It is not easy to speak about the competitive career of Gianfranco Cunico, in fact to praise his great drive abilities may result diminishing. He is surely the Italian driver with more longevity in high-level competitions; in over 20 years of competitions he practically won with all the absolute cars he drove, even if alternating many drive partners and different official and private teams. This confirm his great natural talent.
His curriculum is rather unusual: beloved and hated by the many Team Managers with he raced which, he has been the only driver able to reach the official teams, to badly go out of them and to reenter again among the best drivers many and many times; but the Team Managers that was able to manage his not easy personality had enormous successes and profits.
Only mole of an enviable career is that to never have been able to have a complete program in the World Rally Championship where he would surely have been able to make great things, as the results gotten in the world competitions where he drove can show.
Born in Vicenza on 11.10.1957, he begins to race in the Rally delle Valli Piacentine 1977 with an Ascona GR.2, where however he withdraws for an accident due to the heat. That year sees him engaged in other 3 competitions, always with the colors of the Palladio team, in anyone of which he reaches the final finishing line.
In 1978 he races in the newborn A112 Trophy, arriving at the first place end at the Rally of Elba and closing the season at the 4th place end. But it is 1979 to put him at the Top of the Italian rally: in this year in fact he wins the A112 Trophy with the small car of MOCAUTO arriving first in 6 competitions on 10 disputed.
So the LANCIA Team opens him its doors, giving to Cunico the possibility to race in the 1980 Italian Rally Championship on board of a new seed-official Stratos; unfortunately this is not a lucky season and, on 7 disputed competitions, he gets only two third places and the exemption from a high-level program for the following year. In 1981 he is in fact forced to choose a Ford Fiesta GR.2 of the Ford Italia Team, without getting encouraging results.
Nevertheless, the young has a "great foot" and the GRIFONE of LUIGI TABATON decides to believe in his qualities, offering him for the 1982 Rally season a competitions program for the Italian Championship with the Fiat Ritmo 125 GR.N; despite of the mediocres results, the collaboration with the Genoese team continues also for 1983, but this time on board of the new winner weapon marked LANCIA: the 037. In couple with BARTOLICH and with the WURTH colors, he tries to obtain the Italian Championship getting the first absolute victory at the Targa Florio and also repeating the victory at the Colline di Romagna, at the Coppa Liburna and at the Rally di Aosta, getting two third places. Unfortunately, on his road he finds MIKI BIASION lined up by the Jolly Club of Milan, that overcome him in the general classification, getting the title and relegating him at the 2nd final place. To make the things more bitter, arrives the divorce from the GRIFONE at the end of the year and for 1984 he is again without a valid program.
In these circumstances matures the collaboration with PEPPINO ZONCA, able tuner owner of the TAM-AUTO, who knows how to exalt the natural talent of the young man, spuring him in his so sour competitive career, giving him a Porsche Turbo GR.4 for some competitions of Italian Championship and leaving him free when the Bologna Corse, when the season was already started, offers him the possibility to fight for the Open Championship, obtaining the seat left free by TONY FASSINA. This way, together with SGHEDONI, on board of the LANCIA 037 prepared from VOLTA and with the GOLDIE colors, he immediately wins the Rally of Elba, placing then himself also at the Rally della Lana and at the Piancavallo: unfortunately also in this occasion he must fight again against the Jolly Club, this time with ADARTICO VUDAFIERI, that leaves him only the 2nd place end. In 1984 he also makes his first international experience, racing to the Rally Vasco Navarro in Spain with a Ferrari 308 GTB GR.4 of the PRO MOTOR SPORT, ended at the 2nd place end.
In 1985 he returns under the protection of ZONCA that let him race in Tenerife, always with the LANCIA Rally. He obtains the absolute victory; this way the collaboration with the TAM-AUTO continues yielding another victory at the Ciocco and many absolute positionings. Also for 1986 the collaboration with the team of Galliate continues: with SCALVINI he takes part to 13 competitions again winning at the Tenerife, at the City of Turin, at the Ciocco and in Monza and gets many positionings in other appointments.
