Automobiles

THE FAMILIAR FACES OF THE MILLE MIGLIA 2017

MILLE MIGLIA-90 YEARS OF RACING


John Watson ex Formula 1 Racer in a Porsche 356 (Source: David Franciamore)
USPA NEWS - The Mille Miglia contest means glamour, life-style, and social life. Its overpowering charm attracts yearly
many celebrities who embellish its track from Brescia to Rome and back.Entertainment stars, tycoons,
politicians, caterers and sport men, plus of course famous drivers for a thrilling 1000km
The superstar is Joe Bastianich, an Italo-American caterer who became famous in Italy as a judge of the tv
program Masterchef. He was born in New York in 1968 to a family with Friulian origins, and he owns several
food and wine businesses in Europe and in America. He feels an unlimited love for catering and food
culture; he also cultivates other passions. He plays Blues, recorded “Blues Veritas“ made of new music he
personally wrote and composed. As for engines, he loves them so much that in 2016 he led the Top Gear
Italia with Guido Meda and Davide Valsecchi. Bastianich is back to the Mille Miglia as second pilot, two
years after his last participation in the driver´s seat of the same Healey Silverstone he rode in 2015.
This year´s womanly face comes from the TV environment, too. Diletta Leotta, the twenty-five-year-old
conductor of Serie B Studio, telecast on Saturday afternoon by Sky, will talk about the daily events of the
cadet race. Ms Leotta is the fiancée of Matteo Mammì, the manager in charge of Sky sport rights and
grandson of former Communications Minister Oscar Mammì; she is one of the most appreciated
conductors in the current television scenario. She will be the forerunner of the MilleMiglia on one of the
Mercedes-branded silver arrows participating in the Challenge. Oh, and speaking of Sky conductors,
Stephen Dixon, the British forty-three year-old anchor-man of the satellite TV station will also be
participating, driving a 1955 MG A.
One of the most famous world models, Jodie Kidd, is also back. She is thirty-eight; English; she posed for
Chanel, Fendi, Monsoon, Motorola, Chloè and Yves Saint Lauren and she appeared on ELLE cover in the
Australian, Italian, Portuguese, Singapore, Swedish and USA editions. This year she will not be escorted by
the British model David Gandy, her steady partner for two editions, but she will participate together with
Ian Robertson on a 1937 BMW 328 Berlin-Rom.
Marc Andrew Newson, born in Sydney in 1963, is one of the top international designers. According to
Times magazine, he is one of the one hundred most influential people in the world.
He mainly deals with
interior design and homely objects, but also with glasses and so many other objects: some of his artworks
are in the New York Museum of Modern Art, at the Pompidou Center in Paris and at the London V&A. He
participated in the Mille Miglia with a Ferrari 225 S for many years and this year he runs with a Bugatti Type
58.The contestants from sport races represent quite a large team. Toto Wolff, team principal of Mercedes
AMG F1 will be driving a 300 SL together with Aldo Costa, an Italian engineer father of that engine which
dominated the top world automobile championship until last sport season.
Also Adrian Sutil, the current
Williams third pilot after eight championships with Midland, Spyker, Force India and Sauber, will drive a
Mercedes-Benz.
Bernd Mayländer is a famous German car pilot born in 1971. Since the year 2000, he has been a safety cars
official pilot in Formula 1. He was second best at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1999, second best in GT class and
in the same year he also started a Safety Car piloting activity in Formula 3 that he maintained until 2002.
In the year 2000, he won the 24 Hours in Nürburgring on a Porsche 911 GT3-R and in the same year, he
was second best in the Porsche Supercup.
Also Arturo Merzario, a car hero who has overcome history to become a legend by all rights, will be ready
at the starter. He was born in 1943, in Civenna, near Como, and he has competed in all the existing
disciplines, driving vehicles ranging from the small tourism to Formula 1 cars. In 1972 and 1973, he also
had the honor to be the Ferrari second pilot, gaining seven points in eleven Grand Prix. Jean-Pierre Jarier
will be sitting at his side, boasting a career that includes as many as twelve F1 seasons with March, Shadow,
Ligier, Lotus, Tyrrel and Osella.
The Swiss pilot Marco Vanoli will be racing with his wife Cornelia. In his career, the former champion of
Grand Tourism class also conquered a fourth rank in the 1979 Le Mans 24 Hours.
John Watson, British former car pilot and winner of five Formula 1 Grand Prix will debut at the Mille Miglia
with a Porsche 356. From 1973 to 1985 Watson drove for Brabham, Penske and McLaren.
Katarina Kyvalova, the Slovenian co-founder of Bentley Belles, is a pilot ranging from vintage to modern
cars, from rallies to racetracks.
The pilots´ array is completed by the eternal Jochen Mass, former F1 pilot, who has regularly participated
in the Mille Miglia since the Nineties. Apart from the 1989 Le Man´s 24 Hours, one of his most beautiful
victories was the F1 Gran Prix of Spain of 1975, with McLaren.
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