Scuderia Alitalia

Scuderia Alitalia

Full Name	Scuderia Lancia Alitalia
Base	Parma, Italia
Founder(s)	Alessandro Linari
Team Principal(s)	Alessandro Linari Andrea Sassetti Zoran Stefanovic
Technical Director	Gustav Brunner
Current Drivers	David Koczo Darren Older Jr
Other Noted Drivers	Dave Simpson
Debut	2014 French Grand Prix
Races	1 (7 entries)
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race Wins	0
Podiums	0
Points	0
Pole Positions	0
Fastest Laps	0

Scuderia Lancia Alitalia (known as Scuderia Alitalia for sponsorship reasons) is a motor racing team founded by Alessandro Linari owned and operated by racing conglomerate Il Barone Rampante that compete in various racing series across F1 Rejects. The team was born from the defunct Virgin Inter Corse outfit, after they went into administration and Alitalia bought the majority of their assets. Soon after, the team announced a tie-up with Italian manufacturer Lancia to be their official works team in all F1 Rejects competitions.

F1RWRS

Scuderia Alitalia are currently pursuing an entry to the 2015 F1 Rejects World Race Series. They are rumoured to be interested in taking over the ailing Sunshine Infiniti squad.^[1] They have since drummed up a certain amount of controversy in their attempts to shoulder-barge their way into the sport, with rumours of buying out Trueba Racing Team,^[2] and offering 2013 drivers champion Mark Dagnall a $1 billion contract.^[3]

Eventually however they successfully bought the ailing Trueba Racing Team outfit in the middle of the 2014 season, immediately hiring Dave Simpson and David Koczo as drivers. Due to F1RWRS regulations they were forced to retain the Trueba name for the remainder of the season, running as Scuderia Trueba Alitalia as a result.

However, Simpson quickly tired of the lowly position the new team occupied on the grid, and terminated his contract by mutual agreeement. He was replaced by pay-driver Darren Older Jr after only being with the team for two rounds. Results remained the same, failing to pre-qualify for the rest of the season while all resources were piled into the 2015 car.

SA-2/15 F2RWRS prototype

F2RWRS

2014

The team has also applied to enter the 2014 Formula 2 Rejects World Race Series during mid-season, with Phil McCracken and Lorenzo Crescenzi as drivers. However, the F2RWRS Commission denied their request due to numbers, and have instead been put on the waiting list for the 2015 season. As a result, McCracken was sent on loan to Kit-Kat Warriors to help reacquaint himself with the latest machinery. However, following poor results by the ex F1RWRS driver, he was sacked and replaced by Bastiaan van Nieuwenhuijzen from Zandvoort onwards.

After Scuderia Alitalia's takeover of Trueba Racing Team's F1RWRS squad, eventually the F2RWRS team followed, and from the Belgian Grand Prix onwards, assumed control of the Trueba Junior Team. Marco Bizzarri was retained after the switch, however Alessandro Lucarelli was drafted in to replace the disappointing Du Lei. Due to mid-season naming restrictions, the team was rebranded as Scuderia Trueba Alitalia Giovanile for the remainder of the 2014 season.

That was not the end of the entry saga however. The F2RWRS commission intervened and blocked the deal, removing the new team's right to participate in the championship. Jones Racing Group had been assigned a priority entry to the championship eariler that year, and after a protest by them, a resolution had to be found. After protracted negotiations, Scuderia Alitalia and Jones Racing eventually joined forces to form Scuderia Jones Italia, once again with Marco Bizzarri keepng his drive, but this time, as Jones had a 50% say in all team matters, Terry Hawkin was chosen to take the second seat.

The Jones-Alitalia partnership was a tense one, with much inter-team squabbling taking place, but their alliance finally paid divideds at the season finale at Indianapolis, securing a 1-2 finish that vaulted the team up the championship order.

2015

The two partners then split when Jones Racing was able to secure its own solo entry for the 2015 season, leaving the team wholly under Il Barone Rampante's control. Hawkin had followed Jones to his new team, and Bizzarri was demoted to Rejects of LFS, so two new drivers were brought in. Andrej Kremnicky was secured on a multi-year contract after finishing the previous season 7th overall, despite missing over half the season through injury. The collapse of Kit-Kat Warriors at the end of 2014 meant van Nieuwenhuijzen had been left without a drive, and was therefore handed the second Alitalia seat for 2015.

The Dallara F314 F3RWRS car of Alessandro Lucarelli

F3RWRS

Il Tricolore also revealed plans to enter the feeder F3RWRS series in 2015. However the F3RWRS Commission forwarded their entry to Round 3 of the 2014 season, meaning Italian duo Alessandro Lucarelli and Gianluigi Pazzini were able to compete earlier than expected in their Dallara F314s. However question marks remain over the reliability of the powertrain - Lancia have had to borrow the JTS 3.2 V6 from sister marque Alfa Romeo, a brand notorious for unreliability.

Reliability issues were not to be seen however, and after a positive start in their debut event - scoring a win thanks to Lucarelli - the team became mired in the midfield, aside from some excellent performances from Pazzini. While not winning contenders, they were consistent point scorers and as a result finished 5th in the teams championship, despite missing the opening six races of the year.

At the end of the year, Scuderia Alitalia restructred their motorsport activites, and it was left to Parma Corse to represent the organisation in F3RWRS from 2015 onwards.

Carsten Jancker's Dallara DW14 in Scuderia Alitalia colours

F1 Rejects Big Car Championship

When Virgin Inter Corse went into administration, they were competing in the Formula One Rejects Big Car Championship at the time, and therefore Scuderia Alitalia picked up where they left off, retaining Carsten Jancker and Nobushige Fukuda as well as the Dallara DW14 chassis and Toyota V8 powerplant. Fukuda scored a second place at Alitalia's only race, before the series turned out mismanaged and collapsed.

Subsiduaries & Co-ownership

Scuderia Alitalia, as part of their parent company Il Barone Rampante, are connected to many other motorsport activites, mostly based out of their large technical base Il Barone Parco Tecnica in Parma.