The Racing Team Nederland at the 24 hours of Le Mans with the colours of the M192. MINARDI “It is an honour that Frits van Eerd chose these colours”

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The colour scheme of the Lamborghini powered Minardi M192 that was the protagonist of F1 in 1992 with Alessandro Zanardi, Gianni Morbidelli and Christian Fittipaldi who took sixth place in the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka will come back onto the track next June 15th and 16th thanks to the passion and genius of Frits van Eerd and Racing Team Nederland.

The famous Dutch entrepreneur, collector and the greatest enthusiast of Minardi in the world, as well as the protagonist of the Historic Minardi Day in Imola wanted to pay homage to Gian Carlo Minardi by also choosing the iconic yellow, white and black for his Dallara P217-Gbson #29 that will take part in the 24 hours of Le Mans, the final round of the 18-19 Super Season fot the FIA WEC Endurance World Championship.

“There is a special friendship with Frits van Eerd and I am honoured that Team Minardi always inspired him. It is fantastic that the colours of my F1 cars were chosen for the Racing Team Nederland’s cars. Frits and I will continue will collaborate to reinforce this association with the Minardi name and I will be happy to advise him- as a sort of “godfather” for his passion for motorsport – in the field of racing teams, talents and possibly new projects,” commented Gian Carlo Minardi who was present at the presentation.

Together with Frits van Eerd, at the wheel of the Dallara P217 there will be a team made up entirely of Dutchmen with Giedo van der Garde and Nick De Vries (the F2 driver who is in McLaren’s youth programme).

Gp Spain | THE POINT by GIAN CARLO MINARDI “It was the grand prix of truth”

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We are facing an incredible monopoly that will be hard to stop. This was the fifth double labelled Mercedes in as many grands prix but what should worry us most of all above all was race pace set by Hamilton and Bottas that highlighted, especially after the re-entry of the safety car.

It should have been the grand prix of truth. This winter we deluded ourselves but the truth is very different, with 8 tenths of a second in qualifying and the race they did everything they wanted to do. Despite the development of Ferrari’s engine the fourth and fifth places by Vettel and Leclerc were difficult results to digest since Verstappen also came into it with his Red Bull.

For a year now the Dutchman has made no mistakes and has become a serious pretender for scoring the points and important results which are essential for his team’s place in the constructors’ ladder.

In two weeks time we will go to Montecarlo, a round in which the chassis is fundamental and to which we must add a Honda engine that is growing. Despite everything, it will be hard even for them to stop Mercedes’ supremacy which leaves little for any justification.

Luckily the cars in the back entertained us with a fight for essential points for the “second division” championship with Magnussen, Sainz, Kvyat and Grosjean who completed the top ten behind Gasly.

Gian Carlo Minardi

Gp Barcelona, MINARDI “The last resort for Ferrari? Almost”

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We are going back to where it all began. Formula makes its entry in Europe on the Montmelò track, the stage for the winter tests. This track has no secrets for the drivers and the teams. Here Ferrari had fuelled hopes for a world championship by making excellent times but the season’s first four grands prix told a different story.

Mercedes managed the incredible feat of scoring four doubles and setting the new record (also helped by Ferrari’s lack of reliability).

Barcelona will be an important challenge in a grand prix where Binotto’s men will have to change gear in order not to lose more ground to the Mercedes that had remained hidden during the tests and did not express all its potential. It finished the grands prix with a good fuel load on board which is the sign they can manage any situation.

Ferrari’s last resort? No, but it must give a strong sign. We are coming to the fifth round. Anything can happen but the time has come to repeat last winter’s supremacy. Behind Ferrari and Mercedes we find a good Red Bull which is missing Gasly’s points, he was certainly not perfect in the start to the season.

Just as interesting and exciting is the struggle in the “second division” for fourth and fifth place. There are six teams within a range of 14 pints.

Gian Carlo Minardi

Great success of the fourth edition of the Historic Minardi Day. More than 15,000 present over the two days. Patrese on the track

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There was a sea of people at the Enzo and Dino Ferrari International Circuit, the stage of the fourth edition of the Historic Minardi Day that over the two days set a new crowd record.

In fact, over the two days more than 15,000 people the fans invaded the Santerno circuit’s pit lane and the pits for a trip over more than half a century of motorsport and Formula 1 history amongst 32 F1 racing cars, cars from F2, F3, Prototypes, Gran Turismo, Pagani and Lancia Martini Racing who also experienced the thrill of a lap aboard a Supercars such as Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo Stelvio and Giulia Quadrifoglio, Alpine and the Dallara Stradale of Andrea Levy, the President of the Parco Valentino Auto Salon scheduled for June 19th to 23rd in Turin.

