• Gran Premio Nuvolari 2016: ten days left from the start - the list of participants is online

Gran Premio Nuvolari 2016: ten days left from the start - the list of participants is online

05.09.2016

On Friday 16th September at 11.00 from Piazza Sordello in Mantova, Italian Capital of Culture 2016, the tricolour flag will be waved for the first vehicle. This moment will be the start of the 26th edition of Gran Premio Nuvolari, a regularity competition for historical cars, that will proceed according to the norms of F.I.A., F.I.V.A. and A.C.I. Sport. Gran Premio Nuvolari is organised by Mantova Corse with the collaboration of Automobile Club Mantova and Museo Tazio Nuvolari. It will be an authentic challenge between the best drivers from all over the world who will drive some of the most prestigious historical cars: a breathtaking contest that after 1.050 kilometres, 90 chronometrical trials and 5 average trials will award the winner of one of the most famous events for historical cars in this final season of 2016.
 
Record numbers for Gran Premio Nuvolari 2016
310 enrolled vehicles confirm the successful format of Gran Premio Nuvolari. A reward to the professionalism of Mantova Corse, which organizes uninterruptedly for 26 years the event, established to honour Nivola.
Fifty car brands are present at the start line: from the Italian ones: Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, OM and Ferrari, to the English Triumph, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Bentley; from the American Ford, Buick and Chrisler to the German Auto Union, DKW, Mercedes, BMW, Porsche until the French pursang designed by Ettore Bugatti. This means the excellence of the global production of cars. The event will be a catwalk for all this historical cars (according to the regulation, produced from 1919 to ’69) from the Bentley Le Mans Tourer 3.0 of 1923, to the more recent Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider of 1969. The gentlemen-drivers come from the highest level, starting from the crew Andrea Vesco-Andea Guerini who won with the inseparable Fiat 508 S Balilla Sport the last four editions of G P Nuvolari.
 
The partners of Gran Premio Nuvolari
Audi, the four rings brand, will be also for 2016 the Main-Sponsor of the competition, while Eberhard & Co., as Official Timekeeper, will celebrate the 26th year’s uninterrupted and passionate presence. Completing the group of sponsors Banca Generali, the leader society for savings, Michelin Classic, the home of Clermont-Ferrand.
 
Auto Union Type D: patroness of the competition.
Auto Union Type D will be the constant presence in Piazza Sordello during the days of Gran Premio Nuvolari, a Grand Prix vehicle of the four rings’ brand, which was driven exactly from the “Mantovano Volante” at the G. P. of Belgrado in 1939. A car with an everlasting charm, directly descendent of that car which gave Nivola the victories of the previous year at Donington Circuit and Monza Gran Prix when, at the age of 45, he stood out among the Mercedes directed from Alfred Neubauer.
 
A day in the History – To the origins of Gran Premio Nuvolari
After the death of Tazio Nuvolari, who died in Mantova on 11th august 1953, the sadness was such that the organizer of Mille Miglia decided the following year to honour the “pilot of the impossible”, outlining in the final part of the Brescia race a “circuit” through the roads that linked Cremona to Mantova and lastly to Brescia. Who would have drove faster in that segment, which reached 300 km/h in some points, would have won the Gran Premio Nuvolari. The first legendary winner was the great Alberto Ascari on a Lancia, while in ’55 won Stirling Moss on a Mercedes. The following year, precisely 60 years ago, the incredible victory of the Ferrari of Eugenio Castellotti under a downpour, while in 1957 took place the last edition won by the “squirrel of Ardenne”: Olivier Gendebien on a Ferrari 250GT, who covered the distance Cremona-Mantova-Brescia in 39’43” with an average of 199 km/h: an unbeaten record.
 
The route
First stage - Friday 16th September, from Mantova to Forte dei Marmi.
At 11:00 a.m., from Piazza Sordello to Viale Te, the usual pre-race tests will be carried on, then the drivers will reach the Racing Track of San Martino del Lago and the “Riccardo Paletti” in Varano before facing the hairpin turns of Passo della Cisa. The racers will then drive along the town of Carrara and in the evening, in Forte dei Marmi, all participants will be invited to the beach party at the famous club “La Capannina di Franceschi”.
Second stage - Saturday 17th, from Forte dei Marmi to Rimini.
The racers of the G.P Nuvolari will drive along the ancient walls of Lucca, then Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa, Piazza del Campo in Siena, Arezzo, Città di Castello, Urbino and finally Rimini. Once at the fascinating and world reknown “Grand Hotel”, the participants will take part in an official gala dinner in honour of Tazio Nuvolari.
Third and last stage - Sunday 18th, from Rimini to the finish in Mantova.
After the passages through Meldola, Cesena and Forlì, the cars will arrive at the International “Enzo e Dino Ferrari” Autodrome of Imola and, as they arrive in Ferrara, they will face the “Ariosteo Circuit”. The checkered flag will be waved at 13.30 with the arrival of the first vehicle on the finishing line in Piazza Sordello after 1.050 km, 90 chronometrical trials and 5 average trials.