The 2022 Italian Drifting Championship debuts in the Temple of Speed
The 35 registered drivers will showcase their driving skills in a dedicated route within the Ascari variant. Gilles Villeneuve will also be celebrated on the same day with the parades of the MonRace GV Cup.
Autodromo Nazionale Monza is ready to host the first seasonal stage of the 2022 Italian Drifting Championship organized by D-Race and ACI Sport. The crossbar race is scheduled for Sunday 22 May and is the absolute debut of the series in the Temple of Speed.
The 35 drivers entered in the Championship - who have already tried their hand at the Circuit during the official tests on 1 April last - are divided into two different categories. The 18 starters of the premier Pro class and the 17 entrants of the Pro2 will have to demonstrate their skill and technique in controlling the cars in a specific course designed within the Ascari variant.
The parterre of cars at the start of the race - all deriving from road and rear-wheel drive models - includes twenty-six BMWs, seven Nissan and two Subaru. Among the drivers, the large Italian representation stands out, with even twenty-seven home drivers, but there will be competitors of other nationalities, including the Swiss Julien Besson, winner in 2021 of the Pro2 category and a rookie this year in the most important class.
After the technical and sporting checks on Saturday, the competition will begin on Sunday 22 May with free practice, qualifying and the race. The free practice session will start in the morning at 8:30 am, while qualifying will start from 11:10 am, during which the drivers will already be divided into the two categories. The Pro2 drivers will enter the track first, while from 12:15 the Pro cars. The results of these heats will determine the starting ranking for the afternoon races, with the start from 2.30 pm for the Pro2 and from 4.30 pm for the Pro. The day will end at 7:30 pm with the award ceremony.
During the day, a jury will assign a score to each performance in the qualifying and race sessions, decreeing the final podium of both categories. For 2022, the judges will be Davide Busi, Nicolò Rosso and Claudio Varrica. The competition will be broadcast live on the Italian Drifting Championship YouTube channel and on the Drift Italy Facebook page.
Also on Sunday 22 May, there will also be space on the Circuit for the final test of the MonRace GV Cup , a dynamic competition for vintage Gran Turismo cars built from 1950 to the 1990s and dedicated to the legend of Gilles Villeneuve, in the forty-year anniversary of his disappearance.
The cars of the MonRace GV Cup will parade, starting at 12:30, first on the road track and then on the historic Overpasses of the Temple of Speed. The awards ceremony will start from 4.30 pm, which will concern the cars and crews that best embodied the spirit of the event.
The public will be able to enter the Autodrome for free on Sunday to watch the drifting race and the parade live from the lawn areas outside and inside the Ascari variant, and will have access to paddock 2 to see the championship cars up close. Spectators only pay for parking, with a cost of 15 euros for cars and 5 euros for motorbikes.
Company Car Drive, the company fleets being tested at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza
In a two-day test drive, the fleet managers will drive future company cars. Seven models presented in national preview.
The fleet managers choose and test the company cars at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. The 2022 edition of Company Car Drive , the main Italian event dedicated to those involved in the acquisition and management of vehicles that are part of the company fleets, will be held on Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 May in the Temple of Speed.
After welcoming fleet professionals for seven editions from 2013 to 2019, the Monza circuit proves once again this year to be the perfect place to test the performance of the cars, including the new models that will be launched on the market.
The parterre of car manufacturers that will exhibit at the Autodrome is of absolute value, with the simultaneous presence of almost twenty brands and as many as 93 cars on test. The managers will also be able to test seven new products in national preview on the Brianza track.
During the two days, three different itineraries for driving experiences will be available that include the Formula 1 road track, the internal routes of the Circuit and also roads outside the plant. On Wednesday 18 May there will be moments of meeting and training in the conference rooms of the Autodrome buildings, including in-depth studies dedicated to environmental sustainability.
Entrance to the Company Car Drive event is reserved exclusively for fleet managers . More information on the program and exhibitors is available on the official Company Car Drive website .
The cycling champions of the FCI train at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza
Thanks to an agreement with the Federation, the Circuit becomes a Federal Center of Interest until the end of 2025 for the preparation sessions of the blue team.
The Autodromo Nazionale Monza becomes a Federal Center of Interest for the training of national cycling teams. Thanks to an agreement signed between the Circuit and the Italian Cycling Federation, the Temple of Speed will make the track available to the Italian athletes for training sessions until the end of 2025.
