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Luciano Viaro
and Maurizio De Marco have won the 23rd edition of the Mille
Miglia on board a 1928 Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 Super Sport, the
same car that won the “1000 Miglia” back in 1928 with
Campari-Ramponi and in 2004 triumphed in the Nuvolari Grand
Prix.
After winning the Argentinean “Mil Millas” (1999 and 2001)
and the Mille Miglia celebration event in Japan (2004), the
two Friuli flag bearers of the official Alfa Romeo Vintage
Car Team have again won this prestigious title after a
28-year long dry spell for the Italian brand. In fact Alfa
Romeo's last win was in 1977 with the German pairing, Hepp-Bauer,
who drove to victory in the first revival of the world's
most famous car race. This year, after 32 time trials
Luciano Viaro – constructor of chronometers and ex-Italian
reliability champion – won by a margin of 61 points from
Argentine's Carlos Sielecki at the wheel of a 1923 Bugatti
T23.
In addition to Viaro-De Marco's triumph, Alfa Romeo cars
chalked up yet two more successes. Two 6C 1750 GS cars
finished the race in third and fourth places: third was a
1930 car driven by Argentinean Fernando Sanchez while his
fellow-countryman Claudio Scalise took fourth place with a
1931 model. This, in addition to an excellent performance by
Claramunt and Bertschi in an official Alfa Romeo Vintage Car
team entry that finished in 16th place in an 8C 2300 Le Mans
built in 1931, a car that won the Le Mans 24-hour race four
years running from 1931 to 1934.
As always the event was followed by a very large,
enthusiastic public along the 1,600 km course, confirming
the tremendous interest aroused by this historical revival.
Quite rightly many people consider it "the world's most
prestigious travelling museum". But then every year cars of
inestimable value that have written some of the most
memorable pages in international motoring history
participate in the Mille Miglia. And among these, naturally,
a great line-up of Alfa Romeo models: moreover, this year
they were the most numerous group with fully 38 cars
(counting both official and private entries).
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