There were many moments that will remain rooted in the history of the motor show event designed by Gian Carlo Minardi and brought to the track together with Formula Imola. These began with the exhibition of the cars that were protagonists of the F1 World Championship with an exceptional participant: Riccardo Patrese who went back at the wheel of the Renault powered Williams FW-14 with which the champion from Padua won successive grands prix in Mexico and Portugal together with 8 podium finishes, 4 pole positions and two fastest laps that earned him third place in the World Championship.
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“It was an incredible feeling getting back behind the wheel of the car that gave me incredible results, one of which was the front row of the grid beside Ayrton Senna right here in Imola in the 1991 grand prix. The warmth of the fans was wonderful and I must congratulate Gian Carlo Minardi for having given life to this perfectly successful event with incredible machines. These events are even more beautiful than an F1 grand prix because they give all the fans the chance to come in touch with the cars and drivers, commented a satisfied Riccardo Patrese.

Many guests visited Imola with the warm participation of Roland Ratzenberger’s father and the notable participation of the F1 Grand Prix Drivers Club that was on centre stage in the Ayrton Senna conference room in which indelible episodes of motorsport history were remembered, together with the 1992 world vice champion, Emanuele Pirro, Alessandro Nannini, Pierluigi Martini, Luca Badoer, Fabrizio Barbazza, Moreno Roberto, Andrea Montermini, Luis Perez Sala, Paolo Barilla, Gabriele Tredozi former Technical Director for Team Minardi, Mauro Forghieri, Alex Caffi, Giovanni Lavaggi, Carlo Facetti, Gabriele Lancieri, Claudio and Gianni Giudice Angelo Ancherani, kart driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Francesco Bergomi, Roberto Del Castello, Farneti Roberto, Giorgio Francia, Bruno Giacomelli, Roberto Marazzi, Mauro Martini, Nicolò Piancastelli, Andrea Rosso, Enrico Toccacelo, Howden Ganley, Mario Theissen, Richard Attwood, Daniele Audetto, Derek Daly, Gery Brandstetter, Graham Gauld, Hans Herrmann, Teddy Pilette, David Piper, Jo Ramirez, Axel Schmidt, Marc Surer, Patrick Tambay, Jo Vonlanthen and Mike Wilds.

Pierluigi Martini, the driver who was the symbol of the team from Faenza with 109 grands prix raced with Minardi, took to the wheel of the Minardi M189, while Gabriele Tredozi, Minardi’s ex-Technical Director, drove the PS04 Cosworth. Alex Caffi performed with the Ensign N176, the racing car with which he won the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix Historique, twenty five years after retiring from the grands prix.

The Libreria dell’Automobile (Automobile Bookshop) was also successful with the public reaching its second edition with the presentation of extraordinary books by Pino Allievi, Mario Donnini, Paola Rivolta andUmberto Zapelloni, (Giorgio Nada Editore, publisher). After the Saturday that was marked by a splendid spring day, light rain was again seen in Imola this year but it did not dampen the warmth of the protagonists and the fans.

The Easyrain Project raised a lot of interest thanks to its patented anti-aquaplaning that drew the attention of the Motorsport World as already happened in the automotive world.

As per the tradition, the two days in Imola ended with the historic cars that were the protagonists of the Savio Circuit Trophy, the gara di regolarità classica event that was valid for the ACI Storico National Regolarità Trophy and Scuderia Nettuno’s Criterium dell’Appennino.

Gian Carlo Minardi “”A very important and surely positive edition closes and it rewarded us for the work done. We are growing step by step and we will continue working to improve the event. I must congratulate all the fans because it is not easy to find a polite public that respects the spaces and is aware they are walking in the presence of fantastic cars. It was great to see Riccardo Patrese at the wheel of the Williams. He got back into the game with the best times.

Uberto Selvatico Estense (President of Formula Imola): “It was a fantastic edition …with a great number of fans who invaded the Circuit’s paddock to see real four-wheeled treasures that made wrote the history of motorsport competitions driven by true giants of motorsport. The passion that is gradually consolidating a classic round of the international panorama of motoring events destined for a public of fans leads us to continue investing in this direction beside Gian Carlo Minardi and his team with an eye to the future with the intention of implementing the emotions on offer to those who come to visit our magnificent circuit. Stay tuned.

AYRTON DAY –The Imola circuit celebrates the brazilian champion

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On Wednesday May 1st the Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit will be the stage for the Ayrton Day in memory of Senna, twenty five years after the demise of the Brazilian champion.

The day will give fans the chance to experience the commemoration in various ways thanks to an intense programme that will start at 8.00am and finish at 6.00pm with displays on the track by F1 racing cars and historic cars (starting at 11.30am), exhibitions, cars made from LEGO blocks (McLaren MP4) and guided tours of the Circuit’s facilities, as well as experiencing the thrill of virtual speed with the simulators.

