Formula 1

Fans flock to Historic Minardi Day

2 Mins read
Credit: Minardi

The sights and sounds of the sorely missed V8 and V12 engines used in F1 during the 1980s, 90’s and 2000’s, were on display in all their glory at the recent Historic Minardi Day held at the Autódromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, on Saturday 25 June.

More than three thousand fans came through the gates to enjoy the atmosphere, crowding into the paddock and pits to have a chance to ogle more than fifty Formula 1 single-seaters, Grand Tourism, Formula 2, Formula 3, and F3000 cars. There was also a chance to meet Minardi Team Principal Gian Carlo Minardi, as well as the array of drivers who formed a part of the team’s history across the years.

The likes of Miguel Angel Guerra, the first driver to race in the Minardi Team colours in Formula 2, Paolo Barilla, Giancarlo Fisichella, Giovanni Lavaggi, Pier Luigi Martini, Gianni Morbidelli, Alessandro Nannini and Jarno Trulli were all in attendance. As well as drivers Tarso Marques, Adrian Campos, Sala Luis Perez and Pedro Lamy, and engineers Gabriele Tredozi and Aldo Costa, who were all on hand to sign autographs and photos, as well as testing out the Minardi cars brought to the event by collectors, on track.

Thousands watched on from the central grandstand as single-seater machines from Scuderia Ferrari, Williams, Tecno, March-BMW Schitzer, Chevron-Toyota, and many more provided the action.

In the pits, fans had the chance to closely watch mechanics at work on the single-seaters, able to experience the ignition of engines and the entrance into the pit-lane, as well as the exhibition “From Minardi to Toro Rosso”.

More than thirty cars were showcased for the “walk” into the Motorsport world “made in Faenza” – which included the first Formula 2 cars built by Gian Carlo Minardi, from the M185, the first Minardi F1 car that debuted on April 5 1985 in Brazil, to the Minardi PS05 and the STR10.

Credit: Minardi

Credit: Minardi

Speaking at the event, Gian Carlo Minardi expressed just how much the day had meant to him.

“I am satisfied and touched. A day devoted to sport and to fans where I had the pleasure to see again many drivers who have wrote, with me, important pages of the Minardi Team history.

“The strong feedback of the audience with a great participation both in grandstand and in the paddock is the most beautiful side. I was glad to see the paddock animated by many young people. I got moved when, along with all the drivers, I greeted the people in the central grandstand.

“The Historic Minardi Day has been the occasion to retrace 30 years of passion, making a time travel, also with technic. It is surely an experience to repeat. I must thank everybody for their warm welcome”.

Pier Giovanni Ricci, General Manager of the Circuit, was also very pleased by the success of the day’s events.

A wonderful day made up by emotions that appear strongly when we talk about Formula 1 in Imola. The duo Circuit-Minardi was the trump card of this event. They are both symbols of two close lands that were able to express these two peaks.

“A come back to a recent past in which Gian Carlo Minardi’s stable has got a prestigious place in F1 history with “his” drivers that were present at this great party.

“I want to thank the so many fans that did not miss this event and challenged such a scorching temperature: probably the passion was even more fiery”.

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