Good first for the Motorist's Day
The report of the first edition of the Motorist's Festival, hosted at the Monza racetrack. During the event, the Bruno Brida Monza Prize was awarded to Dario Lucchese, Autosprint journalist.
A success with the public for the first edition of the Motorist Festival which took place on 25 July 2021 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza . On the occasion of the patron saint of San Cristoforo motorists, the Monza circuit opened its doors to all four-wheel enthusiasts for a day of track day . The members of the Automobile Clubs of Milan, Brescia, Varese and private individuals were able to race on the track with their cars in shifts of 25 minutes.
At 12.30, preceded by the wooden statue of San Cristoforo, the agricultural vehicles of Coldiretti , the service cars of the Police , Civil Protection and the Italian Red Cross , the cars of the public and the motorbikes of the Moto Club Monza . All the vehicles present received the blessing of the Archbishop of Milan Mons. Mario Delpini who greeted, on his arrival, the Alpini of Varese, the volunteers of the Monelli della Motta association and of the Caritas Ambrosiana, engaged in the preparation of the lunch baskets for the present public and whose proceeds, after deduction of out-of-pocket costs, were entirely devolved to the latter pastoral organization for charitable and welfare initiatives.
The assignment of the Bruno Brida Monza Prize
In the afternoon, Dario Lucchese received the Bruno Brida Monza Prize in the “Tazio Nuvolari” press room for his journalistic activity for Autosprint during the ACI Racing Weekend . The award, purely of honor, is dedicated to the memory of the Paddock Director Bruno Brida, who died prematurely in 2019. Giuseppe Redaelli and Alessandra Zinno, respectively President and General Manager of Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Umberta Testa and Luca Brida, wife and son of Bruno Brida, took part in the handover ceremony, conducted by the Communications Coordinator of the Autodrome Davide Casati, and in connection Franco Carmignani of Paddock and Carlo Leoni of Stellantis.
Lucchese was honored with two grandstand tickets for the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix on 12 September and with a Peugeot or Citroen car on trial for one month . Upon delivery of a celebratory parchment, designed by Carlo Baffi, the jury's motivation was read: «It would seem an almost predictable outcome given Dario's ownership of this“ non-F1 ”range of activities in the weekly magazine directed by Andrea Cordovani. In reality, Lucchese always puts that little bit extra into it and it is not easy in the tight times as they are crowded with races like those of Monza, which we want to further enhance ».
Giuseppe Redaelli, President of Autodromo Nazionale Monza, said: "I am very proud, together with the General Manager Alessandra Zinno, to have accompanied the birth of the Prize and that it will be delivered at the Autodrome because I believe it is right that an institution from Monza supports the 'initiative. Although I have not met the Director Bruno Brida in person, I feel I admire him and I hope that his work can represent a model for the young journalists to come. I am very pleased that the prize was awarded to Dario Lucchese because his articles on the Italian championships embody what we would like motoring to be ».
The first WEC race in Italy is the 6 Hours of Monza
Autodromo Nazionale Monza will host the 6 Hours of Monza, the first race in Italy of the World Endurance Championship, the FIA world endurance championship. The event is scheduled for Sunday 18 July. All the info on the program and tickets.
An absolute first in the Autodromo Nazionale Monza calendar that will give the audience present in the stands and spectators from all over the world connected from home a unique show. The 6 Hours of Monza of the Fia World Endurance Championship will take place on Sunday 18 July, the third round of the World Endurance Championship of the season. The WEC makes its debut in Italy with a race in the Temple of Speed, after the official Prologue tests hosted in 2017 by the Monza circuit.
Thirty-seven cars and one hundred and six drivers , of which fourteen are Italian, will take part in next weekend's appointment, which anticipates the 24 Hours of Le Mans in August . It is the first event of the international series and of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza to which the public is admitted, after the closed-door races of 2020 and the beginning of the year. Spectators present on Sunday, seated in a grandstand and appropriately spaced, will then be able to admire in person five Hypercars (prototypes that replaced the LMP1s), twelve LMP2s, four LMGTE Pro and sixteen LMGTE Ams. On Friday and Saturday the circuit will be closed to the public.
