Argentines Claudio Scalise and Daniel Claramunt in a 1933 Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 trounced an army of works teams including highly experienced Italian and German navigators to top the results for the Mille Miglia on 18-20 May.
The pre-war Alfa just pipped 10-time winner Italian Giuliano Cane who was guest driving BMW Classic’s 328 Mille Miglia Roadster replica, one of 13 Bavarian beauties on the prestigious event (below). Highest placed Brit entry was Frederica and Simon Kirkpatrick in a Bugatti T37A who finished 66th.
Factory teams were a major feature of the 380-car entry with Mercedes-Benz, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Jaguar and Audi running impressive fleets of classics with celebrity drivers including Williams GP co-founder Patrick Head (above) in a C-type, and DTM ace Bernd Maylander making his Mille Miglia debut in the Carrera PanAmericana Mercedes-Benz W194 Gullwing. “I love Italy and this is an amazing way to see it," said the F1 safety car driver. "The run up to San Marino was really special."
Problems started early for several entrants when the organisers at scrutineering demanded roll bars and safety belts be removed for the regularity event, meaning one American Ferrari team had to angle grind out the welded-in cage just before the start. A replica Bugatti Type 51 ‘Pur Sang’ was also excluded.