The partnership is particularly important for the Italian time trial team because it will allow national cycling teams to prepare for the European and World Championships, which will be respectively between 11 and 21 August in Munich and between 18 and 25 September in Wollongong. in Australia. The racetrack wants to make training possible in complete safety for the athletes who will bring the colors of Italy to the Championships, giving them complete serenity for training.
The track will therefore be used mainly in the summer months, compatibly with the activities already included in the calendar, by athletes such as Filippo Ganna (2 times world time trial champion and Olympic champion), Jonathan Milan and Simone Consonni (Olympic quartet champions), Elisa Balsamo and Elisa Longo Borghini , respectively world and Italian champion, and the winner of the Amstel Gold Race, Marta Cavalli .
The agreement, signed by the Director General of the Autodrome Alessandra Zinno and by the FCI President Cordiano Dagnoni , also provides for the organization of sporting events and events that will involve the national team.
The presence of the teams will therefore be an excellent opportunity for the promotion of cycling and the dissemination of the values of the discipline, including the principles of inclusiveness and respect for the environment also dear to the Monza National Circuit.
There will not be space only for professionals because, finally after so many months of being unable to access due to the emergency situation, the track will be open during a few evenings during the week in spring and summer to cyclists and amateur runners who wish to spend a few hours on the circuit. improving their performance, also in complete safety. The Circuit will then publish the calendar of access evenings week by week on the monzanet.it website.
Alessandra Zinno, General Manager of Autodromo Nazionale Monza: "While we are completing the launch of the 2022 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix ticket office for our fans and enthusiasts, we also continue to work to differentiate the offer of events and the public who wants live the Circuit. Our commitment led, in the centenary year, to an agreement also with the Italian Cycling Federation. We are looking up at our horizons, enriching the seasonal calendar with other sports disciplines, in addition to the important motorsport weekends. Being able to count on an institutional and prestigious partner such as the Italian Cycling Federation clearly demonstrates the central role that the racetrack is recognized in the sporting world ».
Cordiano Dagnoni, President of the Italian Cycling Federation: «For us it is an important opportunity because in this way our athletes will be able to train in a specific exercise such as individual or team time trials. The racetrack is the perfect environment to carry out racing simulations and tests. We just have to thank the company that manages the structure, ACI, DG Zinno and Marco Velo who had the idea for the realization of this project ».
Dagnoni adds: «Our boys and girls of the Nationals are not used, for example, to train with the time trial bike all together and therefore on this Circuit it is possible to work together and refine. These are details that can be fundamental, in fact I remember that last year at the World Championships in Flanders we won an important medal for a few cents. We will try to make the most of the days and time slots that are also granted to us for the purposes of research and development of materials in view of Paris 2024 ».
Ford W University, real and virtual track driving courses reserved for women
The W University opens the doors of the Monza racetrack to women passionate about racing. Appointment with the drivers of Ford Driving University and with professional sim-racers to learn the secrets of driving on the track, on a real circuit and behind the wheel of simulators.
The event is part of The W Track project, presented by Ford Italia last March 8 on the occasion of International Women's Day, to promote inclusiveness and gender equality in eSports and racing, worlds too often the preserve of men.
MONZA, Italy, April 14, 2022 - Two days of training reserved for women with the aim of getting to know all the secrets of safe driving up close, on a real and virtual track, with the technical advice of the drivers of the Ford Driving University and of professional sim-racers.
The Monza racetrack was tinged with pink for the first stage of the W University (the second will be held on 21 June, again at the Lombard circuit), as part of the project "The W Track" , launched by Ford Italy on the occasion of International Women's Day, last March 8, with the aim of promoting gender equality by opening a universal gateway to eSports, a world that Ford has been overseeing for a few years with the Fordzilla Team.
This team of drivers who, taking advantage of the Blue Oval's heritage in real races, aims to compete at the highest levels even in virtual ones, currently sees only one female exponent in the roster of runners, Sara Stefanizzi (aka Kurolily).
"The fact that there is only one woman in Team Fordzilla is our fault. We know future pro gamers are out there but we haven't looked for them enough. It is clear that we have to do things differently. We cannot win the race without even starting it and for this reason we have decided to take to the track by organizing training days dedicated to women”Says Fabrizio Faltoni, President and CEO of Ford Italy .
