Marino’s passion for motor racing is home-grown: “I come from a family whose true passion is automobiles and racing. Both my grandfathers loved cars, and my father, my brother and cousins all share that same love. My father club-raced Formula Fords and Atlantics, but retired from racing soon after I was born.”

A true devotee of the sport, Marino started in karts at age eight and counts among his heroes Jackie Stewart, Derek Bell and Jim Clark, drivers who were fast in whatever they drove. By the end of 2001, Marino’s first year of sports car racing, he had won the British GTO Championship taking eight wins and three second places along the way. He began racing in the American Le Mans Series in 2002 and has raced in it every year since, never full time, but he has successfully driven a wide variety of sports cars in North America as well as in Europe, among them: Porsche GT3RS, Audi S4, Nissan-Lola B2K/40, Ferrari 430, Crawford Pontiac Daytona Prototype, Panoz Esperante GTLM, GTS Dodge Viper, Maserati MC12, and Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT, and like all good drivers and his heroes before him, he can get into any car and do well.

Marino made his mark on the American Le Mans Series in 2007, racing the Acura LMP2 car with a season best of second overall at Houston. Moving over to the Dyson squad in 2008, Marino had good inaugural year with the teams’ LMP2 Porsche RS Spyder. He started the year with a second-overall at the 12 Hours of Sebring and scored another class podium at Road America. He scored eight top-six class finishes for the year and finished fifth in the championship.

“It was my first full season in the ALMS and my first season with the Dyson team, and I loved every moment of it,” commented Marino. “I want to thank Rob and Chris Dyson for the great opportunity that they have given me this year; each and every member of Dyson Racing for the hard work and commitment they’ve shown during the season; my mega team mates for making even the hard times fun; everyone at Porsche for the large amount of help and support and Michelin for the best tires in the world.

“The American Le Mans Series has some of the best racing out there. Too many series today are trying to control everything on the cars, but sports car racing and the ALMS is about innovation and pushing forward the boundaries of technology.”

Marino is a fan favorite. His commitment and passion for the sport comes through in any conversation. If racing were looking for an ambassador for the sport, they would not have to look any further than Marino Franchitti.