Data trace: Pescara

April 5th 2018

It hosted only one world championship F1 GP, but that was enough to earn it a place in the record books

The Gran Premio di Pescara was elevated to world championship status in 1957, when the Belgian and Dutch GPs were cancelled at the 11th hour. Although this was the only time the demanding 16-mile road course – the longest ever to appear on the F1 calendar – held a championship round, its origins date back to Enzo Ferrari’s victory for Alfa Romeo in 1924. That was a Formule Libre affair, but Grand Prix rules were adopted for Pescara’s main event in 1928 (when Giuseppe Campari won).

The race was named after Captain Tito Acerbo while the fascists ruled Italy. It attracted a full GP field during the 1930s, with Auto Union winning three times before the local organisers grew tired of being beaten by German teams. Clemente Biondetti led an Alfa Romeo 1-2-3-4 when the Coppa Acerbo was run to voiturette rules in 1939.

A sports car event in the years immediately after WW2, the GP di Pescara was a non-championship race for the new F1 in 1950-51 – Juan Manuel Fangio and José Froilán González winning for Alfa Romeo and Ferrari. Stirling Moss dominated in 1957, but the race was not held for the next two years. It was revived in 1960 for Formula Junior and Pescara hosted the final round of the 1961 World Sports Car Championship – Lorenzo Bandini and Giorgio Scarlatti winning for Ferrari – before it slipped from the calendar. Triangular in shape, the twisty outward leg was followed by two four-mile straights where speeds of more than 190mph were reached.

3 race winners

Giuseppe Campari 1927, 1928, 1931

2 Giovanni Bracco 1948, 1952

Luigi Fagioli 1933, 1934

Bernd Rosemeyer 1936, 1937

Achille Varzi 1930, 1935

Includes Coppa Acerbo, GP di Pescara,12 ore di Pescara and 4 ore di Pescara

Manufacturer Winners

4 Alfa Romeo

4 Ferrari

3 Auto Union & Maserati

2 Mercedes-Benz