Italian Automotive Sportsperson of the Year 2007

There could only be one recipient of Italiaspeed Sportsperson of the Year 2007. In dramatic circumstances and against all the odds Kimi Raikkonen (4,767) clinched the F1 title at the very last Grand Prix of the year, the Finn immediately writing himself into the Ferrari history books and into the hearts of the Tifosi. Young Australian Casey Stoner (2,463) also made history: he gave Ducati the MotoGP title; while third went to Raikkonen’s Scuderia Ferrari team mate, Brazilian Felipe Massa (1,470).

Kimi Raikkonen
Switching from McLaren to the Ferrari team for this year as he sought that elusive first F1 World Championship title, everything came right for the Finn in the very last race of the year in Brazil, where he sensationally snatched the title from long time points leader Lewis Hamilton by just one point. The season started well, he put the F2007 on pole for his first ever race with Ferrari, in Australia, going on to win the race. However, after two podium finishes in the next two races it went downhill until the series arrived in France. A win there followed by another in the UK put him back in the title chase. Seven podium finishes (including three more wins in Belgium, Vhina and Brazil) in the last seven races saw him wrest the title by the slenderest of margins.

Casey Stoner
Casey Stoner started racing on two wheels at the age of 4 years old in an under 9s category, and by the time he was 14 he had won more than 70 Australian national titles. He upped sticks moved to England with his family to pursue a professional bike career and via 125cc and 250cc he arrived with a bang in MotoGP last year where he quickly made his mark. For 2007 the Ducati factory team signed the young hotshot and it turned out to be a sensational partnership, the 22 year old stormed the championship. During the opening round of the season in Qatar Stoner emerged victorious after a race long wheel-to-wheel battle with MotoGP's undisputed star, Valentino Rossi. Stoner simply never looked back, winning another nine races (more than half the rounds) in imperious form to claim the title, a massive 125 points ahead of second placed Dani Pedrosa. In the process he helped Ducati to the constructors' title.

Felipe Massa
After his debut year for Scuderia Ferrari last year supporting Michael Schumacher, this year he started the season with joint number one status. The Brazilian proved himself to be something of a qualifying specialist, claiming six poles positions. He took three wins (in Bahrain, Spain and Turkey) and made the F1 podium a further seven times on his way to fourth place in the world championship with a score of 94 points.

Andrea Navarra
After a season driving for Abarth in the Italian Rally Championship in 2006, gravel specialist Andrea Navarra was promoted to lead the Abarth defence of their Intercontinental Rally Championship (IRC) title this year. His season started perfectly with maximu points on the opening round in Kenya, followed by podiums in Turkey and Belgium. However after a fourth place on the Rally Russia it all went wrong, reaching a low in Maderia where his Grande Punto Abarth refused to fire up at the start. Navarra eventually finished 3rd in the IRC.

Anton Alén
2007 marked a coming of age for Anton Alén, the son of legendary Fiat/Lancia rally exponent, Markku.  Employed by Abarth to drive the second Grande Punto S2000 on gravel IRC events, he soon proved his worth, claiming his first international rally win on the Rally Russia.  Despite lacking experience on asphalt, his performances on this specialist surface were likewise highly impressive – fighting his way into the top 5 on the Barum Rally Zlín before a mistake on loose gravel.  Having renewed his contract with Abarth for a further three years, the signs are promising that he can add another generation of success to the already entrenched partnership between the Alén name and the Fiat group.

Dirk Muller / Toni Vilander
Returning to sportscars after many successful years in the FIA European and World Touring Car Championship with BMW factory teams, Dirk Müller claimed GT2 pole on his first FIA GT race in Zhuhai and proceeded control proceedings in the category all season, claiming six wins with Toni Vilander alongside in the AF Corse-run Motorola Ferrari F430 GT. Vilander meanwhile first raced for AF Corse in Dubai 2006, helping Jaime Melo to secure the GT2 title. Racing full time alongside Müller this year he became the first Finn to ever win an FIA GT title.

Fabio Dall’Agnol
Brazil has a new motorsport star in the making, and just like the country's most successful raly driver, Luìs Tedesco, he drives for the Fiat Abarth Rally Team. 20-year-old Fabio Dall’Agnol has just become the youngest ever champion of Brazilian Rally Championship, after racing to the title in the hotly-contested N2 category. This year was just his second season in the series and his first in the official Fiat team. Dall’Agnol stormed to N2 victory in five of the seven rounds at the wheel of his Palio Abarth Rally, fending off the tough challenge posed by the Chevrolet Rally Team, and wrapping up the title with just one round remaining. He is considered to be one of the most talented and promising pilots in Brazil today.

Giandomenico Basso
After an impressive 2006 when he it all came right for the perennially unlucky Giandomenico Basso as he tasted double success in the FIA European Rally Championship and Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC), for the Italian was handed the job by Abarth of defending the Italian Rally Championship title it had won in 2006 with the now-departed Paolo Andreucci. Up against tough competition in the CIR, which included Andreucci now with Mitsubishi Italia and the Super2000 Peugeot of Luca Rossetti, Basso bounced back from a zero points score on the opening round to wrap up the title with an event to spare. Along the way he was drafted into the Abarth factory line-up to boost its manufacturers' title bid on the IRC-counting Maderia Rally, an event he first won last year. It was the same story as he dominated the island rally, pitched against a world-class field, from start-to-finish.