Seven Formula 1 cars with which Ayrton Senna built his career will be present. We start with the 1983 Williams FW09, the racing car in which the Brazilian carried out his first F1 test up to the 1994 Williams FW16, passing through the LOTUS 97T/4 JPS and Lotus 99T/6 Camel, the McLaren MP4/5B and McLaren MP/7 and the Williams FW14 to which we also add the Honda NSX road car. In the pits there will be the Minardi M192, M194 and PS01, the Ferrari F93A, the Toro Rosso STR 03 and the Van Diemen RF83, the chassis of Roland Ratzenberger who will also be remembered on the occasion.

The Santerno Circuit will also host a photographic exhibition “Simply the best” by Angelo Orsi and Mirco Lazzari, the “Senna” portraits exhibition, the “L’uomo, il pilota, il mito” (The man, the driver, the myth) conference (10am in the Conference Room) with the members of the F1 GRAN PRIX DRIVERS CLUB (Emanuele Pirro, Howden Ganley, Patrick Tambay, Hans Herrmann, Derek Daly, David Piper, Teddy Pilette, Jo Vonlanthen, Mike Wilds, Jo Ramirez and Mario Theissen) with the relative autograph session and the presentation of the book “Senna Inedito” (The Unpublished Senna, 4.00pm in the Conference Room) by Pino Allievi, Roberto Boccafogli, Carlo Cavicchi, Giorgio Piola and Carlo Sanchez.

Ready to turn on the spotlights on the fourth edition of the Historic Minardi Day, program on april 27th and 28th at the Autodromo di Imola

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“Next weekend at Imola’s Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit we will tell a good part of the history of Formula 1 that at Shanghai crossed the line of its 1,000th grand prix, thanks to a starting grid of more than 30 F2 racing cars, together with many friends, drivers and engineers,” commented Gian Carlo Minardi, “I took part in more than 340 rounds with the Minardi Team and I am proud to share the results of this wonderful period with all the fans”

On Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th Imola’s International Circuit will host the fourth edition of the motoring event created by the manager from Faenza and brought onto the track with Formula Imola.

The single ticket that can be bought on TicketOne or directly at the Santerno circuit will give access to the pits, paddock and the terrace for a dip into the history of Motorsport with more than 30 F1 racing cars (starting with the Cooper Maserati T51 up to the Scuderia Toro Rosso passing through Minardi, Ferrari, Williams, Ayrton Senna’s McLaren, Tecno, Wolf, Tyrrell, Fittipaldi, Theodore, Arrows, Osella, Dallara, March), F2, F3, Gran Turismo, Prototypes such as the Alfa Romeo 33 TT 3 and the Lucchini Motorsport, Lancia Martini, Lotus Elise, as well as Supercar with the badges of Pagani, Alfa Romeo, Lamborghini, Dallara Stradale and Alpine which will take to the track on both days

For the occasion Riccardo Patrese will return to the wheel of the Renault powered Williams FW14, the car with which he won the Mexico and Portugal GPs, while Pierluigi Martini will take to the track with the six-wheeled Tyrrell P36 and the Minardi M189.

Over the two days the pits and the paddock will be “invaded” by champions of Motorsport , with the great participation of the F1 Grand Prix Club: Riccardo Patrese together with his son Lorenzo who is already a protagonist in karting, Emanuele Pirro, Alessandro Nannini, Pierluigi Martini, Luca Badoer Fabrizio Barbazza, Moreno Roberto, Andrea Montermini, Luis Perez Sala, Paolo Barilla, Gabriele Tredozi and Aldo Costa former Technical Directors of Team Minardi, Mauro Forghieri, Alex Caffi, Giovanni Lavaggi, Carlo Facetti, Gabriele Lancieri, Claudio and Gianni Giudice Angelo Ancherani, karting driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Francesco Bergomi, Sergio Camapana, Enzo Coloni, Roberto Del Castello, Farneti Roberto, Giorgio Francia, Bruno Giacomelli, Roberto Marazzi, Mauro Martini, Nicolò Piancastelli, Andrea Rosso, Enrico Toccacelo, Howden Ganley, Mario Theissen, Richard Attwood, Daniele Audetto, Derek Daly, Gery Brandstetter, Graham Gauld, Hans Herrmann, Teddy Pilette, David Piper, Jo Ramirez, Axel Schmidt, Marc Surer, Patrick Tambay, Jo Vonlanthen and Mike Wilds will be available to sign autographs.

