The first edition of The Ice Challenge Green, the Italian Alternative Energy Regolarità Ice Championship 2021, was held in Pragelato this past weekend. This formula was brought to the winter tracks thanks to the work of BMG Motor Events together with ACI Sport Energie Alternative and in close collaboration with Angelo Raffaele Pelillo, Vice President of the FIA Electric and New Energy Commission.
After the "zero" event held in Pragelato over the weekend of 23-24 January, the challenge became concrete in a two-day event at the turn of St Valentine's Day that saw a number of regularity professionals compete for the sceptre. At the end of the five heats of the race, Nicola Ventura and Monica Porta, with their Fiat 500 Abarth powered by biomethane, won the coveted sceptre that consecrated them as the first Italian Alternative Energy Ice Regularity Champions in history.
"We immediately joined this championship, it is really a nice project and I congratulate BMG Motor Events - commented Ventura at the end - Our 500 Abarth has already won the impossible in green competitions, but it lacked the icing on the cake of ice. We are really very happy to have completed our palmares with this important and prestigious first Italian Alternative Energy Regolarity Ice Championship and to have obtained it as a couple on Valentine's Day. Definitely a nice gift".
Ventura's progression was perfect, winning all five heats allowed him to score a full 50 points, ahead of an excellent crew made up of Maurizio Vellano and Francesco Giammarino, with the Fiat Tipo petrol/LPG, who finished with 38 points. Third step of the podium for Vincenzo Di Bella and Roberta Giachino, on Toyota Auris Hybrid, with 28 points.
From a purely technical point of view, the challenge was really complete, since on Saturday the competitors raced in the fog with very cold temperatures, and on Sunday under a splendid sun. The two days were linked by a night-time session that offered particularly evocative views and images. At the end, the constructors' title was also awarded to the manufacturer of the conversion kit used on the winning car. The winner was Bigas International Autogas System, which equipped Ventura's 500 Abarth.
The event aroused great interest on The Ice Challenge's social networks, where two Facebook live broadcasts summarised both days of this special event, as well as on a number of specialist publications in the Alternative Energy sector.
To round off the event there was also the extraordinary participation of noleggioelettrico.com with Massimo Alboreto on the track in a Tesla Model 3 Long Range. The iconic full-electric model drove all the heats in the demonstration formula, gaining consensus and further spreading the environmental message of this first edition of the championship. macos/deepLFree.translatedWithDeepL.text
