Alfa Revival and Youngtimer Cups

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After its first full season in 2022 as organisers of the Alfa Revival Cup, created and popularised by Tommaso Gelmini, Canossa events has subsequently added a Youngtimer series and a series for modern Ferraris to its portfolio.  Joining the PNK Mugello Racing Weekend on 28-30 April, both the Alfa Revival Cup and the Youngtimers had their first races of the season at the Tuscan track, and in the case of the Alfas, in challenging conditions.

Phoos Courtesy Canossa

The one-hour Alfa-only race was finally won by Albert Weinzierl, who, starting from the third row, passed in sequence Fabrizio Sabatini, Peter Backofen and Davide Bertinelli (all in GTAMs) and went on the hunt for poleman and race leader Luigi Mercatali.  Once past Mercatali, solo driver Weinzierl held the lead through the pit stop sequence and maintained a 20-second gap to Niccoló Mercatali, in for Luigi, to the flag.  Peter Backofen was up next, partnered by Roberto Restelli.  With the top eight places going to GTAMs, bar one.  A great result saw the OKP team (OKP is the Alfa parts company that sponsors the series) of Christian Ondrak and Massimo Bartolani finish fourth, and first in class, in their in their Giulia Sprint.

“I had a lucky start because I passed the cars in front of me without any accident.  Once I took the lead of the race, I pushed, pushed, pushed… because I wanted to take distance from the others and make them difficult to close the gap in the second part of the race.  I really like driving on wet tracks, because in Germany I find these conditions very often, more than in Italy, for this reason I have a good training and I make the most of this skill.”

Youngtimers

The very new Youngtimer series had two, 20-minute races, and it must be said, not a great turnout in these early stages of the series.  Matteo Panini made pole in his Marcos Mantis ahead of Roberto Olivo’s BMW M3 E46 and Claudio Pucciarelli’s SESA Racing Alfa 156 GTA.  While Panini took the lead in the race ahead of the Olivo BMW, Pucciarelli started from the pit lane and began to fight his way through, turning a lurid 360° at the second Arrabbiata but continuing without consequence.  Armando De Vuono took advantage of Pucciarelli’s absence to take third in his BMW, as Pucciarelli made it back up to fourth.

The Roberto Olivo/Eugenio Mosca BMW lines up next to Matteo Panini’s winning Marcos Mantis

Race 2 saw interloper, well-known motoring journalist, Eugenio Mosca now in Olivo’s E36, get the jump on Panini, but the Marcos driver was soon able to restore order.  Pucciarelli moved into third but remained under heavy pressure from Massimo Orlandini, now in the De Vuono BMW, until the tension became too much and he spun the Alfa into the gravel.  The ensuing full course yellow changed nothing in the order and Panini came home ahead of Mosca  and  Orlandini.

These stories are all from the pages of Historic Motor Racing News.  Some have been abbreviated for this web site.  If you'd like to receive the full version, please visit our subscription page where you will find postal subscriptions available.  A full subscription also entitles you to access the current issue online (available soon), so you can take it with you and read it anywhere, and we are working on providing full access to our archives of back issues exclusively for our subscribers.