Born in 1970 in Turin Mario Fornaris is a qualified engineer who has dedicated much of his adult life to rallying: first as an amateur driver then as a technical expert.
He graduated with honours in mechanical engineering from the Polytechnic of Turin in 1995 and has been involved in motorsport ever since, holding various positions with a number of companies and teams active in rallying.
From 1998 to 2002 he worked for Peugeot Sport in France, starting out as technical manager on the Peugeot 306 Kit Car project before becoming chief engineer on the Peugeot 206 World Rally Car programme.
Towards the end of 2002 he left Peugeot to take on the dual role of managing and technical director of Mitsubishi Motors Motor Sports where he oversaw the subsidies in Germany and the United Kingdom.
In 2005 he decided to return to Italy and create his own engineering company, Sportech, which specialised in motorsport engineering as well as in the design of prototypes and high performance cars. Among his clients are Ralliart Italy and ŠKODA Motorsport, while projects undertaken include the development of the Mitsubishi Evolution X and the ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000, which have both achieved success in several national and international championships.