By Tom Ammundsen
The 1000 Miglia 2024, an open-road, motorsport endurance race, a tour de force stretching 2200km across Italy, ended in triumph for Andrea Vesco and Fabio Salvinelli for the fourth consecutive time.
Some 421 competing crews with their vintage jewels built between 1927 and 1957 travelled the classic route from Brescia to Rome and back in an anticlockwise direction, just as the heroes of the first editions of the 1000 Miglia did” in late March 1927.
Winners, Vesco and Salvinelli, became champions of the event for the fourth consecutive time, a record that will be exceedingly difficult to equal in the future. They won in their 1929 Alfa Romeo 6c 1750 Ss Spider Zagato.
“For Vesco, it is actually his fifth victory in a row (out of seven in total), having also triumphed in 2020 in tandem with his father.”
After winning, Vesco said: “We are happy, how could we not be!”
Gianmario Fontanella and Anna Maria Covelli took a well-deserved second place with their 1927 Lancia Lambda Casaro VII Serie, followed by Alberto Aliverti and Stefano Valente, also competing with a 1929 6C.
After the death of nine individuals in the 1957 race, because of a Ferrari spinning out of control, Ferrari cars that are competing are part of a tribute each year. The winners this year were Frank Binder and Giordano Mozzi won the Ferrari tribute race in a 296 GTS.
Winning the 1000 Miglia Green, the part of the race focusing on sustainability, was Mirco Magni and Alessandro Ferruta, with a Polestar 2. The 1000 Miglia Green, first taking place in September 2019, “focuses on the issue of sustainable mobility, with particular emphasis on the implications that this will have on the automotive, energy and infrastructure industry”. The 1000 Miglia Experience, which is “an opportunity dedicated to modern Supercars and Hypercars to race alongside the most prestigious classic and vintage cars” according to 1000 Miglia, went to Ismaele and Marco Luigi Ghilardelli in a Mercedes Amg Gt C.
The 2024 edition of the Red Arrow left from Brescia on Tuesday 11 June and passed through Bergamo, Novara and Vercelli before arriving in Turin for the end of the first leg.
On the second day, the convoy began its descent southwards, passing through the Langhe region and through the centre of Acqui Terme before heading to Genoa, the absolute novelty of the 1000 Miglia 2024, where the crews stopped for lunch. Continuing along the Tyrrhenian coast, the race reached the leg finish in Viareggio.
The third leg saw the descent towards Rome: initially the race turned inland through Lucca, until the lunch break in Castiglione della Pescaia. In the afternoon, they entered Lazio passing through Marta, Viterbo, Ronciglione and finish in Rome in Via Veneto.
With the fourth leg, the crews drove up to Orvieto and then Solomeo, the venue for lunch. After the break, it was on to Siena, Prato and the Futa and Raticosa passes, which will precede the arrival in San Lazzaro di Savena (Bologna). On the final day, Saturday 15 June, the route passed Ferrara, Bovolone and Villafranca, then Lake Garda with the Valtenesi and Salò to finish with the classic parade in Viale Venezia.