Italian Formula 3 1973

Despite the failure of the Brabham BT38C in 1972, Italy had largely remained faithful to Brabham over the winter and the new BT41 design sold well. March had not sold any cars into Italy in 1972 but had three cars on the grid for the opening 1973 race, two entered by Scuderia Patavium and one for Trivellato Racing Team. Once front-runner Carlo Giorgio demonstrated the 733's potential, a flood of orders arrived in Bicester from Trivellato and there were seven 733s in Italy by June. The BT41s were still more numerous but at the final race March 733s finished 1-2-3.

Fernando Spreafico stuck with his GRD 372 but replaced the Wainer Alfa Romeo with a Novamotor Ford twin cam and won two early season non-championship races. A couple of Ensigns also found their way out to Italy and Giorgio won at Misano in one of them before swapping over to his March.

With that win in the Ensign and two more in the March, Giorgio won the title from Brabham BT41 pilots Alberto Colombo and Claudio Francisci.

The races

18 Mar 1973 > Casale

25 Mar 1973 > Trofeo Angelo Cinquetti at Varano

08 Apr 1973 > Coppa Scuderie Torinesi at Casale

15 Apr 1973 > Varano

23 Apr 1973 > Gran Premio Vigorelli at Misano

29 Apr 1973 > Gran Premio Novolan at Casale

30 Apr 1973 > Coppa Benaglia at Imola

13 May 1973 > Coppa Vallelunga

02 Jun 1973 > Monaco Grand Prix Formula 3 Race at Monte Carlo

10 Jun 1973 > Casale

29 Jun 1973 > Coppa Agip at Monza

15 Jul 1973 > Casale

19 Aug 1973 > Trofeo Riviera Adriatica at Misano

23 Sep 1973 > Coppa Agip at Monza

30 Sep 1973 > Trofeo Varano

04 Nov 1973 > Coppa Agip at Vallelunga

Campionato Italiano Formula 3 events shown in bold

1973 Campionato Italiano Formula 3 table

The points table has been constructed by Pascal Katabian of the International Race Results and Data Association with information from CSAI. The championship ran over 12 rounds and used a 9-6-4-3-2-1 points system with points only awarded to Italian licence holders. The best five results counted, a curiously low number, and this left Carlo Giorgio and Alberto Colombo tied with three wins and two second places each. So the sixth result was used the break the tie, giving Giorgio the title thanks to a third second place.

As well as the ten wins shown above, the other two races were Monte Carlo where Giorgio Francia took maximum points for being the first Italian home in a Brabham BT41 in fourth place; and Monza on 23 Sep where Francesco Cerulli-Irelli was third behind the visiting Alpine A364s in one of Trivellato's March 733s.