Italian Racing Car of the Year 2006

It was another year of victories on the race and rally tracks for Italian cars, and voters chose the Ferrari 248 F1 (2,965), which helped the Scuderia bounce back to winning ways after the disappointments of 2005, as the outright winner of the Racing Car of the Year award, ahead of the Fiat Grand Punto Rally (2,054) which clinched three titles during its maiden rally season, and the Alfa 156 SuperTouring (1,967) which proved that it must be now regarded as one of Alfa Romeo’s greatest touring cars of all times, with more wins and a title charge this year in the FIA World Touring Car Championship.

Alfa Romeo 156 SuperTouring 2000

The Alfa 156 is one of Alfa Romeo's most successful touring car racers of all time. With FIA European Touring Car Championship titles already under its belt, and the road version long-since replaced by the new Alfa 159, little hope could be placed on the success of the 156 for the 2006 season. However, with 3 wins (at Monza, Puebla and Valencia), Farfus arrived at the final round in Macau leading the championship. Unfortunately, heavily laden with "success ballast" and an error from the young Brazilian, saw hopes fade, although Farfus was able to finish third in the series.

Fiat Panda Abarth Rally

The Fiat Panda Cup gives young drivers an effective first step on the rally ladder. The series, which is financially supported by Fiat, sees identical-specification Pandas, prepared by Supergara, running on a mix of events throughout Italy, and fighting for the €150,000 first prize. This year's 10-round calendar included 3 events which were part of the national rally championship. The Panda Abarth Rally features a 1.2 petrol engine with 130 bhp, coupled up to a 6-speed transmission. This year was the second edition of the Cup, with more than a dozen crews at each event.

Fiat Panda Rally Evoluzione

Specially developed by Supergara, the new 157 bhp Panda Rally "Evoluzione" made its official debut on the 48th Rallye Sanremo; the little car helped by its distinct weight advantage. The project which took 8 months to complete was directed by Valter Ballestrero, with legendary Fiat engineer Sergio Limone acting as a consultant. After a string of very impressive times on the Sanremo Rally, and achieving an excellent overall result, the little car made several more outings at Italian events during the autumn as Supergara continued with its development programme.

Fiat Palio Abarth 16v A6/N2

The Palio Abarth 16v has added a further 2 titles to its haul of trophies, after winning the A6 and N2 classes of the 2006 Brazilian Rally Championship. The Palio Abarth has now won the Class A6 Championship for an unprecendented 9 consecutive years (1997-2006). Class A6 is for modified 1.6-litre rally cars. The Class A6 Palio puts out 160 bhp. The Palio Abarth also won the N2 class for the third time, adding to the overall titles it claimed in 2002 and last year. Class N2 is for rally cars with only minor modifications allowed. The Palio Abarth N2 has 116 bhp.

Fiat Punto Abarth S1600

The Punto Abarth S1600 is coming to the end of its impressive career and in 2006 it was overshadowed by the arrival of the exciting new S2000 Grande Punto Rally. However the little S1600 car, which already has a fantastic CV, continued to compete successfully in rally championships around the world. Its best performance of the year was a 1-2 class finish on the Fiat Rally in Turkey, an event which counts towards the FIA European Rally Championship. The Punto S1600 was again the mainstay of the Trofeo Fiat Abarth junior rally series.

Fiat Grande Punto Abarth S2000

The new Grande Punto Abarth S2000 was designed around the FIA’s new low-cost Super 2000 regulations and has achieved immediate international success. Paolo Andreucci stormed to victory in its debut event, the Rally del Ciocco, and claimed the Italian Rally Championship. Giandomenico Basso scored 4 victories in a successful campaign which yielded Fiat’s first European Rally Championship since 1981, in addition to claiming the inaugural International Rally Challenge. Ongoing development culminated in the car’s first gravel victory on the Rally Costa Smeralda.

Ferrari 248 F1

The Ferrari 248 F1 took the battle for the 2006 F1 World Championship titles right down to the wire. Designed to the FIA’s new regulations for reduced downforce and a new generation of 2.4-litre V8 engines, the 248 F1 was more than a match for its rivals. After a difficult first half of the season, Michael Schumacher took the second half by storm to emerge as Fernando Alonso’s only true rival for the driver’s title. The 248 F1 also featured several innovative aerodynamic features including ‘flexible’ wings and ‘nave’ plates covering the wheels.