Categories and cars in the race
Among the Hypercars there are three teams ready to battle: Toyota Gazoo Racing, Alpine Elf Matmut and Glickenhaus Racing. Toyota lined up two GR010 - Hybrids on the grid and led the world championship in Monza both in the drivers 'standings - with Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley - and in the constructors' standings. The only Alpine in the race, an A480 - Gibson, in the first two rounds of the WEC has accumulated a gap of 22 points. Glickenhaus Racing adds a prototype to the 007 LMH already present in previous races, thus deploying two cars in the Temple of Speed.
In LMP2 , whose grid consists of eleven Oreca 07 - Gibson and a Ligier JSP217 - Gibson, it is an open fight at the top between two teams: Jota and United Autosports USA. The crew made up of Anthony Davidson, Antonio Felix Da Costa and Roberto Gonzales has only 7 points ahead of Phil Hanson who leads the American prototype with Fabio Scherer and Filipe Albuquerque to Monza.
Similar situation in the LMGTE Pro , category with four cars competing: two Ferrari 488 GTE EVO and two Porsche 911 RSR - 19. At the moment, the top of the standings is held by Alessandro Pier Guidi, already winner at Monza last week in the LMGTE class of the ELMS, and James Calado of the AF Corse Team, who present themselves in the Temple of Speed with an advantage of 6 points on Kevin Estre and Neel Jani of the Porsche GT Team. The German team also fielded champion Gianmaria Bruni in its second car.
Finally, an Italian team leads the LMGTE Am category . This is Cetilar Racing , with three home drivers - Antonio Fuoco, Giorgio Sernagiotto and Roberto Lacorte - driving a Ferrari 488 GTE EVO. Still in the same car from Maranello, in second position, we find AF Corse with Giancarlo Fisichella, Francesco Castellacci and the Swiss Thomas Flohr. Matteo Cairoli and Riccardo Pera will also take to the race in the Porsche 911 RSR - 19 of Team Project 1, driven together with Egidio Perfetti, the trio Claudio Schiavoni, Andrea Piccini and Matteo Cressoni in the Ferrari 488 GTE of Iron Lynx and Alessio Rovera (AF Racing).
The Cavallino, in addition to the ranking, dominates the entry list of the 6 Hours of Monza with ten Ferrari 488 GTE EVO among the LMGTEs. There will be seven Porsche 911 RSR - 19s and three Aston Martin Vantage AMRs. However, another brand will attract the attention of enthusiasts and professionals. This is Peugeot Sport which will preview the prototype of its 9x8 Le Mans Hypercar at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza with which it will return to endurance races from the 2022 season.
The program of the 6 Hours of Monza
The weekend program includes three free practice sessions . The first 90-minute session will be tomorrow at 3:30 pm, followed by a second session at 9:30 am on Saturday, again lasting an hour and a half. The shortest of 60 minutes will be at 2pm on Saturday. In the afternoon of the same day the starting grid is also decided, with two qualifying sessions of 10 minutes at 6 pm for LMGTE (Pro and Am) at 6.20 pm for Hypercar and LMP2. The 6-hour race starts on Sunday at noon.
Spectators who have already bought or will buy a Sunday ticket online will sit spaced out on the right side grandstand of the starting straight. There will also be a refreshment area with street food at their disposal. Fans who will stay at home will be able to follow the event live on television and streaming through the channels indicated on the website www.monzanet.it. Friday and Saturday the circuit will remain behind closed doors for spectators.
The complete calendar of the events of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza
The weekend of the European Le Mans Series at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza
The ELMS makes a stop in Monza with the 4 Hours of Monza, followed by three supporting series. The event is scheduled for the weekend from 9 to 11 July. All information about the program.
