The Coppa delle Alpi 2023 began with a prologue in Brescia, now more than ever the City of the 1000 Miglia, in the year of the Capital of Culture: 50 of the 72 crews entered in the race in the “Bergamo Brescia Italian Capital of Culture 2023” Trophy, a city circuit won by a 1927 Bugatti T37.
The official start of the race was in Tirano: a route of 4 legs: more than 1,000 kilometers across the borders of Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Austria with 11 Time Controls, 7 Passage Controls, 90 Time Trials and 60 Secret Average Trials.
In the first leg the crews faced the first Average Trials along the hairpin bends that led them to the Bernina Pass, where at the end of an almost 34-km-long climb they were able to admire the glaciers of Pizzo Palù, Bellavista and Bernina, not forgetting the famous white lake. Driving through the Engadin, the cars reached the outskirts of Saint Moritz and, along the road that runs alongside the Horse Shoe (the section of the Olympia Bobrun, the oldest bobsleigh track in the world and the only one with natural refrigeration), they competed in the first block of Time Trials that will decide the winner of the “City of Saint Moritz” Trophy.
The second race day kicked off from the centre of Saint Moritz and then skirted the famous frozen lake under a clear sky and a bright sunshine; followed by the Vredestein Trophy, a series of Time Trials on snow held at the Montebello Quarry: the venue was particularly popular with the participants, all the more so in a winter with little snowfall.
After the Average Trials on the Fuorn Pass, the race returned to Italian territory from the Vinschgau Valley, first passing through the quaint town of Glorenza and then heading to the eastern shore of Lake Resia for the Passage Control with a view of the submerged bell tower.
After the Average Trials in Falpaus and a lunch stop in Tarrenz, the cars crossed the Fernpass, the last pass before entering Germany, the fourth nation crossed by the event: Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Mittenwald hosted this edition’s German Passage Controls.
The Average Trials held among the dense trees of the Leutasch Valley inaugurated the return to Austrian soil before reaching Innsbruck, the capital of North Tyrol and the second city leg, with the cars entering the city from the Innbrüke, the bridge over the Inn River that gives the city its name.
The Time Controls at the end of the race was held in front of the imposing Imperial Palace, in the square in front of the City theatre.
According to the participants, the clear skies made the alpine views, especially Resia Lake, even more beautiful. The race could not have been more special for newlyweds Karsten and Patrica Wohlenberg, crew n. 48, who chose the Coppa delle Alpi for their honeymoon eaboard their 1968 Porsche T11.
