Triumph for Alfa Romeo at the 2005 Mille Miglia

[Sasha]

After 28 years, an Alfa Romeo team has won the 23rd edition of the historic Brescia-Rome-Brescia race with an Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 Super Sport from 1928.

Luciano Viaro and Maurizio De Marco have won the twenty-third edition of the Mille Miglia in an Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 Super Sport from 1928, the same car that won the 1928 ?1000 Miglia? with the team of Campari-Ramponi, and that in 2004 triumphed in the Nuvolari Grand Prix.
After winning the Argentine ?Mil Millas? (1999 and 2001) and the ?Mille Miglia? celebrations in Japan (2004), the two drivers from Friuli, members of the official ?Alfa Romeo Historic Motoring? team, have reclaimed the prestigious title that Alfa last won 28 years ago. That was in 1977, when Alfa Romeo, with the Germans Hepp-Bauer at the wheel, won the first historic repeat of the most famous race in the world. This year, after 32 timed stages, Luciano Viaro ? a timer manufacturer and former Italian champion in reliability trials ? claimed victory with a 61-point advantage over the Argentine Carlos Sielecki in a Bugatti T23 from 1923.

The triumph of Viaro - De Marco was accompanied by another two outstanding results for Alfa Romeo cars. Two 6C 1750 GSs, in fact, claimed third and fourth place: the first, from 1930, was driven by the Argentine Fernando Sanchez, while the second, from 1931, was driven by his fellow Argentine Claudio Scalise. Not to mention the excellent performance of the pairing Claramunt and Bertschi, from the official ?Alfa Romeo Historic Motoring? team, who took 16th place in an 8C 2300 Le Mans from 1931, a car that, from 1931 to 1934, won the Le Mans 24-hour race no fewer than four consecutive times.
During the four race days, the ?most prestigious travelling museum in the world? met with public enthusiasm and curiosity all along the 1600 km of the course, and among the many almost priceless cars that take part in the race every year, the Alfa Romeo models were the most appreciated: they were also the most numerous this year, with no fewer than 38 official and privately-entered cars.
A good omen for Alfa?s resounding success was also provided by the wonderful gift offered by the prestigious watchmakers, Chopard: a limited-edition Mille Miglia chronograph created to celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the victory of Nuvolari and Guidotti in the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GS spider in 1930. Vintage cars and classic timepieces have always aroused a similar sentiment: a passion for beautiful, precision instruments. And the victory of the 1500 Super Sport is the best possible proof of that passion.

[Sasha]

Here are the overall results for the 23rd edition of the Mille Miglia, 2005
1. Viaro-De Marco (Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 SS 1928)
2. Sielecki-Hervas (Bugatti T23 Brescia 1923)
3. Sanchez-Zinni (Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GS 1930)
4. Scalise-Scalise (Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GS 1931)
5. Imbert-Imbert (Ferrari 250 MM Vignale1955)
6. Sucari-Celada (Maserati 4CS 1100, 1934)
7. Perbellini-Perbellini (Jaguar Biondetti S 1950)
8. Colombetti-Sanchez (Aston Martin 2 Litre 1937)
9. Gaburri-Gaburri (OM 665 TT 1928)
10. Giansante-Ferracin (Porsche 550 A RS 1957)
11. Perletti ? Salvinelli (Fiat 514 Coppa Alpi)
12. Goldschmidt ? Goldschmidt (Healey Silverstone)
13. Sisti ? Sisti (Healey Silverstone)
14. Accerenzi ? Bettoncelli (Riley 12/4)
15. Ferrari ? Ferrari (Lancia Lambda S)
16. Claramunt ? Bertschi (Alfa Romeo 8C 2300)