Martini's first sponsorship involvement in racing came at the 1962 Daytona 3 Hours with two Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ Coda Troncas, which carried only "Martini & Rossi Racing Team" lettering and no stickers or logos.
The two key individuals at the origin of Martini Racing were Paul Goppert, head of publicity and public relations for Martini Germany, and his close friend Hans-Dieter Dechent (1940–2014), a racing driver specialising in endurance racing who operated his father's Opel dealership in Saarbrücken, Germany. When advertising unrelated to racing was first permitted on racing car bodywork at the start of 1968, Goppert asked Dechent to place Martini stickers on his car in exchange for overalls and equipment.
The first appearance of Martini stickers was in April 1968 on the Porsche 910 raced by Scuderia Lufthansa Racing Team, set up by Robert Huhn, an executive of the German airline. The car's first appearance in its silver livery with Martini stickers was at the Eberbach-Schwanheim hill climb on 28 April 1968. It subsequently raced at Dijon-Longvic GP, where it finished second behind the Ford-powered Matra MS630, then at Paris GP, finishing second again, and at the 1000 km of Nürburgring. In the 1969 World Sportscar Championship, Dechent raced as the German BG Racing Team, entering two Porsche 907s.
The Martini brand came to prominence in the 1970 World Sportscar Championship when Dechent's team entered as "International Martini Racing Team" with several Porsche 908/02 chassis, mostly white with yellow and red fenders separated by a black belt carrying the Martini logo. At the 1000 km Nürburgring, Gérard Larrousse/Helmut Marko and Rudi Lins/Willi Kauhsen finished 5th and 6th respectively.
For the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans, Porsche updated the original long-tail version of the Porsche 917, though interest in racing it was limited. A 917L (chassis 043) was allocated to Dechent and painted blue with green swirls, Martini logos, and the number 3 — known as the "Hippie car". Larrousse and Kauhsen qualified it 12th and finished 2nd. The Lins/Marko 908/02 came home 3rd. Martini also entered another Hippie car — this time a 917K chassis — in the 1970 Watkins Glen 6 Hours.
For the 1971 World Sportscar Championship, Martini International Racing inherited the resources of Porsche Salzburg and entered two cars, primarily the Porsche 917 but also the Porsche 908/3 on twisty circuits such as the Targa Florio and 1000 km Nürburgring. The works Porsche 917 that Martini sponsored won the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 1973, Martini sponsored the Porsche 911 Carrera RSR that won the Targa Florio. The partnership continued through the decade, winning Le Mans again in 1976 and 1977 with the Porsche 936, and achieving further victories with the RSR Turbo and Porsche 935. In 1978, Martini sponsored only the works team at Le Mans; in 1980 they were associated with Joest Racing, again limited to Le Mans.
In 1981, Martini Racing supported the Italian Lancia effort in sports car racing with the Group 5 Lancia Monte Carlo, Group 6 Lancia LC1, and Group C Lancia LC2. The works Lancia Martini driver lineup included contemporary Formula One racers Michele Alboreto, Teo Fabi, and Riccardo Patrese. The association lasted until the 1986 24 Hours of Le Mans, by which time Lancia had shifted focus to rallying. Martini Racing subsequently made only brief returns to sports car racing, including three seasons in the FIA Sportscar Championship with Gianni Giudici's Picchio.
Martini Racing's association with Formula One began in 1972 with the Italian team Tecno. Disagreements between Rossi and the team owners over technical and sporting direction resulted in an uncompetitive car, and Martini withdrew after unsuccessful 1972 and 1973 seasons.
Martini returned full-time in 1975, sponsoring Bernie Ecclestone's Brabham team. The initial colour scheme placed Martini colours on a white background on the Ford-Cosworth powered Brabham BT44B. When the Alfa Romeo flat-V12 powered Brabham BT45 and BT45B were introduced for 1976 and 1977, the main colour shifted to the traditional Italian rosso corsa red. Drivers during this period included Carlos Reutemann, Carlos Pace, Hans-Joachim Stuck, and John Watson.
For the 1979 season, Martini sponsorship moved to Team Lotus, with Mario Andretti and Carlos Reutemann as drivers, despite the team running the championship-winning 1978 Lotus 79. The Martini Lotus association did not achieve a single win, and Martini withdrew from F1 at the end of the year. After a long break, Martini began sponsoring Scuderia Ferrari in 2006 with a minor presence. Williams Grand Prix Engineering announced a partnership with Martini beginning with the 2014 season, continuing through the 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 seasons before the arrangement ended.
Martini's first rally program came in 1978, when Porsche returned to the World Rally Championship as a works team running a 911 SC for Björn Waldegård and Vic Preston Jr. in the Safari Rally, where Preston finished 2nd and Waldegård 4th. The project did not continue.
In 1980, Martini Racing supported Luigi Racing (Belgium), who competed with a BMW 323i E21 Group 2 driven by Hermes Delbar and Timo Mäkinen. Luigi Racing had previously been successful in the European Touring Car Championship with a BMW 3.0 Coupé CSL.
In 1982, Martini Racing partnered with the works Lancia team, sponsoring the Group B Lancia 037 with Attilio Bettega and Markku Alén as drivers. This partnership proved one of Martini's longest in motorsport, continuing until the end of the 1992 season across several cars including the Group B Delta S4 and Group A Delta Integrale. The Martini Lancia cars won the WRC Drivers' title in 1987 and 1991 with Juha Kankkunen, and in 1988 and 1989 with Massimo Biasion, as well as the Constructors' title with the 037 in 1983 and consecutively with the Group A Delta from 1987 to 1992. The Lancia Delta HF Integrale is the car model that won the most titles for Martini Racing.
Martini subsequently returned with a smaller programme restricted to the Italian Rally Championship, where driver Gianfranco Cunico won from 1994 to 1996 with a Jolly Club Ford Escort Cosworth. Martini returned to the WRC full-time for 1999 with Ford Motor Company's M-Sport-run World Rally Team. With drivers including Carlos Sainz, Colin McRae, and Markko Märtin, the Martini-liveried Fords won several rallies but never the title. This arrangement ended after 2002.
In 1992, Martini Racing sponsored the works Alfa Romeo 155 in the Italian Touring Car Championship, which the team dominated, with Nicola Larini taking the championship title. Martini subsequently targeted the DTM, where the Alfa Romeos driven by Larini and Alessandro Nannini competed from 1995, though without comparable results.
Between 1973 and 1975, Martini Racing sponsored Carlo Bonomi and Cesare Fiorio's Dry Martini boats in the Powerboat World Championship, winning back-to-back titles in 1973 and 1974. Martini returned to offshore racing in 1978 sponsoring Guido Niccolai's boats, who took European titles in 1979 and 1981. In 1982, Martini Racing entered the Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship supporting defending champion Renato Molinari; Molinari missed the title by one point that year but won the following two seasons. In 1987 Martini returned to offshore racing with a Molinari-designed powerboat equipped with Lancia-Ferrari engines, and after two poor seasons Molinari switched to a catamaran design powered by Lamborghini engines. Both Molinari and Martini retired from powerboat racing at the end of 1989. In 2014, the Vector-Martini team of Peter Dredge, Simon Powell, and Mal Crease won the Cowes Offshore Classic more than four nautical miles ahead of their nearest rival; the same team won the following year more than 19 minutes ahead of second place.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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