Jaime Melo / Mika Salo
Jaime Melo and Mika Salo raced to the American Le Mans Series title in the GT2 category at the wheel of a Risi Competizione run Ferrari F430 GT. In an impressive season they blew the Porsche challenge aside, winning 8 of the 12 races, and finishing with a 32 point margin to their closest rivals. In doing so the took the first ever ALMS drivers’ title at the wheel of a Ferrari while helping the Maranello carmaker to its first ALMS manufacturers’ title, and a clean sweep in GT2 was ensured when Risi Competizione claimed the teams’ title. The pair also drove the F430 GT at Le Mans were they led the class before retiring, while the Finnish former F1 star also won the FIA GT Championship’s Silverstone round while guest driving for Vitaphone.

James Thompson
James Thompson returned to N.Technology Alfa Romeo this year for a second stint with the Italian team (he drove for them in 2005) in the FIA World Touring Car Championship. With the Alfa 156 in its twighlight year little was expected from the team’s small budget challenge in the face of the might of the factory BMW and SEAT teams. However Thompson, a former double British Touring Car Champion, had a sensational season, and with very little testing all year he was in the title fight right down to the last race of the year in Macau. With an amazing early season double victory (in Valencia) he climbed the podium on a further six occasions, to finish the season third in the drivers’ standings, just two points off second place.

Luciano Viaro
Automobilismo Storico Alfa Romeo pilot Luciano Viaro has cemented his reputation as the best historical re-run specialist by winning the most important dates on the calendar. This year he won the legendary Mille Miglia, for the second time, again at the wheel of the museum’s 1928 Alfa Romeo 6C 1500 SS. Viaro, who won the Mille Miglia in 2005, finished second last year. He then made it a double last month by winning the 1000 Millas Sport in Argentina where was already a twice winner (1999 and 2001). Other important wins include the 'Festa Mille Miglia' in Japan (2004 and 2006), the 'Mille Miglia Italia' (2005 and 2007), and the 'Gran Premio Nuvolari' (2004 and 2005), making him the only pilot who has won the various editions of the historical thousand mile races that are run on three continents, and always on board an Alfa Romeo.

Luìs Tedesco
Luìs Tedesco is one of the most successful national rally drivers at the wheel of a Fiat. Last year, he added a fourteenth Brazilian National Rally Championship title to his haul, and his ninth consecutively. Tedesco and the factory supported Tedracing Fiat Palio Abarth have been unbeatable in recent years, and he won the title in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 before last year's success. The Brazilian is also a 4-times South American Rally Champion. With just one round remaining in the 2007 Brazilian Rally Championship remaining Tedesco is right in the hunt for an amazing 15th title, and 10th consecutively.

Neville Crichton
For the four seasons, a super maxi carrying the name ‘Alfa Romeo’ has proven itself to be the super maxi yacht to beat in the world’s toughest yacht races and lifting the Alfa Romeo brand name to new heights across Europe. At the helm has been Kiwi yachtsman Neville Crichton, a yachtsman of rare ability as is both owner and skipper of ‘Alfa Romeo’, which has set a new benchmark for technology, as well as speed. Crichton and ‘Alfa Romeo’ have taken Line Honours in 16 races this season, won two of the season’s largest regattas and beaten nearly 2000 other yachts to set a new race record in the Barcolana Race, Italy’s premier event. In his spare time, he also owns and runs the Australian and New Zealand importer for Alfa Romeo, Fiat Cars and Commercial Vehicles, Ferrari and Maserati, being instrumental in returning Alfa Romeo and Fiat to the Australian car market.

Thomas Biagi
The winner of the FIA GT Championship in 2003 at the wheel of a Ferrari 550 Maranello, 31 year old Italian sportscar driver Thomas Biagi this year drove a Maserati MC12 for the Vitaphone Racing for a third consecutive season, with Michael Bartels alongside. It was to herald a second crown, and on his way to the GT1 title, which went down to the wire at Zolder last month, he won two races (Silverstone and Oschersleben), claimed two pole positions and helped Vitaphone to the teams’ title and Maserati to the manufacturers’ cup, finishing up with a 4 point advantage at the top of the table.

Valentino Rossi
Despite underpowered machinery and at-times uncompetitive tyres, Valentino Rossi’s genius atop a motorbike was once again on display in 2007.  At the helm of the Fiat Yamaha Team M1, ‘The Doctor’ claimed four wins, in Spain, Italy, Portugal and an amazing come-from-behind win at the Dutch TT at Assen, although a retirement in the final race of the season in Valencia dropped him to third in the championship standings.  Following the conclusion of the MotoGP season, the legendary Italian demonstrated his versatility, taking his second consecutive victory in the Monza Rally at the wheel of a Ford Focus RS WRC. 

Sportsperson of the Year 2006
In the Sportsperson of the Year category 2006 there could also be only one winner as Michael Schumacher (5,276) bowed out after an unrivalled Formula 1 career, having set countless records that are unlikely to be broken for many years. A glorious era of the German and Ferrari came to an end with his retirement, and he was far ahead of the second placed sportsperson in the voting, Italian hero Valentino Rossi (1,884), while third place went to Augusto Farfus who simply performed miracles with the Alfa 156 in the FIA World Touring Car Championship.