Caro 2022,
In many ways you have been the fastest year of my life, to date the most fruitful and most fulfilling I can remember. For me who grew up between minibikes, minicross and Sundays full of motors at home with my dad arriving in the Motor Valley it was like touching the sky. A place that allows you to fully experience your passion for motorsport and the automotive industry without leaving anything out. From the 4×4 Romagna Team meeting and their off-road vehicles up and down the Castrocaro woods until Ferrari World Finals things have passed in Imola. Emotions, encounters, days dedicated to engines, debuts and first times all experienced at 300 km/h without ever slowing down or retreating. The good fortune of being able to experience such a prestigious valley lies not only in the history you breathe in every time you visit a new place but also in the faces that become part of your life at every event, in the daily discoveries that a motor enthusiast experiences every moment and above all in that thirst for continuous knowledge that is satiated with the thousands of opportunities that exist in the motoring area par excellence.
The first time I set foot in one of the sacred temples of the Motor Valley, the Enzo and Dino Ferrari racetrack in Imola it was for my first race with the university motorsport team, UniBo Motorsport, when we were preparing to compete with Minerva GN, the electric motorcycle born from the minds of university students united by a common passion. Before that moment I was left with a place known only by name and by the stories my father told me when he had been there to see Formula 1 as a boy. Needless to explain the magic that is already in the air when you simply approach the grandstands or the headed entrance from a wonderful mural by Ayrton Senna which stands out over the Checco Costa museum. Or when you walk the dirt roads of the Parco delle Acque Minerali, which lead you to the two historical monuments of the Seine and Villeneuve. In the year that is about to end, I have had the good fortune and the privilege of returning several times, almost transforming Imola and the racetrack into a second home where I later also met a second family. Followed by GT World Challenge chasing Valentino Rossi to chase with friends and new categories to discover, Formula 1, my first live grand prix and a dream come true, ACI Sport, ELMS, DTM, CIV and Ferrari Finals races It has been a crescendo of opportunities and experiences that I will carry with me forever and that will be my solid foundation to start again next year even more energized and curious than before.
European Le Mans Series a Imola – Credits to Mirko Duranti
Living new realities brought me getting to know different people who have undoubtedly enriched me as a person and beyond. From the paddock to the pit lane, passing through the tower and the press room of the racetrack, my story has crossed paths with many others who have each left a different mark in their own way. I understood that behind the orange jerseys and under the marshals’ helmets as well as behind the shirts with the circuit logo there are people ready to welcome you and help you with open arms and give you a very warm welcome that makes you feel at home. The air you breathe there is also familiar inside the pits or with those wearing the colors of a stable, people’s faces and physiognomies change but the cordiality is always the same. Eventually you learn that the reality of competition is nothing more than a huge family on the move where everyone knows and respects each other. I’ve met guys my age, if not younger, who are ready to get involved out of pure passion for motorsport and who already know how to work like true professionals in the sector. Insiders ready to guide you to ensure that your time spent over the three days of the weekend is as safe and pleasant as possible. I had the honor and pleasure of interviewing World Champions and guys who are gaining experience to get to the top of motorsport competitions, others who have immense talent that will also emerge in the coming years. I met colleagues who today are friends and with whom I have built ties even off the track. Engine institutions who then knowing them you understand that they are easy-going people ready to give you advice, a word, a gesture to be kept like a treasure.
In the end, summing up, I can be proud to say that the results obtained are more than positive and satisfying for the first time. I found my way through the curves and hills of a historic circuit and I want to promise myself that this is just the beginning of something bigger and bigger that will have to come and be built with my strength and my determination. Now that I can live a daydream I won’t stop fighting, now that I’m in it I don’t want to get out. Dear 2022, thank you for introducing me to the Motor Valley, land of hopes, promise, knowledge e passion.
Two children push a Formula 4 car during the first ACI Sport weekend held in Imola – Credits to Marco Montrone
