Mille Miglia press conference in Essen

“A Mille Miglia inspired by originality in the sense of loyalty to historical origins, both of the cars admitted to the race and the choice of the actual course

“A Mille Miglia inspired by originality in the sense of loyalty to historical origins, both of the cars admitted to the race and the choice of the actual course,” said 1000 Miglia srl joint managing director Marco Makaus at the presentation of the 2014 Mille Miglia at the Techno Classica fair in Essen today, “choices that reflect pride in motor racing and its history,” he added, “values that have always been in the Mille Miglia DNA”.

This year’s course takes in cities the race hasn’t seen for time, including L’Aquila, with a tribute to the city hit by an earthquake in 2009, and then Volterra, Siena and Pisa.

The big novelty in 2014 is the introduction of a 4^th leg designed to give the participants a more leisurely schedule, with a stop over in Bologna before the home stretch to Brescia, and more time to enjoy the beauty of the places along the route.

The arrival in Brescia on Sunday, as opposed to Saturday, will be another cause for celebration for the Mille Miglia and the city itself, being in line with the policy of strengthening and publicizing the bonds between the race and its city, and between Brescia and Italy.

The Mille Miglia is an all-Italian event in fact, one of the most exciting and successful in the world, and recently judged as Best Event of the Year by the Motor Klassik Awards.

All this is also reflected in the number of registration applications received so far from all over the world (916 applications out of which 430 cars were accepted – all of them cars of great historical and sporting prestige) and in the standing of the race’s partners, which were presented today by 1000 Miglia srl head of marketing Roberto Pagliuca.

“It is with great pleasure that I present the 2014 Mille Miglia’s sustaining partners,” said Pagliuca, “which includes some very familiar names like Mercedes-Benz, Chopard and Ubi Banco di Brescia, as well as Alfa Romeo as a Gold Sponsor. Another new entry in 2014 is Roland Iten as a main sponsor alongside GMH, The Classic Car Trust and Alkatec. In the Mille Miglia Passion category, on the other hand, we have Kienle, Rubinetterie Bresciane and Alitalia. And supporting this year’s race as Mille Miglia Friends, lastly, are J.D. Classics, OMR and Aurelius”.

“The portfolio of licensing agreements continues to be enriched,” Pagliuca added. “In addition to the by now traditional collaboration with Chopard, Official Time-Keeper, and with Alitalia, which uses the name of the Mille Miglia for its loyalty programme, there are new agreements with the French multinational Coty, for a fragrance and a line of cosmetics inspired by the Race, and with the Italian De Rigo, for worldwide distribution (from the start of this year) of a line of sunglasses with the Freccia Rossa logo.“