Ferrari F430 Challenge

The Ferrari F430 Challenge replaced the 360 Challenge as the mainstay of the Ferrari Trofeo series’ in Europe, Italy and the USA, although the 360 Challenge was still eligible to take part. The Ferrari Trofeo is the world’s most exclusive single-make racing series created as the perfect outlet for Ferrari owners who want to race. The 2006 season climaxed at the World Finals in Italy where all three regional series went-head-to head. The series is organised by Corse Clienti, the division within Ferrari S.p.A. dedicated to racing activities for Ferrari customers.

Ferrari F430GT

Ferrari’s new GT2 class contender swept the opposition aside during its first year of international racing. In the FIA GT Championship it crushed the previously all-dominant Porsches, leaving the German runners to fight over the scraps. The F430GT swept to the FIA GT Manufacturers’ title while AF Corse claimed the Teams’ trophy, and Jaime Melo the Drivers’ category. In ALMS Risi Competizione smashed Porsche’s 2 year championship dominance with a string of wins, poles and fastest laps, wrapping up the Teams’ title, the first crown Ferrari has ever won in ALMS.

Iveco Trakker AT190T44W 4X4

Iveco upped their game for the 2006 Dakar Rally, entering 3 powerful Iveco Trakker AT190T44W 4x4 trucks in what is one of the toughest motoring tests. With massive 6-cylinder, 13-litre engines coupled to 16-speed ZF manual gearboxes, the Iveco Trakkers were piloted by an all-star team which included former WRC pilots, "Miki" Biasion and Makku Alen. Completed just prior to the event, the Trakkers were very quick off the mark, but teething problems surfaced. After initially fighting at the top of the leaderboard all 3 Iveco Trakker entries dropped out.

Lamborghini Gallardo GT3

Reiter Engineering developed the 5.0-litre V10-engined Gallardo for the new European GT3 Championship. The German outfit ran a trio of Gallardo GT3 racers throughout the inaugural series. With less development time than many of its rivals Reiter were always playing ‘catch-up’ all year. However a consistent string of lower top-10 results culminated in an excellent podium finish for Luciano Linossi and Lorenzo Bontempelli in the final round at Mugello. Now a fully-sorted proposition, the mean-looking Gallardo GT3 can be expected be bidding for race wins in 2007.

Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT

The Reiter Engineering developed Murciélago R-GT has often struggled to deliver on its promise during its 2.5 year long racing career, but it finally won a race when Marco Apicella and Yasutaka Hinoi raced the Team JLOC entry to GT300 class victory in the Japanese Super GT series season opener at Suzuka in March. This car then went on to claim a first-ever pole position for the R-GT during round 5 of the series. In the FIA GT Championship the All-Ink team’s Murciélago R-GT claimed several top-10 finishes before posting fastest time at the Adria Raceway.

Maserati GranSport Trofeo

In 2006 the Maserati GranSport Trofeo entered its second year as the mainstay of the Maserati Trofeo, which was this year sponsored by Audemars Piguet. A very professionally organised series it provides ‘Gentleman’ racing drivers and a smattering of high-profile ‘guest’ drivers with affordable thrills and spills, and the series went from strength-to-strength. Prestige was guaranteed as the Trofeo series supported the FIA GT Championship once again, visiting legendary race circuits including Silverstone, Monza, Spa-Franchorchamps and Brno.

Maserati GranSport GT3

Maserati developed their GranSport Trofeo for the inaugural European GT3 Championship. With more power and bigger wings and spoilers it looked every inch a racing machine. AF Corse ran two or three cars at each round all year, but the car was starting at a lower development point than rivals such as the Porsche GT3 and Chrysler Viper and it showed, although it finishing in the top-ten on several occasions. The factory also ran a GranSport GT3 during the famous Nürburgring 24 Hours although it crashed out early in the race.

Maserati MC12

This year saw the German outfit Vitaphone Racing clinching both the FIA GT Teams' and Drivers' cups, the latter going to Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini who demonstrated the incredible reliability of the MC12 by scoring points in every race. The team's second MC12 scored points in 9 of the 10 rounds. The MC12 also won the prestigious 24 Hours of Spa for the second year running. Away from the FIA GT Championship, the MC12 dominated proceedings in the Italian GT series as well as winning important individual races including the 6 Hours of Vallelunga.