Mugello Circuit

For the region, see Mugello region.
Mugello Circuit
Location Mugello, Tuscany, Italy
Time zone GMT+1
Coordinates 43°59′51″N 11°22′19″E / 43.99750°N 11.37194°E / 43.99750; 11.37194Coordinates: 43°59′51″N 11°22′19″E / 43.99750°N 11.37194°E / 43.99750; 11.37194
Major events Italian motorcycle Grand Prix, A1GP, DTM, WSBK, Formula One Testing
Closed course (1974–present)
Length 5.245 km (3.259 mi)
Turns 14
Lap record 1:34.316 (Gary Hauser, Racing Experience, 2014, BOSS GP)
Road course (1919–1970)
Surface Asphalt/Concrete
Length 66.2 km (41.3 mi)
Turns 400+
Lap record 29:51.100 (Arturo Merzario, Abarth Corse, Abarth 2000 SP, 1970)

Mugello Circuit (Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello) is a race track in Mugello, Tuscany, Italy. Its length is 5.245 km (3.259 mi). It has 15 turns and a long straight (1141 metres).[1] The circuit stadium stands have a capacity of 50,000.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing host an annual event here (MotoGP and smaller classes). Also, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters hold an annual event. The track is property of Scuderia Ferrari which uses it for Formula One testing. The first race of the A1GP 2008/09 season was originally planned to be held at the Mugello circuit on 21 September 2008. However, the race had to be cancelled due to the delay in building the new chassis for the new race cars.[2]

History

Road races were held on public streets (road racing) around Mugello since the 1920s. Giuseppe Campari won there in 1920 and 1921, Emilio Materassi in 1925, 1926 & 1928.

The Mugello GP was revived in 1955 and from the 1964 to 1969 as a Targa Florio-like road race consisting of eight laps of 66.2 km each, including the Passo della Futa of Mille Miglia fame. The anticlockwise track passed the towns of San Piero a Sieve, Scarperia, Violla, Firenzuola, Selva, San Lucia. It counted towards the 1965, 1966 and 1967 World Sportscar Championship season. The last WC race was won[3] by Udo Schütz and Gerhard Mitter on a Porsche 910. After two Porsche wins, the local fans could celebrate again in 1968, when the Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 driven by Luciano Bianchi, Nanni Galli and Nino Vaccarella prevailed over the Porsche driven by Rico Steinemann and Jo Siffert, and in 1969, when Arturo Merzario won with an Abarth 2000, and he won again in 1970 with the same car, where Abarth prevailed 1-2-3 with Leo Kinnunen and Gijs Van Lennep finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively. The 1970 event brought about the end of the 66 kilometer Mugello public road circuit; a seven-month-old baby was killed when local racer Spartaco Dini crashed his Alfa Romeo GTA into a group of people at the village of Firenzuola during a private test there, when the roads were open to the public (the roads were only closed on race day and for qualifying; and left open for every other day including open practice for the event). Four other people, including 2 young children were seriously injured. Although there had only been one previous fatality at the original Mugello circuit (Günther Klass in 1967), this happening put a bad stain on the whole event, and the 1970 race turned out to be the last one held on the public road circuit, which was won once again by Merzario. After this incident, Dini spent 2 months in jail, and after his time served he moved out of Italy and did not return for years.

The present-day closed Mugello circuit was constructed in 1973 and opened in 1974, about five km east from the easternmost part of the original road circuit.

The circuit was used over 1–3 May, for the in-season test during the 2012 Formula One season, by all teams except HRT. The track was praised by Mark Webber, who stated that he "did 10 dry laps today around Mugello, which is the same as doing 1000 laps around Abu Dhabi track in terms of satisfaction".[4] Two-time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel was impressed too, saying that “unfortunately we don’t have this track on the calendar. It’s an incredible circuit with a lot of high-speed corners”.[5] On the other hand, Vitaly Petrov from Caterham F1 complained that "It is not safe and wide enough. If you lose it, the walls are so close and you will smash into the tyres. It is not for Formula 1 and, if you lost the steering or the tyre pressure dropped or whatever, then it will be a big crash."[6] Nevertheless, it holds a grade 1 FIA license, meaning it meets the standards to host a Formula 1 race.[7] An unofficial track record of 1:21.035 was set by Romain Grosjean during the test.[8]

Winners of the Mugello Grand Prix

The winners of the Mugello Grand Prix for automobiles (1919–1969: Circuito del Mugello, 1974–present: Gran Premio del Mugello) are:[9][10][11][12][13]