Once more there will be the appointments in the Ayrton Senna Conference Room with the Libreria dell’Automobile (Automobile Bookshop) which will present extraordinary books signed by Pino Allievi, Mario Donnini, Paola Rovolta and Umberto Zapelloni (Giorgio Nada Editore). The Scuderia Tazio Nuvolari will present the historic Lucchini sport Register and the Lotus Elisa S1 and the debate with engineer Nicola Materazzi.

The Champions of Motorsport of the F1 GRAND PRIX CLUB will be waiting for you on Sunday 28th at 11.00am.

There will be innovation and road safety with Easyrain, the innovative SME that develops safety systems that is committed to creating the first anti-aquaplaning gadget for cars and autonomous vehicles will be at Imola to put its research on display for drivers, teams and all the fans.

Furthermore at the Historic Minardi Day you will be able to admire cars constructed from LEGO blocks. The Gruppo Appassionati LEGO Brianza LUG (Recognized LEGO Users Group) and their friends from Æmilia Bricks and Piemonte Bricks will organize an exhibition with 12 “theme islands”. One of the cars on display will the Lancia Delta HF Integrale made with LECO Technic.

There will be plenty of space for entertainment in the Simulators and E-sport area where you will be able to put yourself to the test on the Imola track by becoming a driver for a day, and the Driver Experience. You can also take to the track in your own supercar during free practice which will give you the chance to put on the helmet and experience the thrill of a lap of the Santerno track (subject to booking directly at the circuit) aboard a fantastic Supercar of the calibre of Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio of more than 500CV and the Dallara Stradale. In Paddock 2 you will be able to witness the incredible radio controlled F1 car challenges organized by the Faenza RC Team.

Historic Minardi Day | Lego® blocks protagonists in Imola

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In collaboration with the HISTORIC MINARDI DAY, the LEGO® Enthusiasts Group BrianzaLUG (Recognized LEGO® User Group) and their friends of Æmilia Bricks and Piemonte Bricks LUG, are organizing the first edition of the BrianzaLUG for MINARDI DAY 2019, a two day exhibition of constructions made from LEGO® and dedicated to play and creativity inspired by the legendary Danish blocks that for more than 80 years have lit up and stimulated the imagination of children and not only. The event will take place on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 April 2019 at Imola’s “Enzo e Dino Ferrari” Circuit in the setting of the HISTORIC MINARDI DAY. Two days dedicated to lovers of speed and beautiful cars. This will be a weekend of true passion for engines and with many activities for the public.

For this first edition we wanted to offer a rich “menu” of works and creation in LEGO® blocks:
about 20 linear metres of works and creations on the theme of “motors” divided into 12 “theme islands” created by the 20 exhibitors present who represent three Italian communities of LEGO® enthusiasts, as well as an author of books on the theme of LEGO® blocks.

Amongst the works on exhibition, all made from the famous coloured blocks we point out the wide LEGO® Technic area with LEGO® block versions of two true icons of world rallying, the Lancia Delta HF Integrale “Martini” by Davide Zen and… another Lancia surprise, again of Team Martini Racing that by Fabio Perotti! There will also be the “Gattiger” by Lorenzo Brovia and the cars from the cartoon “Wacky Races” by Lorenzo Crepaldi and the reconstruction of the “kit” for collectors of the Renault RS team 2017 by Frank4Bricks , as well as the various other original models designed and constructed by our Exhibitors and all strictly made from the famous blocks. Saturday 27 April there will also be Francesco Frangioja, the author of come fantastic books on the theme of LEGO® that will be at the disposal of visitors and guests to explain how to write a book with the theme of LEGO®.

TICKETS
Tickets can be bought at the entrance – Saturday 27/Sunday 29 or for the whole weekend through TicketOne or directly at the Circuit. The ticket will give access to the paddock and the pits of the Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit and the events in the Circuit, as well as for carrying out laps of the track aboard a sports car driven by professional drivers.
SOCIAL MEDIA & WEBSITE

To always keep up to date on the many developments of the Fourth edition of the Historic Minardi Day visit our website and the social media channels using the official hashtags #HMD and #HistoricMinardiDay
All the addresses:

WEBSITE:
http://minardiday.it/

FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/minardiday/

TWITTER:
https://twitter.com/minardi09

Historic Minardi Day | The champions of motorsport "will invade" the imola circuit. Patrese at the wheel of the Williams and Lancia

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Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 April the Enzo and Dino Ferrari International Circuit will be the stage for the fourth edition of the Historic Minardi Day, the event that rewrote the rules of sporting events by placing the fans and the enthusiasts in centre stage and conceived and planned by the passion of Gian Carlo Minardi together with his brothers Giuseppe and Ferdinando and son Giovanni and brought onto the track alongside Formula Imola.