The European Le Mans Series returns to the Autodromo Nazionale Monza for the 4 Hours of Monza . On the weekend of 9-11 July, the European series brings the series to the Temple of Speed cars in three categories - LMP2, LMP3 and LMGTE - for a four-hour Sunday endurance that promises to be action-packed thanks to 44 members of 31 different teams and ai 127 drivers from 32 different nations taking part in the competition. Together with the ELMS, the Michelin Le Mans Cup, Ligier European Series and Porsche Carrera Cup France series take to the track over the weekend for a total of six races over the three days.
The ELMS drivers, in the fourth round of the season, start their activity with two free practice sessions , one tomorrow afternoon and the other on Saturday morning. The starting grid is instead decided with three distinct 10-minute qualifying sessions , one for each of the three categories. The nine LMGTEs take to the track on Saturday at 1.25pm, while the sixteen LMP3 prototypes and the nineteen LMP2s take to the track at 1.45pm and 2.15pm respectively. Sunday is race day, with the 4-hour Monza race starting at 11 and closing the weekend program.
Among the LMP2 is the fight for the top between the Oreca 07 of Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Yifei Ye (WRT team) and the G-Drive Racing team formed by Franco Colapinto, Mikkel Jensen and Roman Rusinov on Aurus 01. After the first three races, the two teams are only 3 points behind in the general classification (60 to 57) and the race in the Temple of Speed could act as a watershed for the title fight. Much less uncertainty in the category LMP3 , in which Matthew Bell, Nicolas Maulini and Niklas Kruetten of the Cool Racing team on Ligier JS P320 have a 27 point advantage over the first rivals, namely Laurents Horr and Mathieu de Barbuat of DKR Engineering, driving a Duqueine M30 - D08. Two Ferrari F488 GTE Evo contenders for the top spot in the LMGTE classification, with the Italian Iron Lynx crew of Matteo Cressoni, Miguel Molina and Rino Mastronardi who have 14 points of margin over David Perel, Duncan Cameron and Matthew Griffin of the Spirit of team. Race.
Italy will be well represented in endurance with sixteen riders . Among the LMP2s, in a grid that has not been seen so crowded since 2018, will bring the tricolor Francesco Dracone and Sergio Campana of the BHK Motorsport team (the German Markus Pommer completes the crew). Two Italian teams run in the LMP3: Eurointernational and 1 Aim Villorba Corse. Andrea Dromedari, Jacopo Baratto and Joey Alders alternate at the wheel of the Ligier JS P320 of the first team. Villorba instead lined up Alessandro Bressan, Damiano Fioravanti and Andreas Laskaratos. Complete the five Italian drivers for this category Mattia Pasini (Inter Europol Competition).
The GTEs gather the largest local representation. In addition to the aforementioned Iron Lynx Ferrari # 80 crew, the Emilian team takes Claudio Schiavoni, Giorgio Sernagiotto and Paolo Ruberti in the 488 GTE Evo # 60 and Manuela Gostner, together with Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting, in the # 83 car to Monza. Finally, among the Italians also Andrea Fontana (JMW Motorsport), Alessio Rovera (AF Corse) and Gianmaria Bruni (Proton Competition) race.
The first support series to take to the track at the weekend is the Ligier European Series , a single-make championship now in its second season after its debut in 2020. There are two races scheduled , both on Saturday (60 minutes + 1 lap). The first starts at 10.35 and the second at 14.35.
Two 40-minute competitions are also scheduled for the Porsche Carrera Cup France , the one-make series of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Race-1 takes place at 16.00 on Saturday, race-2 on Sunday at 9.45. The last series in the race is the Michelin Le Mans Cup , with 33 GT3 and LMP3 drivers competing on the curbs of the Temple of Speed for the third round of the season. The 2 hour race of the championship is at 5pm on Saturday.
All weekend events are behind closed doors, but fans have the opportunity to follow them on live television and live streaming. The information is available on the official website of the circuit www.monzanet.it.