Scuderia Adriatica

Scuderia Adriatica

Full Name	Scuderia Adriatica
Base	Bari, Italia
Founder(s)	Gregorio Miccani
Team Principal(s)	Marco Benciani Erica B. Mancino
Technical Director

Scuderia Adriatica is an Italian racing team currently racing in Formula 3 Eurasian Championship, FIA Prototype Challenge, Formula E and Italian Formula 4. Racing under the banner of Scuderia Ocèanica Montevideo (a sister operation in which Adriatica owns a 95% stake), Adriatica also runs the Uruguayan entry in ARNC.

The beginnings: Formula One

Scuderia Adriatica was founded in 1952 in Bari, Italy, by the Apulian nobleman Barone Gregorio Miccani. The baron's first goal was to enter the local Grand Prix of Bari: he fielded an entry, but narrowly failed to qualify. His second attempt was somehow more promising: Miccani managed to qualify, but was forced to retire as the steering wheel broke just before a high-speeding corner, causing him to crash into some bay hales. He was lucky to escape the crash without serious injuries, but the shock led him to retire from motor racing and turn his attention to managing the team. Not much is known about Miccani, but most sources state he was good acquainted with many powerful local politicians, who helped him into getting the funding and connections he needed.

Adriatica then decided to make the big step into the Formula 1 World Championship in 1955, fielding a year-old Ambrosiana-Ferrari package at the British and Italian Grand Prix for Belgian rookie Lucien Bianchi. The car proved uncompetitive and Bianchi failed to prequalify in both races, before leaving for Maserati in the following season. Things got better in 1956, as Adriatica entered a technical partnership with Ferrari which involved loaning two brand-new R560 packages for two Ferrari-backed Italian drivers: the experienced Dorino Serafini and a rookie, Gerino Gerini. Gerini was the first driver to qualify for Adriatica, at the French Grand Prix, and to finish a race in Belgium, where he was classified thirteenth despite having to retire the car during the last lap. At the next race in West Germany, Gerini achieved the team's best result with a ninth place in a race of high attrition. This would be Adriatica's last race finish, as the rest of the season was hindered by Ferrari's lack of pace and reliability. The team was most notably denied an entry at the Irish Grand Prix due to a bureaucratic mishap: the race entries had been sent too early to be taken into account.

In 1957, Adriatica entered most of the season fielding two Lancia D50s, bought at a bargain from folding Irish outfit Irish Racing Cars, for Lucien Bianchi and Giorgio Scarlatti. The cars, which had been able to reach the points only one year earlier, proved slow and unreliable, and no Adriatica driver was ever able to finish a race. But the worst was yet to come: after the Irish Grand Prix, both cars were a total write-off following two serious accidents in the space of one lap. Short on money, the outfit could barely put together a single car, on which Bianchi and Scarlatti took turns for the last four races of the European season. After the Spanish Grand Prix, the team left Formula 1 without much ado.

The revival: 2018

Although a team under the banner of Scuderia Adriatica entered the 1989 World Touring Car Masters season with a BMW driven by Erica B. Mancino, the team's full scale comeback wouldn't be seen until 2018.

The rights to the Adriatica name had been inherited by Miccani's great-grandson Marco Benciani, who gave back life to the team thanks to Italian and German investors. The Benciani family had owned a network of Subaru dealerships in Italy, which led to the special relationship between the team and the Japanese brand. Scuderia Adriatica ran two Subaru Imprezas in the IPC B-Class with Santiago Guglielminpietro and Roberto Dinella as drivers. The Imprezas proved to be among the fastest cars of the lot, with Guglielminpietro winning the B-Class and his performances in A-Class races leading Subaru to the first place in the manufacturers' standings.

The Adriatica-Subaru partnership in the Prototype Challenge, which involved a in-house built Subaru boxer engine and a jointly developed chassis, hasn't proven itself similarly successful, as the team had to wait until the 5 Hours of Spa to score its first points with Leandro Moreira. The Subaru partnership also moved into Formula E, where the jointly developed Italo-Japanese engines powered Nico Hülkenberg and Nobuharu Matsushita's cars. Hülkenberg scored the team's first win at the third race of the season in Sao Paulo, in a weekend where the Adriatica-Subarus outclassed the field, with Matsushita retiring after a collision.

In the same year, Adriatica successfully applied for a spot in Eurasian Formula 3, a new series replacing F3RWRS. Antonio Fuoco and Guadalupe Alvarez Reina were signed for the season. Both Fuoco and Reina won races, and the team finished third in the constructor standings. The Formula 3 program was also linked to an entry in Italian Formula 4, where in-house youngsters Francesco De Crescenzo and Vito Lorusso were signed.

Complete Formula One Results

Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	Driver	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pts	EC
1955	Scuderia Adriatica				MON	FRA	BEL	GBR	SCO	SOV	ITA
		Ambrosiana A-002	Ferrari 555	Lucien Bianchi				DNPQ			DNPQ					0	NC
1956	Scuderia Adriatica				MON	FRA	BEL	FRG	GDR	IRL	SCO	GBR	ITA	THA		Pts	EC
		Ferrari R560	Ferrari RS560	Dorino Serafini	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	Ret	DNQ		Ret	DNQ	Ret			0	NC
				Gerino Gerini	DNPQ	Ret	13	9	DNQ		Ret	DNQ	Ret			0	NC
1957	Scuderia Adriatica				MAR	MON	FRA	BEL	NED	IRL	GBR	FRG	ITA	ESP	USA	Pts	EC
		Lancia D50	Lancia DS50	Lucien Bianchi	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	DNPQ	Ret	DNPQ		DNQ			0	NC
				Giorgio Scarlatti	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNPQ	Ret		Ret		DNQ		0	NC