The 23rd running of the Winter Marathon was held 20-23 January 2011 around Madonna di Campiglio in the Dolomites of Italy.
The fourth edition of the Winter Marathon organized by Vecars of Brescia saw again the triumph of Giuliano Cane from Bologna, who repeated his previous success of 2009. With his wife Lucia Galliani in a 1938 Lancia Aprilia, the top driver prevailed over the young Giovanni Moceri with his co-driver Valeria Dicembre (Alfa Romeo Giulia GT 1300 Junior, 1967) and over the strong regularity driver Armando Fontana with Matteo Iotti in a 1968 Porsche 911. Fifth and in the first classified pre-war sports car, the team from Brescia Riboldi-Guerini (Fiat Morettini 508 S, 1936); only a tenth place for the emerging crew Cibaldi-Costa (Porsche 356 SC Coupe, 1963), who on the eve many credited with a place on the podium.
In the afternoon of Friday 21 January, the 199 competing cars left Madonna di Campiglio in order to face the 380 km of the Winter Marathon 2011, 35 time trials, 5 time controls and a passage control (only one car wasn’t at the start, the Lancia Aprilia of the top driver Ezio Salviato).
After the first 7 time trials in Carciato and Caldes, Fontana and Iotti took the lead with 22 penalties (after cancelling the worst time trial until then and considering the coefficient), followed by Cane and Aliverti-Donghi with 23, Clerici-Restelli (Porsche 356 SC Cabriolet, 1965) with 24 and the Scio brothers with 29. Moceri was at the sixth place (32) while Cibaldi and Rapisarda, with more than 40 penalties were out of the top ten.
Before entering the Safety Park, the competitors closed other 4 trials. The Healey Silverstone of Scio-Scio went into the lead with 45 penalties in front of Cane (51) and Moceri (52), while the young Marinelli-Vergani were fourth. Fontana lost ground falling to the fifth place in front of Spagnoli from Brescia, Rapisarda and Cibaldi who tried to rise in ranking, while Gamberini and Nobili reached the tenth place. The four time trials in the modern safe driving centre of Bolzano rewarded the precision of the Triumph TR3A of Roberto Crugnola from Varese (only 9 penalties), then the long line of the historic cars started to face the coming of the darkness going towards Canazei where after 23 time trials they stopped for the dinner.
At this point of the race Giuliano Cane tried to give the first shake, shooting to the top with 113 penalties in front of Moceri with 130 and of the surprising Spagnoli-Parisi (1968 Innocenti Mini Cooper Mk I) with 170 penalties. Fontana came back to the fifth position (185) followed by Rapisarda and Cibaldi, while the Fiat Morettini of Riboldi and Guerini peeped out at the tenth place, first pre-war sports car in the ranking.
After dinner, the drivers had to face other 8 time trials with the slopes of the passes Pordoi, Campolongo and Gardena till the time control in Siusi. Cane- Galliani were still leading (168) preceding Moceri-Dicembre (192) while Fontana-Iotti, with 234 penalties, knocked off the podium Gamberini; Spagnoli was fifth (272), Rapisarda was sixth, Riboldi seventh, Pini- Carloni ninth in the 1964 Porsche 356 C Coupe. The stop in Siusi allowed the crews to recover from the cold thanks to the warm apple juice offered by the local tourist authorities.
The last effort of the day was the novelty of Palade Pass with the remaining 3 time trials of the day which gave the definitive classification: nothing new about the podium with the trio Cane-Moceri-Fontana, followed by the other trio Rapisarda, Riboldi and Pini, Spagnoli lost ground and ended at the seven place in front of Crugnola-Vida, Scio-Scio and Cibaldi-Costa. The count of the penalties paid at the time controls made Gamberini-Nobili out of the running, obliged to pay a delay because of a mechanical breakdown.
Besides the high number of participants, the Winter Marathon 2011 will be remembered by the intense cold that gave the competitors a particularly hard time. Unprecedented intense cold on the Pordoi Pass (-15°C) while on the other nine Passes temperatures constantly around -10°C. Particularly suggestive the time control in Folgarida, the light of the torches and the mulled wine welcomed the drivers and navigators, tired after about eleven hours of almost continuous driving. Many withdrawals due to mechanical failures that have reduced to 163 the number of the cars arrived at the passage control placed on the finish line in Madonna di Campiglio. Also this year the service offered by OBU (On Board Unit) N-eXT was considered very useful by the clerks of the event, it was placed in all the cars in the race, both in the competitors’ cars and in the Organizers’ ones: the clerk of the event, Gigi Bigatti, received about thirty calls concerning only mechanical problems, he received none about medical alerts. Technical problems for the malfunctioning of a time instrument caused the cancellation of a time trial out of the foreseen 35.
A few hours of sleep for all the crews, and in the afternoon a great show again with the MotorStorica Trophy, reserved to the pre-war sports cars, and the TAG Heuer Barozzi Trophy for the first 32 classified crews in the Winter Marathon. The MotorStorica Trophy was won by Sandrolini and Venturi in a 1937 Citroen 11 AL Roadster (time 47″.90), who received two silver plates put as a prize by Massimiliano Bontempi. Second place for Riboldi-Guerini (47″.86) and third for Bettinsoli-Carpi (47”.77), the latter crew had to withdraw during the night because of a mechanical breakdown of their Fiat 508 S Balilla Sport dated 1933, they were fortunately able to repair it on Saturday morning and saw their efforts rewarded with an excellent third place.
As always very spectacular the knockout challenge of the TAG Heuer Barozzi Trophy broadcasted by Teletutto; it was the crew Cane-Galliani from Bologna that in the final prevailed over the small Fiat 850 Spider dated 1968, of Arzoni-Gregori from Cremona. Third place for Rampello-Bignetti Bignetti (Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, 1960) who needed a further round of the final for the 3rd and 4th place before winning over Rapisarda-Piga (Fiat Moretti 600, 1956) after the ex-aequo of the first round. All the three teams won a Heuer vintage stopwatch offered by the brixian jewellers Orietta and Ennio Barozzi.
Great success also for the prize-giving ceremony of the Winter Marathon 2011 at the Palawrooom Congress Centre of Madonna di Campiglio, where all the prize-winners were present to receive their awards and trophies. To do the honours of the house, the Mayor of Ragoli Matteo Leonardi, the Deputy Mayor of Pinzolo Walter Vidi and the President of the APT (Tourist Office) of Madonna di Campiglio-Pinzolo-Val Rendena Marco Mase who offered the crew Cane-Galliani a week holiday and the first three crews from Brescia (Riboldi-Guerini, Spagnoli-Parisi and Scio-Scio) a weekend. Prizes also for Porsche Italy, which had entered two official cars in the race, and for the Alfa Romeo Historical Museum of Arese which entrusted Salvinelli-Gastaldi with a rare Giulietta SZ Coda Tronca built in 1961. Fabbri-Bertieri, placed 33rd in the general classification and first excluded from the challenge on the frozen lake, won the desired trip master Tripy II of Blizz Timing, while fortune gave a prize to the competitor number 168 (Ceriotti- Bacchetti on a 1968 Fiat 850 Coupe) with the draw of a Quad.
(See Winter Marathon 2011 – Final Results)
For more information, visit www.wintermarathon.it.
Winter Marathon 2011 – Photo Gallery (click on image for larger picture and description)
[nggallery id=214 images=15]
[Source: Winter Marathon]
