The team entered single-seater competition through the Italian Formula Three Championship, campaigning there from 1987 to 1992. Alongside its Formula Three programme, Durango participated in the International Formula 3000 Championship and the British Formula Two Championship in 1991. That same year the team fielded a Lancia LC2 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans under the Veneto Equipe banner. Durango also participated in the Renault Formula Two championship and its Euroseries in 1994, and continued in Formula Three through to 1999.
In 2003 Durango undertook one of the more ambitious projects in its history, designing and building its own Le Mans Prototype, the PM02. Powered by a Judd GV4 V10 engine, the car was campaigned in both the FIA Sportscar Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. At Le Mans the PM02 qualified eighteenth and finished twenty-fourth. Its strongest result came at the Estoril round of the FIA Sportscar Championship, where it finished fourth overall. The car was not raced again after that season.
Durango joined the GP2 Series for its inaugural 2005 season, the category created to bridge the gap between junior single-seater formulas and Formula One. The team competed in the series across five seasons, fielding a succession of drivers during that period. Among those who drove for the team in GP2 were Lucas di Grassi, Davide Valsecchi, Karun Chandhok, and Rodrigo Sperafico, with Valsecchi in particular recording competitive results with the squad. Jean-Bernard Bouvet and Michele Rugolo also drove for the team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2006 Durango additionally participated in Formula Azzurra, a series supported by the Italian Karting Federation. Financial problems mounted over subsequent seasons, and the team was ultimately forced to withdraw from the final rounds of the 2009 GP2 Series season. It also withdrew from the scheduled 2009–10 GP2 Asia Series.
When the FIA opened an application process in 2010 for a new team on the Formula One grid, Durango submitted an entry. Team principal Ivone Pinton confirmed the bid was backed by investors committed solely to Formula One participation and revealed a partnership with 1997 Formula One World Champion Jacques Villeneuve. The team planned to compete under the name Villeneuve Racing, with Villeneuve himself named as one of the two prospective drivers. The FIA declined all applications for the 2011 season, and Durango's Formula One ambitions came to nothing. The team had ceased competition following its 2009 GP2 withdrawal and was not linked to any further racing activity thereafter.
Durango's career traced a path common to ambitious mid-tier Italian teams of its era: sustained presence in the junior formulae, a single bold attempt at constructing its own prototype hardware, and a period of GP2 involvement that brought exposure to drivers who went on to significant careers. The F1 bid, though unsuccessful, underlined the ambition that had driven the organisation since its Veneto origins. A separate entity also trading as Team Durango was a manufacturer of radio-controlled competition cars and is unrelated to the Italian motorsport team.
Gallery · 2 related images
