Francesco_Dracone Knowpia

Francesco Dracone
Francesco Dracone
Nationality	Italian
Born	21 September 1983 (age 40); Turin, Italy
IndyCar Series career
Debut season	2010
Current team	Dale Coyne Racing
Racing licence	FIA Silver
Car number	19
Former teams	Conquest Racing
Starts	7
Wins	0
Poles	0
Fastest laps	0
Best finish	34th in 2015
Previous series
2011–14; 2006–09; 2002–05	Auto GP; Euroseries 3000; Italian Formula Three

Francesco Dracone (born 21 September 1983) is an Italian racing driver who currently competes in the European Le Mans Series with BHK Motorsport.

Career edit

Born in Turin, Dracone began racing professionally in the Italian Formula Three Championship in 2002. He raced in that series until 2005. In 2006 he moved to Euroseries 3000 driving for Euronova Racing. He finished 21st in points. He returned in 2007 driving for ASR and 2G Racing finishing 23rd in points. In 2008 he drove for Emmebi Motorsport and improved to 17th in points. He returned to the team and series in 2009 and improved further to 7th in points with a best finish of 5th at Monza. He also competed in the International Superstars Series season finale at Kyalami for Ferlito Motors. In July 2010 he participated in an IndyCar Series rookie test with Conquest Racing. After passing the test he signed on to compete with the team at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Infineon Raceway.^[1]

He was slowest among drivers who logged a qualifying time at Mid-Ohio but started 23rd on the 27 car grid due to being in the same group as Milka Duno who elected not to participate in qualifying and Graham Rahal who was penalized. Dracone finished the race 3 laps down in 22nd place. He started last at Infineon, despite being a second quicker than Duno. The race saw Dracone spin off track close to the finish and he was credited with 20th place. He finished 37th in the championship.

After four years in Auto GP he returned to IndyCar in 2015, signing a deal to drive the first four races for Dale Coyne Racing. At NOLA Motorsports Park he spun on the first lap but rejoined, before hitting his mechanic Todd Phillips after losing control of his car in the pit lane.^[2]

Racing record edit

American open–wheel results edit

(key)

IndyCar Series edit

Year	Team	Chassis	No.	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points	Ref
2010	Conquest Racing	Dallara	34	Honda	SAO	STP	ALA	LBH	KAN	INDY	TXS	IOW	WGL	TOR	EDM	MDO 22						37th	24	^[3]
2010	Conquest Racing	Dallara	36														SNM 20	CHI	KTY	MOT	HMS	37th	24	^[3]
2015	Dale Coyne Racing	Dallara DW12	19		STP 23	NLA 23	LBH 21	ALA 23	IMS 22	INDY	DET	DET	TXS	TOR	FON	MIL	IOW	MDO	POC	SNM		34th	38	^[4]

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)	Top 10s (Non-podium)	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
2	2	7	0	0	0	0	0	0

Complete Auto GP results edit

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Pos	Points
2011	Emmebi Motorsport	MNZ 1 10	MNZ 2 13	HUN 1 12	HUN 2 12	BRN 1 Ret	BRN 2 14†											21st	1
2011	Ombra Racing							DON 1 Ret	DON 2 10	OSC 1 Ret	OSC 2 12†	VAL 1 14	VAL 2 13	MUG 1 14†	MUG 2 11			21st	1
2012	Virtuosi UK	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	VAL 1	VAL 2	MAR 1 10	MAR 2 8	HUN 1 10	HUN 2 14	ALG 1 13	ALG 2 10	CUR 1 8	CUR 2 9	SON 1 Ret	SON 2 9			16th	14
2013	Super Nova International	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	MAR 1	MAR 2	HUN 1 11	HUN 2 11	SIL 1 Ret	SIL 2 13									22nd	0
2013	Ibiza Racing Team									MUG 1 Ret	MUG 2 13	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	DON 1	DON 2	BRN 1 13	BRN 2 14	22nd	0
2014	Ibiza Racing	MAR 1 9†	MAR 2 9†	LEC 1	LEC 2	HUN 1	HUN 2											13th	31
2014	Super Nova International							MNZ 1 6	MNZ 2 10	IMO 1 6	IMO 2 10	RBR 1	RBR 2	NÜR 1 8	NÜR 2 10	EST 1 Ret	EST 2 7	13th	31

† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

Complete European Le Mans Series results edit

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	Rank	Points
2019	BHK Motorsport	LMP2	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	LEC 16	MNZ 15	CAT 11	SIL 10	SPA 11	ALG 10	24th	4
2020	BHK Motorsport	LMP2	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	LEC Ret	SPA Ret	LEC 14	MNZ 13	ALG 13		26th	1.5
2021	BHK Motorsport	LMP2	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	CAT 13	RBR 15	LEC 11	MNZ 18	SPA 9	ALG 9	27th	6
2022	BHK Motorsport	LMP2	Oreca 07	Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8	LEC WD	IMO 16	MNZ 14	CAT 15	SPA 13	ALG 12	26th	0

References edit

^ Elizalde, Pablo (3 August 2010). "Conquest signs Italian Dracone". autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
^ "Francesco Dracone collides with pit worker Todd Phillips in IndyCar". The Sydney Morning Herald. 14 April 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
^ "Francesco Dracone – 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
^ "Francesco Dracone – 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved August 1, 2023.