL, while participating in the selection of World Championship Group 5 races, in a Porsche 935.
Despite having to drive their Jolly Club entered Porsche 935 very carefully and with low boost from the start, they did finish second, as well winning their class.
This after their BMW had survived an engine rebuild following qualifying, helping Facetti move clear in the championship, with Finotto being his nearest rival!
After a number non-finishes, the pairing took third place at Jarama in Spain, and Facetti lost the lead in the title race to Dieter Quester.
[17][18] After taking pole position for the 1979 6 Ore di Mugello in the 935, Facetti lead the race until a collision and he wound up in third at the end.
[25][26][27][28] When the ETCC visited Enna, once again it was a BMW festival, with a podium clean sweep, and after a spin by Finotto, the order was decided with the Jolly Club car in second.
As Group 5 was a Silhouette formula, Facetti know he could change a lot of things provided the car looked like the standard road version.
[32] However, Finotto also decided to ship the well-used Lancia Beta Turbo, as they intended to race both cars over the 24 hours, and gave a young Emanuele Pirro his first-ever major sports outing.
[32] For 1982, Facetti and Finotto decided against returning with the Carma and its twin-turbo 308 experiment, instead opting for more conventional Osella-BMW PA9, but equally unsuccessful as they failed to finish a race in the car that season.
[34] The Alba AR6 continued to use Facetti's engine for the 1985 season, the team lost reliability with it, trying to keep up with pace-setter Gordon Spice, Finotto turned his attention to the IMSA Camel Lights category in America for 1986.
Finotto and Facetti, who prepared the overhead camshaft Ferrari engines, joined forces with Gaston Andrey Racing and enrolled fellow Italian, Ruggero Melgrati, who proved to be pace-setter in the Lights division.
Finotto partnered by Guido Daccò and Pieter Silva were seventh in class at the Daytona 24, then Finotto/Melgrati won on the Miami Grand Prix Street Circuit and again at Road Atlanta.
It was here, he would score three class wins with Melgrati at Lime Rock, Watkins Glen and Road America, to help he secure second place in the IMSA Camel Lights series.
After a short season in 1991 and one visit the class podium, he would return to cockpit of Ferrari 308 GTB for one last outing, at the 1995 12 Hours of Sebring.
[35] Finotto, who at the age of 80, died after a long battle with cancer, made his mark in Motor Sport, as a driver, a team owner and engine constructor.
[5] Almo Coppelli, who drove for Finotto during the Carma Alba in Group C2, and then subsequently partnered him in IMSA Camel Lights, described as a man who was at once passionate for motorsport and a hard taskmaster.