Make It Your Race 2012 – the final stage: The Race
The scene was set for the final stage of the 2012 Make It Your Race presented by Abarth… Franciacorta Racing Circuit in Lombardy, Italy, played host to the Abarth 500 Trofeo Italia with all the excitement and drama that comes with this highly competitive series, drivers including Nicola Baldan and Alex Campani and Eric Scalvini are familiar names to race fans but this event included a ‘rookie’ driver from each of the Nations involved in this year’s Make It Your Race – each had successfully completed the elimination stages to take the wheel of an Abarth 500 racing car in competition with the regular drivers. The TV Talent Show will be screened later in the year so we don’t want to give too much away – only to say the Rookies drove very well and put on a great show. You will see it all on TV but ‘Team UK’ did a great job, very competitive driving only to be hit with bad luck and a mechanical problem on the last lap… “that’s racing as they say!” Thanks to everyone who entered, congratulations to all those that got through to the selection stage and ‘boot camp’ – and well done to the ‘Finalists’ who had their dream come true and raced an Abarth… for someone who loves driving it doesn’t get much better than that!
We are ready for Make It Your Race 2013!
Nicola Baldan, driving an Abarth 695 Assetto Corse, at the Franciacorta racetrack in Lombardy, won both races of the Abarth Selenia Italy Trophy. The Venetian Baldan won in both races ahead of Alex Campani, who keeps his head in Absolute and Under-25 Abarth Selenia Italy Trophy’s rankings. On the third step of the podium was Luca Anselmi (in Race 1) and Eric Scalvini (in Race 2). The next round of the Trofeo Abarth Italy Selenia takes place at the A1 Ring in Austria on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 August.
Make It Your Race 2012 – Powered by Abarth: The on-track selection has closed…
The 105 participants in the second heat of the International Talent Show for aspiring drivers ‘Powered by Abarth’ challenged each other on the race track coached by International racing drivers Arturo Merzario, Yoshiki Ohmura, Vanina Ickx, Tiffany Chittenden, Christian Menzel and Audrey Roche, they tested the Abarth cars in racing conditions.
On 24 June the six finalists will be challenging professional drivers competing in the Trofeo Abarth behind the wheel of an Abarth 500 Assetto Corse. The 105 amateur drivers of “Make It Your Race 2012″ – from Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, the UK, Belgium and Luxembourg – have completed the second round of selections in the TV talent show for which over 20 thousand aspiring Abarth drivers signed up.
The participants in this second round – aged from 18 to 40 – took to the track on the Varano de’ Melegari circuit (near Parma) for an advanced Driving Academy course. Supervised by Gordon De Adamich, they practised at the wheel of the Abarth 500, the Abarth Grande Punto and the Abarth 500 Assetto Corse, demonstrating their driving skills. They also tackled skidpan, a handling course and track driving in the Abarth 500. Especially exciting was the test lap in an Abarth 500 Assetto Corse, the racing car used in the Abarth Trophy events. They spent a whole day driving extraordinary cars accompanied by highly skilled, trained instructors who gave them plenty of advice.
It was a taster for the 24 best, who returned at the beginning of June for the Driving Academy Racing course. The selected drivers who will have the opportunity to compete in a real Abarth Trophy race on the Franciacorta race track, near Brescia, on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 June were selected during this last heat. All 105 participants had a fabulous time in Varano and learnt important safe driving techniques which will be useful for tackling everyday traffic. And the 24 lucky competitors who will continue their racing adventure were in even better spirits. The names of the lucky finalists and their stories will be revealed in the six instalments of the TV show which will be aired starting in September on various networks in the participating countries.
