The Alfa Romeo 147 has won itself another important title by claiming the prestigious annual '24 Ore di Auto' held at the Misano circuit.

The race, held on the 11th and 12th of May, was organised as usual by 'Cars' magazine on the Adriatic Misano race track, and the winning car this year was a 1.6-litre TwinSpark powered Alfa 147.

This latest endurance victory comes just weeks after a JTD-powered Alfa 147 scorched to victory in the Nuerburgring 24 Hours, its third consecutive win in what is self-billed as the 'world's toughest race'. A former winner of highly prestigious 'European Car of the Year' award, these two latest victories prove that the Alfa 147, recently given its mid-life update, is just as dynamically fresh as ever.

The specialist Italian review publication each year organises a marathon twenty four hour race that puts to the test high-volumes models in order to determine their levels of reliability, durability and of course performance. This year the magazine chose petrol and diesel engined models from the hotly-contested C-segment, picking twenty one cars from eleven different manufacturers. All the cars chosen had 115 bhp available. As well as the Alfa 147 1.6TS, other strong rivals for the race included a Renault Megane 1.6 16v, Audi A3 1.6 FSI, Toyota Corolla 1.6 VVT and Honda Civic V-TEC Sport.

The driving duties were entrusted to a number of leading Italian and foreign motoring journalists, which included three of the top European specialist car magazines: Autocar from Great Britain, Autovisie from Holland, and ViBilagare from Sweden.
 

The journalists were joined by regular test drivers, and all drivers rotated between the cars over the twenty four hour period. Television coverage was provided by the cameras of Motor RAI TG2.

Always pushing the cars to the limit, the only stops permitted by the organisers were regular pit visits to change the pilots, refuel the cars, and to change the Michelin-supplied 'control' tyres and the brakes. The winning Alfa 147 1.6TS completed 642 laps of the Adriatic circuit which equated to 2606.5 kilometers. During the 24 hours they replaced the front brake pads once and the front tyres three times. The car used 626.1 litres of petrol during the run, which meant that the Alfa 147 travelled 4.163 km per litre of petrol.

IL 24 ORE DI AUTO, MAY 11/12, 2005 - RESULT: PETROL CATEGORY:

1st Alfa Romeo 147 1.6 TS 642 laps (2606.5km) av. speed 108,542 km/h, 2nd Honda Civic 1.6 V-TEC Sport +4 laps, 3rd Citroën C4 Coupé 1.6 16V +7 laps, 4th Toyota Corolla 1.6 VVT-i +11 laps, 5th Mazda 3 1.6 16V +12 laps, 6th Ford Focus 1.6 Ti-VCT +13 laps, 7th VW Golf 1.6 FSI +15 laps, 8th Audi A3 1.6 FSI +16 laps, 9th Renault Mégane 1.6 16V +19 laps, 10th BMW 116i +21 laps