First Year for Historic Rally Cars at Italy’s Monza Rally Show

Rosario Liberti for Petrolicious

The Monza Rally Show which takes place at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, north of Milan, Italy, (the same circuit which hosts the annual Formula One Italian Grand Prix) is an event not to be missed by any rally fans. The first rally took place in 1978 under the name “Rally of Monza”, and it began when organizers of the circuit decided to open their doors to rally cars.

This year the event was unique, because historic rally cars were invited to participate for the first time. Some models that made rally history from 1972 to 1985 were Fiat 131 Abarths, Porsches, Audis, Ferrari 308s, and these were many of the cars that participated in this year’s Monza Rally Show, to accurately represent rally history of the time period.

Although the event is viewed as a sort of hybrid race, in reality, it’s more similar to a real rally. Stages used to be run on solely on dirt roads carved into the inland areas of the circuit, but now drivers compete on the asphalt paths. There have been many champions of world rallying who have participated in this event, as well as Formula One and MotoGP drivers, such as Alessandro Zanardi, Colin McRae, Dani Sordo, Dindo Capello, Giancarlo Fisichella, Ivan Capelli, Jean Alesi, Loris Capirossi, Marku Alen, Markus Gronholm, Michele Alboreto, Miki Biasion, Valentino Rossi, Sebastien Loeb, and many others.

A little over a week ago, Rosario Liberti, one of our photographers, photographed the event in Italy.