Thanks to the single ticket that can be bought at the Circuit and through TicketOne that gives access to all the most exclusive areas of the Santerno track such as the paddock, the pits and the terrace to see up close more than 30 Formula 1 racing cars together with cars from F2, F3, Prototypes, Supercars and Hyperc, Gran Turismo, over the two days Imola’s paddock and pits will host the most important names of international Motorsport scene including Formula World Champions, winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and also the F1 GRAND PRIX DRIVERS CLUB

Riccardo Patrese will put one his driver’s suit and gloves once more to take to the wheel of the 1991 Williams FW14-Renault and the Lancia with which he won the Montecarlo stage of the Endurance World Championship, together with his Lorenzo who is already involved in karting, Emanuele Pirro, Alessandro Nannini, Pierluigi Martini, Luca Badoer Fabrizio Barbazza, Moreno Roberto, Andrea Montermini, Luis Perez Sala, Paolo Barilla, Gabriele Tredozi and Aldo Costa former Technical Director of Team Minardi, Mauro Forghieri, Alex Caffi, Giovanni Lavaggi, Carlo Facetti, Gabriele Lancieri, Claudio e Gianni Giudice Angelo Ancherani, kart driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli who has won the WSK WInter Cup and the Super Master Series, Francesco Bergomi, Sergio Campana, Enzo Coloni, Roberto Del Castello, Farneti Roberto, Giorgio Francia, Bruno Giacomelli, Roberto Marazzi, Mauro Martini, Nicolò Piancastelli, Andrea Rosso, Enrico Toccacelo, Howden Ganley, Mario Theissen, Richard Attwood, Daniele Audetto, Derek Daly, Gery Brandstetter, Graham Gauld, Hans Herrmann, Teddy Pilette, David Piper, Jo Ramirez, Axel Schmidt, Marc Surer, Patrick Tambay, Jo Vonlanthen and Mike Wilds will be available for autographs.

TICKETS
Tickets can be bought at the entrance – Saturday 27/Sunday 29 or for the whole weekend through TicketOne or directly at the Circuit. The ticket will give access to the paddock and the pits of the Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit and the events in the Circuit, as well as for carrying out laps of the track aboard a sports car driven by professional drivers.
SOCIAL MEDIA & WEBSITE
To always keep up to date with the many developments of the Fourth edition of the Historic Minardi Day visit our website and the social media channels using the official hashtags #HMD and #HistoricMinardiDay
All the addresses:
WEBSITE:
http://minardiday.it/
FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/minardiday/
TWITTER:
https://twitter.com/minardi09

Historic Minardi Day | More than 30 Formula 1 cars await you in Imola

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Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 April the Enzo and Dino Ferrari International Circuit will be the stage for the fourth edition of the Historic Minardi Day, the event that rewrote the rules of sporting events by placing the fans and the enthusiasts in centre stage and conceived and planned by the passion of Gian Carlo Minardi together with his brothers Giuseppe and Ferdinando and son Giovanni and brought onto the track alongside Formula Imola.

Thanks to the single ticket that can be bought at the Circuit and through TicketOne that gives access to all the most exclusive areas of the Santerno track such as the paddock, the pits and the terrace to see up close more that 30 Formula 1 racing cars together with cars from F2, F3, Prototypes, Supercars and Hyperc, Gran Turismo, to meet the drivers and engineers and to experience as a protagonist the weekend dedicated to international Motorsport and where it will be possible to take a trip through history through a “starting grid” of more than 30 Formula 1 racing cars.

The weekend’s key moments will be the on track exhibitions of the Formula 1 cars that will come back to racing around the 4,909 metres of the Imola track. More than 30 F1 racing cars for a 50 year trip through history, starting with the 1959 Cooper Maserati T51 up to the Toro Rosso STR03 in which Sebastian Vettel won his first grand prix in 2008, passing through the Minardi PS04 -189 – M192 – M194 – PS04 Alboreto, Martini, Bruni, Baumgartner and Sala, the Ferrari 312T – 126C4 – 312B2 – 312B3 – 643 chassis 128 – 639 chassis 106 – 412 T1 chassis 154 of Alboreto, Alesi, Ickx and Merzario, Lauda, Regazzoni, Mansell and Berger, the Williams FW14 – FW08C – FW16 of Rosberg, Patrese, Senna, Hill and Coulthard, the McLaren MP4/5 B of Ayrton Senna and Berger, the Tyrrell P36 of Scheckter and Depailler, the Tecno F1 123/3 chassis 005, the Wolf WR7 of James Hunt, the Theodore TR1, the Fittipaldi F8 of Keke Rosberg, the De Tomaso – Alfa Romeo, the Arrows A11- A21 – A22 of Verstappen, De La Rosa and Cheever, the March 761, the Surtees F5000, the Osella Fondmetal FA 1M and the Dallara-Consworth 190 of Pirro, De Cesaris and Morbidelli.

