Mille Miglia retrospective

Eighth win for couple after sad event cut short

Giuliano Cane and his wife Lucia Galliani won the 22nd Mille Miglia Retrospective in a BMW 328. The Italian couple won the event for the eighth time after three days and 34 regularity tests on Italian roads made famous by the classic event.

However, the event was tinged with tragedy when 77-year-old American Harlan Schwartz died after his Alfa Romeo 8C clipped the back of another car and veered off the road. Schwartz suffered a heart attack, while the co-driver, his 33-year-old daughter Alessandra, sustained a broken arm. After this the final four tests were cancelled and the crews headed back towards the finish at Brescia.

A total of 375 crews started the event and Cane took the lead on day two to beat Argentineans Claudio and Arturo Scalise (Aston Martin Le Mans) and Roberto and Andrea Vesco (Fiat 508). Last year’s winner Carlos Sielecki finished fourth in his Bugatti T23.

Down in 223rd place among the 268 finishers was Mika Hakkinen in a Mercedes 300SL, while touring car ace Gabriele Tarquini retired with clutch failure in the Appennines. Tarquini, on the event for the first time, was driving the Alfa Romeo 3000CM that Fangio raced to second place in the 1953 event