Towards the centenary edition of Sanremo: welcome!

SANREMO (IM), 24 settembre – “What is about to take place is the forty-sixth edition of a race that has made history in this sport. And not only in Italy: since the year 1928, when a group of enthusiasts – with the financing of the Casino, the patronage of the Podestà of Sanremo and the collaboration of the Gazzetta dello Sport – organised the 1st International Motor Rally of Sanremo, almost everything has changed. Not the spirit of those who, year after year, have taken turns at the control of the event and the many who have given their passionate contribution to bring it to life. To make it grand and unique”.

This is what I wrote on the eve of the “Sanremo” twenty-one years ago, my first as patron of an event that had marked my youth, first as an avid spectator, then as a co-protagonist in the competition, and finally as an increasingly involved collaborator in the organisational structure. Together with a small group of dreamers who, like me, refused to accept that the history of our rally would end with the conclusion of the long, exciting, unrepeatable world championship epic, we decided to try to write a few more chapters.

Without setting any time limits, but without ever imagining that one day I would find myself seriously thinking about how to celebrate the first hundred years of what is undoubtedly the first event of a speciality that has always been and will always be in constant evolution. But that is what happened. Day after day, month after month, season after season, year after year, time flew by: a few more flaps of wings, a few more sighs, and we will find ourselves celebrating the victory of a Fiat 520 driven by Ernest Urdareanu, a major in the Romanian army, in the 1st Rallyes d’Automobiles proposed and organised by the Festivals Committee of the Autonomous Authority for the Climate Station.

What is now in full swing will be the first of the approaching events leading up to an edition that – noblesse oblige – we all hope will be truly memorable. The formula is the one already well tested in the recent past: four races, with obviously different rules and lengths, but with equal dignity, proposed in a single weekend.

A well-planned mix of the Rallye Sanremo, the Historic Sanremo, the Sanremo Leggenda and the Coppa dei Fiori will get the western Ligurian hinterland vibrating, while offering drivers, co-drivers and professionals a total immersion in the fascinating atmosphere of the City of the Festival. From Piazzale Carlo Dapporto to Pian di Nave, from Via Italo Calvino to Porto Sole, from Piazza Colombo to the Vittorio Emanuele II seafront, most of the places that have hosted important venues for world rallying over the years will be involved in various ways.
Enjoy everyone

Sergio Maiga
Presidente dell’Automobile Club del Ponente Ligure