58° Coppa Intereuropa

4-6 June 2010

The Sun Goodness’s son

As usual also this year the world of historic motor racing has made a stop at the circuit of Monza for the European Cup with a good nine entered categories, among them the Historic Formula 1 Championship and the Classic Endurance race (CER), besides the new-entry of the Italian Historic Car Cup, a championship reserved for Grand Touring. There were Italian Sports cars and Sports Prototypes built earlier than 1974. As always the number of spectators has been encouraging even if without reaching the large audience of last year, when the event had set a record of presence but, to tell the truth we have to remind you that it took place in the same week-end as the Italian motorbike GP. Among the different appointments organised outside a field merely agonist one, two parades were held for road cars on the classic circuit and a special one for the category U2TC and PRE 63 GT on the high-speed ring as well as exhibitions and the exchange motor shows with the Pavilion of the Motor racing Festival.

Pre 63 GT

It was devoted to road and racing cars which had been built within 1963. this category has boasted of a Ferrari 330 GTO among the entered cars, that is one of the three 250 GTO cars on which it was mounted a 3967 c.c. engine instead of the traditional three-litre one: besides calling the spectators’ attention, after the Aston Martin DP212 retirement during free practice, the car had no rival on the track by allowing Voegele a display difficult to see even in the vintage car races, finished up with 1:32:527 lead over the second placed, Belgian Devis at the wheel of a Ferrari 250 Gt Swb.

Alfa Romeo Giulietta Cup

It was greatly appreciated by the Italian public for what had represented in the motor car field between the mid-Fifties and the mid-Sixties, it’s a class that every year gives exciting races, often decided on last lap. Among the drivers of this year, besides usual Merzario, there was also Bobby Rahal, the American champion always ready to get into a vintage car.

Race one was characterized by favourite Martin’s default at the wheel of a Giulia Spyder Veloce after an attacking start, and by the recovery finished with Messner’s excellent win at the wheel of a truncated shaped tail car after a bad start, followed by Shaw in a Giulietta Sprint.

In race two the spectators were delighted by Martin practice, who started from the 25th place, reached the group of the first drivers in two laps to the finish by performing a fantastic overtaking and winning the race two, thanks also to a longest trajectory in the first variant run by Korber, at the wheel of a Giulietta Tz, who arrived second.

U2TC Dino Morazzoni Trophy

It has been dedicated to a man who, besides being a talented driver was the president of the Sports Committee at the Milan Automobile Club. and this race represents the category with more participants, as it’s reserved to cars built within 1966: in particular a large entry of Ford Lotus Cortina and Alfa Romeo cars that have been competing for the win some years, to which are surrounded by BMW 1800 Tisa, Austin Mini and Fiat Abarth 1000, all of them obliged to a pit stop during the race with drivers’ shifting.

On the track, after Furiani’s first lonely ride in Alfa Giulia, Voyazides recovered well, already author of Pole Position, by a good number of fast laps he overtook the rival and crossed the finishing line with 25 seconds’ lead. The third place was scored by the other Cortina driven by Wolfe, the author of a regular race.

GT & Sports Car Cup

It is reserved to Gt and Sports cars built up to the mid-Sixties, represented one of the most interesting moments of week-end, thanks to famous makes which made part of the race entry, among them Jaguar, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Bizzarrini, Lotus and some others.

As usual the race was dominated by Anglo-Saxon cars, with Shelby and Ac.Cobra, Jaguar C type and Aston Martin Dp212 being master of the situation. After a fierce duel which had been lasting for a full half an hour race, Voyadizes dominated again with Hadfield, preceding by 5 seconds other Cobra driven by Hall-Hall two drivers.

Italian Historic Car Cap

As mentioned before, it’s a such new category that shows a certain inhomogeneous feature among the entered cars, with racing cars which went down in endurance race history beside the Grand touring cars paying for a striking speed gap; it’s certain that to see a Ferrari 512S on the circuit and an Alfa Romeo 33/2 Daytona, was a thing for gourmets, something that made us understand how important such events are for Italy.

On the track the struggle for the win saw protagonists like Monteverde, just in his fine and powerful Ferrari and Martin Stretton, at the wheel of his handy drive Osella Abarth PA1, moreover the author of Pole Position: during the race the driver who was experienced in these races scored a deserved win thanks to a race all moved into attack, during which he slipped on the Ferrari many times before being overtaken on the long straights where Maranello’s 12-cylinder engine made difference, till when Monteverde didn’t go off-track shortly twice before on Parabolica bend, then on Ascari, leaving him a free way.

On the contrary in race two, the will of recovery got Monteverde worked up, in fact the driver didn’t made any mistake passing under the check flag with over 8 seconds’ lead just over Stretton.

Formula 3 Classic

If in last edition it had been one of the categories showing the best performance, this year Formula 3 has offered two races without history and any main remarkable overtaking actions, with positions already obtained during the first round of tests. In both races it was Chateaux, French driver who imposed himself at the wheel of a Ralf RT3 Alfa, followed by Leone in the twin car powered with Vw: while in the first race the win arrived after a lonely race, in race two the Italian driver managed to make the French’s life more difficult, taking the lead for 9 out of 14 full laps, offering the spectators the only emotion of a race but rather mediocre for the remaining part.

Historic F2 Trophy

Even in this case the two races didn’t offer much excitement, also owing to Stretton’s going out almost immediately, he who was one of the favourite drivers. In race one the win was gained by Peter in a Ralf RT1, very skilful in holding faster Harper back in the twin-car, while in race two this driver had no rivals crossing the finishing line with a remarkable lead.

FIA Historic Formula 1 Championship

The third appointment of the season of FIA Historic Formula One championship was as usual the event, after Hockenheim and Spa race, that mainly called spectators’ attention with a good 27 cars on track, among them a fantastic model of Lotus 79, the wing-car which allowed Mario Andretti to win the 1978 world Championship.

There were the favourite drivers on the eve of the race, Verdun-Roe with McLaren Mp4/1B, Folch Rusinol in a Brabham B149C, Kinch in an Arrows A4 and Kubata in a Wiliams Fw07C that didn’t disappointed by scoring the first four places of classification since the tests, all setting the time inside the same second. After free tests which had been in favour of the Spanish driver, qualifying tests saw the leadership of Kubota who preceded Kinch by four tenths, Verdun Roe by seven and Folch by one second. The second session which took place under hot temperatures making the track less fast, saw Folch managing to recover with a gap of only 9 tenths over Pole.

Kubota started badly on the grid, letting him overtaking by Kinch and Verdun-Roe on the first variant and even arriving fourth when Folch Rusinol passed him inside the Roggia. However the Japanese took advantage of the best acceleration and regained the third position with an excellent overtaking inside the first Lesmo bend. On the fourth passage Kinch slowed inexplicably on the second bend of Lesmo and was overtaken inside by two followers, while Folch, more delayed, earned the wake however without succeeding in overtaking him: the Spanish will need other two laps to score the third position, taking advantage of the Arrows retired after the umpteenth slow. Down. At the beginning of passage seven there was the decisive episode, with Kubota who followed in Verdun-Roe’s wake on the straight of pits and passed him on releasing the pedal braking of the first variant, gaining that first position that he didn’t leave till the finishing line, notwithstanding the British driver pressing on him. Folch arrived third, left behind only on the last round when it was clear that the first two drivers were unreachable, while Wuensch in Wolf Wr1 was unlucky, his engine car backfired and stalled at only one lap from the end when he was in the sixth position.

Marco Zanello
Photos taken by Giacomo & Marco Zanello
Technical advice from Joni Stefani

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