“Formula 1 will cut the ribbon of 1,000 grands prix. This is an important result, of which Minardi took part in 340 rounds, 34%. This result makes me proud,, also because as of today the Minardi Team is the ninth team with the most races, behind, Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, Lotus, Tyrrell, Brabham, Sauber and Renault. We will tell a part of these 340 grands prix in Imola on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28, April at the fourth edition of the Historic Minardi Day, together with many friends, drivers and engineers and the newest recruits who are taking their first steps in the world of karting. There will be a parterre of high calibre cars and drivers. We are now at the last stages and we are fine tuning the final details to excite and entertain the enthusiasts who will come to visit us.” Gian Carlo Minardi

The will be the extraordinary cars from F2, F3, Gp2 F3000 and the Prototypes such as the Alfa Romeo 33 TT 3 and the Lucchini Motorsport, Lancia Martini and Lotus Elise.

Gp Cina |THE POINT by MINARDI “The forces in the field took shape”

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This was the second double and the second win in as many races. In Shanghai Lewis Hamilton put his signature on the 1,000th GP ahead of Bottas and Vettel’s Ferrari. Mercedes put on show a superior pace of at least 3-4 tenths of a second better than its direct rivals, even if it showed it can manage the race at its leisure.

The forces in the field took shape in this grand prix, with Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Haas and Renault, and with some outsiders that changed from time to time, such as Raikonnen with the Alfa Romeo and/or Toro Rosso that celebrated its 250th GP with Albon’s tenth place by exploiting the debacle of others (such as Renault’s problems with reliability)-

Ferrari said goodbye to Shanghai with Vettel’s third place and Leclerc in fifth, with the driver from Monaco hurt by a strategy that was surely not the best and gave Verstappen an advantage. We saw minimal differences in times between the two drivers with Leclerc who made up for a small error in qualifying with a positive start even if he was forced to give up a place to his team mate.

Talking about strange strategies, the one adopted for Giovinazzi was inexplicable. I hope, after having seen the problem that he once again suffered in qualifying, that the team wanted to carry out developments tests in the light of the next rounds. This was a pity because Antonio’s race rhythm was good once again and equal to Raikonnen’s.

This was a positive weekend for Albon in which he entered the points zone after starting from pit lane. The driver will continue to grow during the season and who put a good pace on show. He only lacks a little experience.

I am waiting for you all at Imola in two weeks, Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th, to talk about F1 during the Historic Minardi Day and to experience a weekend under the banner of Motorsport and passion.

Gian Carlo Minardi

Road To China | 1000th Gp. MINARDI “Proud to have taken part in 340 Gp with the Minardi Team”

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What sort of grand prix will Shanghai be? This is the question that many fans and experts have been asking since the first two rounds in Australia and Bahrain showed two markedly different potentials, even if, in the end, the result was the same. Two wins for Mercedes, first with Bottas and then with Hamilton and only a third place for Ferrari with Leclerc.

For Ferrari the Chinese Grand Prix will be an appeal for verifying whether they have really identified and solved the problems of reliability that ruined the celebration in Sakhir and which is the real Ferrari; the one we saw in Melbourne that suffered a major gap from its direct rivals or the “red” that won the front row of the grid two weeks ago and subsequently dominated the race with the driver from Monaco up to 10 laps from the chequered flag.

Last year Ferrari did very well with Raikonnen’s third place and I hope that this Sunday too it can repeat the result by taking this season’s first win. It will be a tough grand prix for the cars in which the engines, tyres and brake systems will be put to a hard test.

Formula 1 will cut the ribbon of 1,000 grands prix. This is an important result, of which Minardi took part in 340 rounds, 34%. This result makes me proud,, also because as of today the Minardi Team is the ninth team with the most races, behind, Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, Lotus, Tyrrell, Brabham, Sauber and Renault. We will tell a part of these 340 grands prix in Imola on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28, April at the fourth edition of the Historic Minardi Day, together with many friends, drivers and engineers and the newest recruits who are taking their first steps in the world of karting. There will be a parterre of high calibre cars and drivers. We are now at the last stages and we are fine tuning the final details to excite and entertain the enthusiasts who will come to visit us.

I will be waiting for you at Imola Circuit and we will be in touch again on Sunday to comment, I hope, another exciting race.

Gian Carlo Minardi

The engines are warming up for the fourth Historic Minardi Day

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Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th April the Enzo and Dino Ferrari International Circuit will be the stage for the fourth Historic Minardi Day, the event that rewrote the rules of sporting events by focussing on the fans and enthusiasts, that was conceived and designed by Gian Carlo Minardi together with brothers Giuseppe and Ferdinando, son Giovanni and brought onto the track alongside Formula Imola.