1987 is another year of raising: reentered the Lancia Team, he immediately tries the almost certain conquest of the by now agonizing Group B, winning the 1000 Miles in couple with EVANGELISTI on the TAM-AUTO 037 with the Jolly Club Totip colors; then the team deviates him to the Italian Championship of GR.N on board of a Delta 4WD of the CONCESSIONARI LANCIA VENETI. He repays the trust winning the championship reserved to the production cars; for incomprehensions however the new collaboration with the house of Corso Marche interrupts again projecting him to the collaboration with the Ford Italia for 1988. Here, with the Sierra Cosworth of GR.N, in couple with SGHEDONI he wins again the Production Championship, getting even two first absolute places at the Ciocco and in Pescara.
In 1989 the doors of an official team finally open: the Ford Motorsport, that let him race with the most powerful Sierra Coswort GR.A with the colors Q8 at the Tour de Corse (7th place end) and at the Rac (withdrawal), while he goes to win the Messina and the Two Valleys Rally in the Italian Championship; parallelly he also races and wins for the third time the group N Championship with the Sierra of the Ford Italia.
In 1990, always with the Official Ford, he races two world competitions and two international ones getting only few good positionings, determining in this way the end of the collaboration with the team for the following year; before closing the season he however obtains the success at the Rally of Monza at the debut on a BMW M3, before of ZANUSSI on the same car with which Zanussi raced the whole championship.
1991 projects him to the conquest of the Italian Rally Championship on board of the new Sierra Cosworth 4X4 GR.A of the Ford Italia with the TAMOIL colors: despite the victories at the 1000 Miles, in Messina and Pescara the scepter ends in the hands of CERRATO on the Delta 16V of the Jolly Club. Great clamor arouses nevertheless his performance at the Tour de Corse where he gets a deserved 3rd absolute place before more noble cars and official drivers. Also in 1992 he races in the Italian Championship with the Sierra 4X4 of the Ford Italia but, even if winning Ciocco, Limone Piemonte and Salento, this time is DEILA with the Delta HF of the Jolly to deprive him of the title of Champion.
In 1993 he begins on board of the new Ford weapon: the Escort Cosworth, prepared now by the PRO-MOTOR-SPORT. The Championship is the italian one and the final objective its conquest: also in this occasion the result is impossible to reach. In this year however he gets the most prestigious victory of his career, the one in the World Rally of Sanremo, beating with a private car a big group of decidedly trained drivers and official cars and consecrating himself as a world driver of great talent.
1994 sees him reenter the ranks of the Jolly Club that in the meantime has inherited the colors of the Martin RACING after the withdrawal of the LANCIA from the competitions. He finally centers that Italian title that from too many years escaped him, on board of a Escort Cosworth GR.A and in couple with EVANGELISTI, winning 4 competitions and placing himself 6th at the Sanremo after few less than two minutes from the winner AURIOL and only after having lost two minutes and a half for the detachment of the turbo ose, without which he would have gone to repeat the victory of the past year.
In 1995 and 1996 always with the Escort of the Jolly Club he wins again the Italian Championship, beating LIATTI and DALLAVILLA and reconfirming himself worthy of that scepter escaped him too many times in the precedent years.
He also races in the Italian Championship in 1997 and 1998 on board of the Escort GR.A and of the new Escort WRC always with the JOLLY with the MARTINI RACING colors; anyway, even if with many absolute victories, he isn't able to conquer the title.
To find new incentives, he changes his jacket in 1999, racing in the newborn AIMONT RACING of FRANCO UZZENI on board of the Subaru Impreza WRC co-drived from PIROLLO, with which he gets the absolute victories at the Ciocco, 1000 Miles and Targa Florio but arrives after AGHINI in the Italian Championship.
In 2000 he changes program and tries the conquest of the Gravel R-C Championship winning 6 competitions on the 9 disputed, always with the Impreza of the AIMONT RACING, and centering in full the objective. He also repeats in 2001 beating a trained LONGHI, ex-absolute Italian Champion, confirming himself (40 years old) still as the driver to beat for any kind of competition.
Starting from the end of the 2001, Cunico decides to take a break that still lasts, but we hope to see him soon on the competition fields to fight with the new talents of the rally, showing once more his big qualities of driver, worthy of that "Jimmy Phenomenon" so named 20 years ago.

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