The aspiring "pro-racers", 24 participants for each training day, alternate between test sessions on the track, on the legendary Monza circuit, aboard Mustang Mach-E, the first All-Electric SUV of the Blue Oval, and challenges behind the wheel of sim-racing simulators.
With the support of the Ford Driving University team of drivers, participants can experience all the practices related to the safety and control of the car on the track, such as setting the trajectories, handling, braking, oversteer control or dynamic behavior in different driving conditions.
The tests also include a session on board the sim-racing simulators where the participants, under the guidance of professional sim racers, can experience all the secrets and winning techniques to be adopted in the world of virtual racing.
The W University represents the testimony of a concrete commitment that Ford Italia wanted to carry out, beyond the anniversary of 8 March, with the aim of being able to overcome the gender inequality with which women are often forced to confront both in the world of work and in sports, without the possibility of having a winning model of reference available. This is because, in many areas, there is still a constant under-representation of the female world in top positions, with a gender wage gap that seems to have now become physiological.
For more than a century, the Ford brand has been a pioneer in offering opportunities to people, regardless of race, sex, ability, sexual orientation and social class, creating a culture of belonging that has its roots in diversity understood as a plus capable of generate innovation and change.
Warm up your engines: Monza and Indianapolis, "twin" souls
A ceremony for the delivery of certificates to students who have joined the project
Monza and Indianapolis are 'twin' souls. The certificate delivery ceremony for the students who participated in the ' Monza-Indianapolis ' project was held today at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, the twinning in the name of engines signed in 1993 between the capital of Brianza and the capital of Indiana. A cultural exchange for seven young people who had the opportunity to deal with different American entrepreneurial and training realities.
"This is an international initiative, useful both for the training of our young people and for any new professional opportunities that meet their aptitudes - explain the Mayor Dario Allevi and the Councilor for Youth Policies Federico Arena - We are convinced that forging the link with an overseas city that has a strong similarity with ours is important. Monza and Indianapolis are linked by the fil rouge of engines, both of which host an international Temple of Speed: the hope is that similar opportunities can continue to be developed in the future, capable of creating a new economy and new research opportunities. Opening the city to realities from other continents, hosting foreign students, becoming a model for cultural exchanges is a strategic objective to which we have dedicated a lot of energy and resources because it will be fundamental for the future of our children ".
Alessandra Zinno , General Manager of Autodromo Nazionale Monza: “I thank all the participants and organizers of the Monza-Indianapolis twinning and in particular the Mayor of Monza Dario Allevi for choosing the press room of our circuit for the delivery of the final certificates. I am happy to have had the opportunity to get in touch with many young Italians and other nations, because the Circuit wants to speak above all to the new generations. We are also gradually becoming an educational center thanks to partnerships with various academic and training realities. The Autodromo Nazionale Monza and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway are two of the oldest circuits in the world still in operation. The geographical and cultural distance is bridged by the passion and dedication to motorsport ".
The Mayor Dario Allevi and the Councilor for Youth Policies Federico Arena were present for the Municipality of Monza, the General Manager Alessandra Zinno for the Monza National Circuit, as well as obviously the students who participated in the twinning. In remote connection, however, the representatives of the City of Indianapolis Ruth Morales , Office of the Mayor's Cabinet with responsibility for Legal Affairs, Judith Thomas , Deputy Mayor, Turner Lesnick , Samantha Black and Chandler Horton , young students participating in the project. The table was moderated by Mario Di Dato , Director of Marketing and Sales at Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
The idea behind the project was to promote exchanges of a cultural and educational nature between university students from Monza and Americans, offering opportunities to meet with entrepreneurial realities in the field of new technologies applied to mobility and the environment, parks and urban agriculture, solutions smart city and sharing economy, medical research and motorsport. Sectors that, in the near future, will develop in a constant and growing way.
An opportunity born from the common denominator represented by the two oldest circuits in the history of motoring: the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, built in 1911 and the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in 1922.
The following received the award : Andrea Amico, Sara Colombo, Pietro Galimberti, Giuseppe Sebastiano Manzo, Riccardo Motta, Andrea Orlando and Marco Schifone.