The fifth edition of the Coppa Giulietta&Romeo was presented this morning in the Sala Arazzi of the Municipality of Verona. The event, reserved to classic cars, is valid as the inaugural round of the Italian Historic Car Regularity Championship and will take place on Friday 3 and Saturday 4 February between Bardolino and Verona.
Present at the event were Automobile Club Verona President Adriano Baso, Verona Municipality's Councillor for Mobility Tommaso Ferrari, Race Director Alberto Riva, A.C. Verona Historic representatives Antonio Faccin and Marco Pitondo, and several partners and sponsors of the initiative.
The event, organised by Automobile Club Verona in cooperation with A.C. Verona Historic and ACI Verona Sport, will officially open the centenary year of the Automobile Club Verona.
On Friday, the checking and marking of the cars will take place in the new location of the TH Lazise - Hotel Parchi del Garda, a moment that will sanction the start of this event. As many as 107 cars have registered, 15 of which are pre-war. Among the noteworthy models are a 1927 Bugatti 37A, several Fiat 508 Cs commonly known as 'Balilla', Lancia Aprilia, Fiat 1100 and many other models that have made automotive history. President Baso himself will be the starter at the wheel of a very rare 1937 Delage.
The sporting challenge, which will take place with passage measurements to the hundredth of a second, will get into full swing on Saturday. The cars will set off from Bardolino's Lungolago Lenotti at 8:30 a.m., to return at 3:45 p.m. after covering almost 200 km with more than 60 timed sections. The event will take place entirely on roads open to traffic and in accordance with the Highway Code, and all timed sections will be supervised by Race Officials.
After the start in Bardolino, the competitors will arrive around 9:30 a.m. in the historical centre of Verona, where they will pass through the scenic Piazza Erbe. The group will then march towards the hills via Lessinia and stop in Loc. Paroletto di Fumane at the mid-day break. The competition will continue in the afternoon in the direction of Basso Baldo and then return to Bardolino for the arrival ceremony on the Lungolago Lenotti and the prize-giving ceremony again at TH Lazise - Hotel Parchi del Garda.
An interesting occasion for fans will be the Power Stage, a series of battery timed stages along the lakeside promenade of Bardolino that will be tackled by the competitors after the arrival and out of the classification, in a spectacular scenic setting around 4pm on Saturday 4 February.
Curiously enough, perhaps for the first time in a Verona race, the crew of the broom car will be completely female with Marta Ruberti and Vanessa Nicolis, both highly trained sports licensees who have always given ACI Verona Sport a helping hand with pre-race administrative procedures.
The entry list, programme, timetable, maps and all details are available on our dedicated page ->> INFO COPPA GIULIETTA E ROMEO 2023
Also worth mentioning is the special PIT-TOP prize dedicated to Fabrizio Pitondo, an appreciated Veronese modeller specialising in 1:43 scale. The competitor who will have set the best cumulative time on time trials 3, 13, 23, 33, 43 and 53 will take home a wonderful Porsche model, the brand Fabrizio was in love with and specialised in.
Adriano Baso - President Automobile Club Verona
"We have reached, I believe, one of the championship records for number of entrants, certainly one of the highest numbers in the history of this event. A big thank you goes to A.C. Verona Historic, which will be at the start with no less than 16 crews, and to ACI Verona Sport, which assisted us in organising the event. I cannot of course forget the Municipality of Verona, the administrations of the lake, first and foremost that of Bardolino, and all our partners; Girelli, Olio Turri, Sicurplanet, Giulietta Verona, Acqua Dolomia and Aleph. We open the centenary celebrations with this event and I am very proud that it is precisely the Giulietta&Romeo Cup that will open this special year".
