Winter Marathon 2011 – 23rd edition

The fourth edition of the Winter Marathon organised by VECARS once again saw the triumph of the Bolognese driver Giuliano Canè, who repeated his previous success from 2009. Together with his wife Lucia Galliani and driving a 1938 Lancia Aprilia, the top driver from Emilia came out ahead of the young Giovanni Moceri (Alfa Romeo Giulia GT 1300 Junior, 1967), navigated by Valeria Dicembre, and the strong regularity driver from Parma Armando Fontana with Matteo Iotti, in a 1968 Porsche 911.

In addition to the massive participation, the 2011 edition was marked by the intense cold, which made life particularly difficult for the drivers. A record low temperature was recorded on the Pordoi Pass (-15°C), while on the other nine passes temperatures constantly hovered around -10°C. Particularly evocative was the time control in Folgarida, where torchlight and mulled wine welcomed drivers and co-drivers exhausted after almost eleven hours of nearly uninterrupted driving.

After a few hours of sleep for all crews, the afternoon once again offered great spectacle with the MotorStorica Trophy, reserved for open pre-war cars; the crew of Sandrolini and Venturi in a 1937 Citroën 11 Roadster won the two silver plates put up for grabs by Massimiliano Bontempi. In the TAG Heuer Barozzi Trophy, it was again the Bolognese crew of Canè-Galliani who uncorked the magnum of champagne, having prevailed in the semi-final over the small 1968 Fiat 850 Spider of the Cremona-based crew Arzoni-Gregori. Third place went to Rampello-Bignetti Bignetti (Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, 1960), who needed an extra heat in the final for 3rd and 4th place to prevail over Rapisarda-Piga (1956 Fiat 600 Moretti) after a tie in the first run.

The images show the top three crews of the 2011 Winter Marathon: Canè-Galliani #1, Moceri-Dicembre #10 and Fontana-Iotti #11 (photo Pierpaolo Romano)