Alberto and Federico Riboldi in a Fiat 508C won the 2024 Mugello Road Circuit

SOURCE: CIGE PRESS OFFICE, MARCO BENANTI – Fun and emotion in the second championship of the Italian Grand Event Championship with historic and modern cars. Podium for Passanante – Molgora and Crugnola and Mentasti on Fiat 508. Among the modern cars Mozzi and Giusti stand on Ferrari 812 Superfast. A race enhanced by summer weather leaving in the shadow of Michelangelo’s David in Florence and arriving on parade at the Mugello Circuit.

Florence 14 April 2024 – The Brescia team, created by Alberto and Federico Riboldi, won the 2024 Mugello Road Circuit, the second round of the Italian Grand Event Championship, the classic race for historic and modern cars on the ACI Sports calendar , which took place this weekend. The famous event held under the banner of Giglio was organized by the Italian Automobile Club, the Firenze Automobile Club and the ACI Storico Club, thanks also to the valuable cooperation of Scuderia Automobilistica Clemente Biondetti.

The Brescians, father and son of Franciacorta Motori, signed the leadership in the second part of the first stage, the one that emerged between the elegant hills of Chianti and started from Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence, under Michelangelo’s David, between two rows of spectators .

The Sicilian Mario Passanante, the reigning champion and his close driver Alessandro Molgora, the president of Franciacorta Motori, fought with a knife between his teeth. If on Saturday Passanante realized that the results did not match the expectations, in the second stage he requested everything from the 508C, combining the combination of competitive hunger and concentration, which brought him to the podium.

“It was a good race, challenging but well organized – said Federico Riboldi -. It is a great satisfaction for us to get this result with the presence of a very strong crew.”

Third place overall and podium finish for RC2, for Roberto Crugnola and Annalisa Mentasti from Varese who, again in the Fiat 508, stopped the time with only 30.14 penalties compared to the leader Riboldi who closed the weekend with only 347.98 penalties.

A memorable weekend not only for more than 60 employees from all over the world, but also for the public who witnessed the passing of amazing cars in very exciting places. Returning to the protagonists of the Italian CIGE Championship, the return attempts of the couple from Palermo, “precision pediatricians” Giovanni Moceri and Valeria Dicembre, were not enough and, due to a fault involving the gear in the first stage on their Lancia Ardea . of the Classic Team, have accumulated punishments that are difficult to get. For them the satisfaction of fourth place. Immediately behind were two Sicilians, Francesco and Giuseppe who traveled with the ambition of breaking the record in a Fiat 508 of Franciacorta Motori. Sixth in the general classification but first in the RC1 category, the one reserved for the oldest cars on the lot, Gianmario Fontanella piloted Annamaria Covelli in the Fiat 514S of Scuderia Promoter Classic.

The seventh is Massimo Zanasi with the president of the Classic Team Corrado Corneliani. Rounding out the top ten are the ever-sporty Sergio Sisti driven by Anna Gualandi in Team Classic’s Lancia Lambda Spider Casaro (eighth); Massimo Bisi and Claudio Cattivilli in the Porsche 356 S90 of the Italian Porsche Registry (ninth) and Alberto Diana and Annalisa Bellante who scored their tenth performance, below their expectations.

The Press Test Podium saw the first Magnoni and Vanoni in the Fiat 508C; Moceri and December in Lancia Ardea and Crugnola and Mentasti in Fiat 508. The Gentleman’s Cup was awarded to Massimo and Lapo Ermini in Lancia Lambda while Franciacorta Motori’s president Alessandro Molgora and many of his standard bearers appeared among the stables.

In the Festival at the Mugello Road Circuit, the one reserved for the main players of CIGEAM, i.e. GT luxury cars, the reigning champion Giordano Mozzi with Marco Giusti, signed a high note with only 397 penalties in the impressive Ferrari 812 Superfast . . They looked well-grounded and indeed showed it, the Lucchese couple Fabio Vergamini and Anna Lisa Fabrizi with the Ferrari 488 gtb who took a very valuable second place (from a championship point of view) ahead of Celestino and Oreste Sangiovanni in the Ferrari 812GTS. The Tributo Media Test list instead smiles Eitel and Lorenzo Monaco in Ferrari F12, the second is Vincenzo Ferrari and Giovanna Berghenti while the third is Vergamini and Fabrizi. Among the women, the Women’s Cup went to Vania Parolaro and Ornella Pietropaolo, each time in a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S.

While in the stable, Laurel went to the Ferrari Italia Club. The parterre was full of foreign crews whose local competition was won by the Dutch-Swiss mixed crew consisting of Frank Binder and Bastiaan Van Zuijlen in a Ferrari 296 GTS.

The winners were duly recognized by Vincenzo Leanza, Director of ACI Storico, Massimo Ruffilli, president of Automobile Club Firenze and Gino Taddei, president of Scuderia Clemente Biondetti. The award ceremony was organized in the press room of the Mugello Circuit which, as planned, opened the doors of the fast Formula 1 asphalt ring (and this year celebrates its 50th anniversary) for the cars of the Mugello Road Circuit. Additional satisfaction for many employees who will keep a precious and indelible memory of the Florentine weekend of I Grandi Eventi. In the next few days the interview and report of the competition will be shown on Sky channel 228 on ACI Sport TV. The “Major Events” calendar now includes the Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti in July and the Targa Florio Classica in October 2024.

Marco Benanti ACI Sport