by Tom Letourneau
European and Racing Correspondent
Audi A4 Quattro Privateer Stuns In Italian Super Cars
Privateer Roberto Colciago was the hero of the Italian Super Touring Championship’s
annual visit to the Binetto, Italy track. Driving an Audi A4 Quattro for the AGS
Motorsport Team, Colciago won the main race on the very tight and twisty circuit near Bari
in the south of Italy.
In the shorter first race, 1997 champion Emanuele Nespetti put his ’99 title attack
on course with a victory in his CiBiEmme BMW. Nespetti stormed through from the second row
of the grid to head home pole winner Colciago. 1998 and reigning champ Fabrizio Giovanadi
kept his Alfa 156 ahead of series leader Fabrizio de Simone’s BMW in the battle for
third.
Naspetti got a great start in race two as well, but he was unable to hold off Colciago,
who took the lead on lap 14 out of 44. With tire problems, Nespetti was forced to give way
to teammate de Simone, who took second place and thus was able to retain his series
championship lead.
Alfa Out Of BTCC Series For 2000?
British Touring Car Championship supremo Alan Gow spent two days in Continental Europe
last week with a yet undisclosed number of potential BTCC entrants for the 2000 season.
None of them is thought to have been Volkswagen or Alfa Romeo, which have both been linked
to future BTCC programs on numerous occasions.
Alfa To Race In Finland!
Finland’s rapidly expanding touring car championship kicked off the 1999 season at
Ahvenisto on Sunday with a record 36 cars on the starting grid. Among the new models
competing in the Super Production series this year are the Alfa Romeo 156 and the Volvo
S40. Final results of the opening round event were not available at press time.
Alfa and BMW Drivers "Punch It Out"!
While we often hear about the drivers "fighting" it out in closely contested
races, the often used term does not usually indicate a scuffle involving the Marquis of
Queensbury’s rules. Such was not the case this past Sunday as a "Punch-Up"
ended the first race in the Italian Touring Car Championship doubleheader held in Imola.
Privateers Fabian Peroni and Massimo Pigoli collided, and Pigoli’s BMW ended up in
the gravel trap. Alfa driver Peroni was excluded for his troubles and wound up being
struck by Pigoli.
Naspetti’s BMW Continues Mastery Over Alfas at
Imola
Alfa Romeo may have stepped up its challenge, but BMW was still unbeatable in the Italian
Touring Car Championship event at Imola. Engine developments gave the red 156s more power,
but it also made them less drivable. Even so, Fabrizio Giovanardi led the opening lap of
the race from the pole position, but only until Nespetti’s BMW went flying by on the
second tour of the famed circuit.
There was contact as Nespetti went though, and there was even more between the duo later,
causing the top Alfa driver to drop down to third behind the BMW of Fabrizio de Simone. On
the final lap, the latter hit a Super Production car he was lapping and dropped to third
behind Giovanardi’s Alfa.
The second and longer race of the day was dominated by the BMWs, with Naspetti leading
home de Simone. In the third place battle, Giovanardi pipped Roberto Colciago’s Audi,
while the second Team Alfa of Nicola Larini wound up running off course.
Audis Continue Dominance Over Opel, Honda and Alfa
For the second time this season, privateer Christian Abt continued his mastery over the
works teams of Opel, Honda and Alfa in the German Touring Car Series held at the
Zwibrucken airfield track. The Abt Sportsline Audi A4 Quattro was forced to carry an
additional 25kg of ballast after its very convincing win in the season opener at the
Sachsenring. The best Alfa driver Stefano Modena could muster was a 10th place finish
after a collision caused him serious problems with his steering.
Final Fling at Monza Features Alfa Formula 1
Thirty-eight years after it was last used for racing, Monza’s famous old banking
reverberated beneath the wheels of racing cars in an emotional "last chance"
celebration to mark the 50th Coppa Intereuropa race meeting. Led by last season’s
Monza TGP victor Ermanno Ronchi, who drove the ex-Andrea de Cesari’s Alfa Romeo
Formula 1 car, the competitors flocked onto the speed bowl, knowing that a fleeting couple
of laps could be their last opportunity to conquer the legendary steep concrete banks
before they are ripped down, as is the almost impossible to fathom unthinkable pending
plan.
As the music of exotic engines echoed through the lofty trees of the park, just north of
Milan, in which the circuit is set, drivers of a massive range of vehicles explored the
daunting walls, which had been specially cleared for the occasion. The hallowed banking is
now very bumpy at both ends, with crumbling surfaces and rotting timbers holding the
guardrail round each rim, even though the back straight - still used for testing purposes
- is properly metaled.
Although the "Anello di Velocita" (ring of speed) has been under a stay of
execution in recent times, a British Internet based campaign is leading the fight to
preserve the banking and/or possibly restore it.