There are many confirmations, such as the single ticket that gives access to the most exclusive areas of the track beside the Santerno Rover such as the paddock and the pits to see up close the racing cars (F1, F2, F3, Prototypes and Hyperc, Gran Turismo) to meet drivers and engineers and to the terrace to experience as a protagonist the weekend dedicated to international Motorsport and many new developments.

THE HISTORY OF F1 RETURNS TO THE IMOLA TRACK
The key moment of the weekend will be the exhibition on the track of the Formula 1 cars that will return to race around the 4,909 metres of the Imola track. More than 30 F1 racing cars for a 50 year trip in time, starting with the Cooper Maserati T51 of 1959 up to the Toro Rosso STR03 in which Sebastian Vettel won his first grand prix in 2008, passing through the 1972 Tecno, the March 761, the six-wheeled Tyrrel P36, the Theodore TR1, Keke Rosberg’s Fittipaldi F8, James Hunt’s Wolf WR7, the Minardi cars of Alboreto, Martini, Bruni, Baumgartner and Sala, the Ferraris of Alboreto, Alesi, Ickx and Merzario, Lauda, Regazzoni, Mansell and Berger, the McLaren MP4/5 B of Ayrton Senna and Berger, the Williams of Rosberg, Patrese, Senna, Hill and Coulthard, the Arrows of Verstappen, De La Rosa and Cheever, the Dallara-Consworth 190 of Pirro, De Cesaris and Morbidelli.

THE CHAMPIONS OF MOTORPORT AND THE F1 GRAND PRIX DRIVERS CLUB
Over the two days Imola’s paddock and pits will host the most important names of world Motorsport stage including Formula 1 World Champions and winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Riccardo Patrese, Pierluigi Martini, Emanuele Pirro, Alessandro Nannini, Giovanni Lavaggi, Carlo Facetti, Howden Ganley, Mario Theissen, Richard Attwood, Daniele Audetto, Derek Daly, Gery Brandstetter, Graham Gauld, Hans Herrmann, Teddy Pilette, David Piper, Jo Ramirez, Axel Schmidt, Marc Surer, Patrick Tambay, Jo Vonlanthen, Mike Wilds and Gabriele Tredozi, ex Technical Director of Team Minardi, will be available to sign autographs.

GATHERING OF MARTINI RACING AND THE LUCCHINI MEMORIAL
The Imola Circuit’s paddock will embrace the history of “Martini Racing” in the first Martini Racing gathering with spectacular cars labelled Lancia and Alfa Romeo, including also the Lancia Beta Montecarlo and Lancia LC1 of the Gino Macaluso Foundation.

The paddock will be enhanced with the gathering of the Lotus Elise S1 and the prototypes of the constructor of Mantua that will return to the track for the 2019 Giorgio Lucchini Memorial organized by the Scuderia Tazio Nuvolari.

HOT LAPS OF IMOLA
As well as taking to the track with your own car for free practices laps (subject to registration on the official website), the Historic Minardi Day will offer you the chance to try the thrill of a lap of the Santerno aboard a fantastic Supercar beside a professional driver, including Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo with more than 500cv and Pagani and Dallara Stradala thanks to the participation of Andrea Levy, president of the Parco Valentino, the automobile salon to be held in Turin from the 19th to the 23rd June. “Gian Carlo’s event is a wonder and I recommend it to everybody. Seeing the F1 cars, of all periods, together at Imola… I’m already getting chills. I saw the Ferraris of Mansell, Alboreto and Prost, and then last year there was the Mercedes with Bottas. It was wonderful to find once more those sounds, those smells.

I will come to the Minardi Day with my cars. With Gian Carlo there is esteem and friendship. When I spoke with him about the setting of this fantastic track I asked him “Why don’t you bring a few F1 cars to the city centre at the Parco Valentino in Turin , in Via Roma? For which, let us take to the track, which is right where the cars must be and then we will go to the city centre for a parade.”

In conjunction with the sessions dedicated to the Formula 1 cars, you will be able to experience the emotion of racing at more than 300 km/h on the Santerno Track thanks to the FA1x2 Seater labelled Coloni Motorpsort equipped with a Gibson Technology V8 engine capable of 550 CV. It is possible to book a lap by filling in the specific form

APPOINTMENT WITH THE AUTOMOBILE BOOKSHOP
After last season’s success there will be once more the appointments with the Libreria dell’Automobile (Automobile Bookshop) at the Ayrton Senna Conference Room (ground floor to the left of the bar – Checco Costa Museum) with the presentations of the extraordinary volumes signed by Pino Allievi, Mario Donnini, Paola Rivolta and Umberto Zappelloni, Giorgio Nada Editore

Programme of the presentations:

SATURDAY 27/04
10.00am – MICHAEL SCHUMACHER IMMAGINI DI UNA VITA / A LIFE IN PICTURES by PINO ALLIEVI (Giorgio Nada Editore)
2.30pm – SCARFIOTTI DALLA FIAT A ROSSFELD (Scarfiotti from Fiat to Rossfield) by PAOLA RIVOLTA (Liberilibri)
4.30pm – FORMULA 1 STORIE DI PICCOLI E GRANDI EROI (Formula 1 Stories of Small and Great Heroes) 1950-1979 Vol. 1 and 2 by MARIO DONNINI (Giorgio Nada Editore)

SUNDAY 28/04
10.00am – FERRARI GLI UOMINI D’ORO DEL CAVALLINO (Ferrari The Golden Men of the Prancing Horse) by UMBERTO ZAPPELLONI (Giorgio Nada Editore)
2.30pm FORMULA 1 STORIE DI PICCOLI E GRANDI EROI (Formula 1 Stories of Small and Great Heroes)1950-1979 Vol. 1 and 2 by MARIO DONNINI (Giorgio Nada Editore)

Guests:
Pino Allievi, editorialist for La Gazzetta dello Sport, opinion writer for RAI and author
Paola Rivolta, author
Mario Donnini, journalist for Autosprint

SAVIO TROPHY
This edition of the Historic Minardi Day will again be enriched by the Gara di Regolarità Classica “Il Trofeo del Savio” (Savio Trophy) that will be valid for the Italian “ACI Storico” National Trophy and the Criterium dell’Appennino of the Scuderia Nettuno.
The event will start from Imola’s Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit and will wind its way through the province of Ravenna and follow part of the course of the Savio Circuit that saw Enzo Ferrari win in 1923 as a driver. There will be no lack of beauty with the panorama of the Hills of the Romagna and picturesque townships. The race will finish inside the Imola Circuit for a party that will involve the participants of the Historic Minardi Day.

GAMING AREA AND SIMULATORS
Since this is the Historic Minardi Day, a weekend dedicated to passion and Motorsport and also to looking for enjoyment, you cannot miss the area dedicated to the simulators and E-Sport where you can test yourself by become a racing driver for the day. The new development will be the area dedicated to models and the challenge with radio controlled model cars divided into three categories (F1- F1 Classique –Mini) in collaboration with the Faenza Rc Team. In the paddock, alongside the cars there be extraordinary replicas of cars made with LEGO blocks, such as Ayrton Senna’s 1988 McLaren MP4-4.

TICKETS
You can buy the tickets at the entrance, Saturday 27 / Sunday 28 or for the whole weekend via TicketOne or directly from the circuit. The ticket will give you access to the paddock and pits of the Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit and the events present in the circuit, as well as to have laps aboard sports cars driven by professional drivers.

SOCIAL MEDIA & WEBSITE
In order to keep up to date with the many new developments concerning the Fourth Edition of the Historic Minardi Day visit our website and the social channels using the official hashtags #HMD and #HistoricMinardiDay

Here are the addresses:

WEBSITE:
http://minardiday.it/

FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/minardiday/

TWITTER:
https://twitter.com/minardi09

 

Road to Bahrain | MINARDI “Villeneuve lost a chance to keep quiet”

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We are on the eve of the Bahrain Grand Prix, the second round of the Formula 1 World Championship that had its first act in Melbourne which gave us some verdicts that may be confirmed or overturned in Sakhir. Jacques Villeneuve upset the last few days when he used some inelegant (to say the least) words concerning the return of Robert Kubica. I believe he lost the chance to keep quiet. With all due respect for the results achieved, maybe his career in Motorsport would not have begun without his surname. Kubica’s decision must be respected.

To me it seems more correct speaking about Motorsport rather than creating disquiet with sterile debate, where we find Ferrari that exudes tranquillity with the statements by Binotto, Vettel and Leclerc who do not make glaring claims even if I fear that the true Mercedes is the one we saw in the penultimate lap in Australia with Bottas who, with extreme ease, lowered the best time by 1”.

We come to a true track with parametres that make the thermometer important for the future of the season and where the high temperatures will have an important bearing on the reliability. The one to watch will be Red Bull – Honda that two weeks ago gave proof of great strength with the first podium reached by the Japanese in the hybrid era.

There will be a great struggle behind the first three, as we saw right from qualifying in Melbourne with sixteen drivers within a range of 1” in Q1 where Gasly paid a high price for a mistake in strategy.

Getting back to the matter of Kubica, Williams was the negative point and I truly hope that they have identified the area where they must intervene even if, seeing the big gap, it will take time to recover. In many cases you resort directly to the B version of the racing car. Luckily the budget is not a priority problem for them.

Gian Carlo Minardi