Winners on the closed circuit (3.259 mi/5.245 km)

Year Driver Constructor Class Report
2000 Brazil Ricardo Sperafico Lola Formula 3000 Report
1999 Not held
1998
1997 Brazil Ricardo Zonta Lola Formula 3000 Report
1996 Brazil Ricardo Zonta Lola Report
1995
-
1992
Not held
1991 Italy Alessandro Zanardi Reynard Formula 3000 Report
1990
-
1987
Not held
1986 Italy Pierluigi Martini Ralt Formula 3000 Report
1985 Not held
1984 New Zealand Mike Thackwell Ralt Formula Two Report
1983 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer Ralt Report
1982 Italy Corrado Fabi March Report
1981 Italy Corrado Fabi March Report
1980 United Kingdom Brian Henton Toleman Report
1979 United Kingdom Brian Henton March Report
1978 Republic of Ireland Derek Daly Chevron Report
1977 Italy Bruno Giacomelli March Report
1976 France Jean-Pierre Jabouille Elf Report
1975 Italy Maurizio Flammini March Report
1974 France Patrick Depailler March Report

Winners on the road circuit (41.3 mi/66.2 km)

Year Driver Constructor Class Report
1970 Italy Arturo Merzario Abarth Sports car Report
1969 Italy Arturo Merzario Abarth Report
1968 Belgium Lucien Bianchi
Italy Nino Vaccarella
Italy Nanni Galli
Alfa Romeo Report
1967 Germany Gerhard Mitter
Germany Udo Schütz
Porsche Report
1966 Germany Gerhard Koch
Germany Jochen Neerpasch
Porsche Report
1965 Italy Mario Casoni
Italy Antonio Nicodemi
Ferrari Report
1964 Italy Gianni Bulgari Porsche Report
1963
-
1956
Not held
1955 Italy Umberto Maglioli Ferrari Sports car Report
1954
-
1930
Not held
1929 Italy Gastone Brilli-Peri Talbot Grand Prix Report
1928 Italy Emilio Materassi Talbot Formula Libre Report
1927 Not held
1926 Italy Emilio Materassi Itala Formula Libre Report
1925 Italy Emilio Materassi Itala Report
1924 Italy Giuseppe Morandi OM Report
1923 Italy Gastone Brilli-Peri Steyr Report
1922 Italy Alfieri Maserati Isotta-Fraschini Report
1921 Italy Giuseppe Campari Alfa Romeo Report
1920 Italy Giuseppe Campari Alfa Romeo Report

Lap records

CategoryTimeDriverCar Date
Group C 1:39.07 Riccardo Patrese Lancia LC2 1985 1000 km of Mugello
DTM 1:43.079 Timo Scheider Audi A4 DTM 2008 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season
F2 1:43.92 Mike Thackwell Ralt-Honda RH6 1984 Mugello Grand Prix
MotoGP 1:46.489 Andrea Iannone Ducati 2015 Italian motorcycle Grand Prix
GT1 1:48.436 Andrea Bertolini Maserati MC12 2006 FIA GT Mugello 500km
Moto2 1:51.514 Sam Lowes Speed Up 2015 Italian motorcycle Grand Prix
Moto3 1:56.999 Álex Rins Honda 2014 Italian motorcycle Grand Prix

See also

References

  1. http://www.gpcircuits.com/map/mugello
  2. "A1GP  : News". A1gp.com. 21 August 2008. Retrieved 2 May 2009.
  3. "World Championship 1967". Wspr-racing.com. Retrieved 2 May 2009.
  4. "Mark Webber about Mugello circuit". Twitter. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  5. "Sebastian Vettel on Mugello". James Allen on F1. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  6. "Petrov complains about Mugello circuit". Autosport. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  7. "List of FIA licensed circuits" (PDF). 6 February 2015.
  8. "Mugello day three - Grosjean ends test on a high". formula1.com. Retrieved 12 October 2014.
  9. "Grand Prix winners 1919–1933, The golden era of Grand Prix racing". Kolumbus.fi. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  10. "Non Championship Races, The World of Sports Prototypes Racing". Wspr-racing.com. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  11. "World Sportscar Championship, The World of Sports Prototypes Racing". Wspr-racing.com. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  12. http://www.formula2.net/index.html
  13. "Gran Premio di Mugello, The Racing Line". Theracingline.net. Retrieved 11 December 2010.

External links

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