Tutte Le Ferrari al Mugello
1.11.00

The now traditional final celebration of Ferraris' sporting year took place at the Mugello circuit on the 27th, 28th and 29th October 2000.

The double World Championship won by Michael Schumacher and the Scuderia added considerable extra emotion and importance to the event and the turnout of competitors and spectators was overwhelming. Over 60,000 people attended the grande finale on the Sunday, when Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and Luca Badoer demonstrated the F1-2000 cars.

The event was tragically overshadowed by the death of Ulrich Plattenhardt, one of the competitors in the 360 Challenge series for Central Europe. His car hit another following an incident and the German driver died shortly afterwards.

The F1 Demonstration was undoubtedly everyone's favourite. Ferraris' three drivers formed up on the grid and did a standing start with several laps passing and re-passing each other before pulling in for full action pit stops. Schumacher and Barrichello proceeded to put on a spinning display on the main straight and then got out of their cars to talk to the crowd via the circuit commentary system.

The Historic F1 Demonstration was another highlight, with 20 Ferrari single-seaters taking part ranging from the 312T in which Niki Lauda won the World Championship to the F300s used by Schumacher and Eddie Irvine in 1998.

The final races of the Shell Historic Ferrari Maserati Challenge took place. In the class for disc braked sports cars Jacky Ickx (312 PB) won both events, with David Franklin (712 Can Am) and Patrick Stieger (512 M) finishing second and third in each case. The two races for drum braked sports cars were won by Burkhardt von Schenk (Maserati 300S), ahead of Carlos Monteverde (250 TR) with Jeremy Agace (Maserati 200S) taking one third place and Robertino Wild (Maserati A6 GCS) taking the other.

The races for single-seaters were all won by Maseratis, with the class winners being William Binnie (6 CM), Peter Heuseberger (250F) and Stefano Scollwoeck (6 CM).

The weekend naturally featured the various finals of the 360/355 Challenges culminating in the 360 World Final. This was won by Stefano Livio, who had dominated proceedings throughout the weekend with pole position and the fastest lap time of all 360s. In second place came Andrea Belluzzi ahead of Emanuele Moncini. A number of German and Swiss drivers, however, pulled out of the World Final due to the fatal accident which had occurred earlier in the weekend.

The 360 Honour Final for drivers who did not qualify for the World Final was won by Jim McCormick ahead of Steve Rebeil and Andrew Cholley.

Amongst the various regional finals of the Challenge Series Stefano Livio completely dominated his race and therefore became the Southern Europe Champion. The USA/Pacific series was won by the American Steve Earl with a pair of third places, although Lucio Nicolodi won the two final races. The Central Europe series was won by Daniel Kuenzli despite his retirement following the Plattenhardt incident in the first race. Although he was injured his conditions is not serious. The two races were won by Paulo Ligresti and Carsten Stuewe respectively.

The West Europe races were won by Ange Barde in each case ahead of Javier Diaz and Francois Jakubowski. Barde also became the regional champion.

355 Challenges also had their own races. The two 355 Italy races were won by Adriano Baso and Massimiliano Mugelli respectively, although Roberto Regazzi, who finished way down the order, became the series champion. There was also a 355 Final which was won by Claudio Turrini with Regazzi second.

It had been a special and emotional weekend for the many tifosi who attended but also for those who followed the events around the world via the internet. For the hardworking drivers and crew members of the Formula 1 team it was a celebration of a long and triumphant year and many a weary mechanic must have been glad of a month's relaxation before testing resumes for the 2001 season.

(Picture gallery will be posted shortly.)

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