The legendary Allesandro Zanardi won the final race of the Italian GT Championship on the Mugello circuit in a BMW Team Italia/ROAL Motorsport M6 GT3. The car was fitted with special controls for him by BMW Motorsport. The win, which came on his first race weekend in over a year, followed his winning two gold medals and one silver medal in paracycling competition in Rio de Janeiro.
Zanardi had finished sixth in the Saturday race. He qualified third on the grid, but was moved up to second when a competitor could not start the race. He took the lead when the pit stop window opened, held onto it after he pitted, opened a gap to the rest of the pack, and went on to win.
Zanardi said, “There are no words to describe what I feel. Today I saw the sun setting and it never looked that beautiful. What a year, not only what a day. Once more I enjoyed beautiful moments in Rio de Janeiro, and now just jumping into this beautiful car was amazing. But to win the race is something else. I did not have the start I wanted, but I had a great car underneath me. So I knew it was just a question of putting in some good laps as soon as the guys in front of me pitted, and that is what I did. So when I came back on the circuit I found myself with a very comfortable lead, and I had the speed to stay away from the guys behind me and finish with the victory. It is unbelievable. I want to thank all the guys in Munich, who did an amazing effort in getting this beautiful BMW M6 GT3 ready for me with everything I needed, thanks to BMW Italia and to ROAL Motorsport for setting the car up and making it ready for me in a magnificent way. And I also want to send my congratulations to the BMW family in Hockenheim, and especially to Marco Wittmann for winning the DTM title. He is an amazing and super fast young driver. He and the whole BMW DTM team with all the drivers can be proud of what they did this season.”
The win, which came in the 50th year of the Italian Touring Car Championship and the 100th year of BMW, also came just before Zanardi’s fiftieth birthday on October 23.
Zanardi raced for ROAL Motorsport in the Blancpain Series in 2015. No 2017 racing plans for him have been announced.—Brian S. Morgan
