The FIA European Touring Car Championship
is ready to land in Sicily, after an 18-year break. The Pergusa
track used to be a regular venue between the Seventies and
the Eighties, having hosted seven rounds of the series. ETCC's
first appearance in Sicily dates back to 1977, when Italian
drivers Carlo Facetti and Martino Finotto won the 500 km race
at the wheel of their BMW 3.2 Csl. The European Championship
continued visiting Pergusa from 1979 until 1984. BMW scored
three more wins with Italian driver Umberto Grano, but Jaguar
won in 1983 and 1984. In the following years (from 1988 to
1999) Touring Car competitions in Pergusa were only counting
for the Italian Championship, but still offered to Sicilian
fans memorable fights between Alfa Romeo and BMW works teams.
The total count was Alfa 16, BMW 10, other Manufacturers nil.
Aces like Roberto Ravaglia, Nicola Larini, Giorgio Francia,
Antonio Tamburini, Emanuele Naspetti, Johnny Cecotto, Gianni
Morbidelli and Fabrizio Giovanardi wrote their names in the
race's roll of honour. Pergusa welcomed back international
Touring Car racing in 2000, hosting the second meeting of
the newborn European Super Touring Cup that turned into the
FIA European Touring Car Championship the year after. Giovanardi
won twice in the weekend, from Peter Kox's Honda Accord in
Race 1 and from Emanuele Naspetti's BMW 320i in Race 2. In
the picture: Giovanardi's Alfa Romeo, Naspetti's BMW and Kox's
Honda fight to take the lead at the start of the second Euro
STC race in 2000.
