Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, entrepreneur and former president of Ferrari, received the prestigious Nino Vaccarella Award, an award established by the ACI Sport Sicilia trustee delegate Daniele Settimo and the president of the Automobile Club of Italy Angelo Sticchi Damiani.
The two-day Automobile Club D'Italia dedicated to the 2023 Motor Racing and Karting Champions kicked off on Friday afternoon at the Palacongressi in Taormina. A ceremony full of charm and emotions, where the four-wheel stars of the ACI Sport disciplines shine.
The day's program was decidedly intense thanks to the large number of winners that Sicily boasts in its six Championships. A packed room in every order of seats, in the fascinating theater of the city of Taormina, added value of an event which, as per the precise will of the Automobile Club of Italy, promotes the beauty of the territory and obviously the passion for motorsport.
Ninni Vaccarella Award: Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Angelo Sticchi Damiani
Photo by: ACI Sport
“We have closed an important year full of great satisfactions and this evening we will celebrate some of these. Tonight there are two important figures for Italian motorsport, a beautiful story when Ferrari was victorious and a winning Ferrari today, certainly different but which continues to win”, said engineer Angelo Sticchi Damiani.
“Two parallel stories that we are pleased to reward: one an infinite story like that of Ninni Vaccarella and the one that has just been born with the return to victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the Maranello factory. This award combines these stories that intersect and I think it's nice to have put together these stories that have brought and continue to bring so much honor to our nation.”
The highlight of the afternoon which saw the presence, among others of the mayor of Taormina Cateno De Luca, of the mayor of Messina Federico Basile, was the delivery of the “Nino Vaccarella” Award by Giovanni, son of the never forgotten Preside Volante, with the President of the Automobile Club of Italy Angelo Sticchi Damiani and Daniele Settimo himself, to the lawyer Luca Cordero di Montezemolo who received the iconic work, which as happened in the two previous editions, is intended for personalities of motorsport excellence.
“I am particularly pleased to receive this award because it is dedicated to a beautiful person, to a man who gave so much to Ferrari, Nino Vaccarella – comments Montezemolo – We often joked with him on the phone, I asked him for example whether he was stronger or Merzario but I knew that Vaccarella was the strongest.”
“I am honored to receive this recognition also because I have wonderful memories of this beautiful city, among the most beautiful in the world. Not everyone knows that at the age of 18, after graduating from high school, I took my Vespa and came to Sicily to tour it all, and I really remember a lot about every place.”
“In life as in sport, there are champions and there are champions, one of these is Michael Schumacher, I could spend hours telling you anecdotes. Even anecdotes about Sicily. When we celebrated 50 years of Ferrari in Sicily, I told him that we would We also went for some laps at the Pergusa racetrack”.
“We agreed together with Todt that we would do a few laps, at most 8 because we were certain that we would not find a large audience. Instead that event was incredible and from a few laps, Schumi found himself in a crowd, so from the 8 laps planned, he made 22 of them, having fun and entertaining the audience. Thanks again to you, thanks Sicily and thanks Taormina. I hope to return soon.”
Ninni Vaccarella Award
Photo by: ACI Sport
The ACI Sport Sicilia trustee delegate, Daniele Settimo, added: “I thank the lawyer Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, the president of the ACI Angelo Sticchi Damiani and the mayor of Taormina Cateno De Luca for making this splendid structure available to us.”
“I once again thank Scuderia Ferrari AF Corse, Antonello Coletta and Antonio Giovinazzi who, despite their numerous commitments, did not want to miss this celebration where we are honoring our champions. I wish our athletes as many further successes in the 2024 season.”
The Vaccarella award was also given to Ferrari in recognition of the success at the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the AF Corse crew of team principal Antonello Colletta, made up of the trio Pier Guidi, Giovinazzi and Calado.
“Le Mans is the race that all drivers would like to win. This year's result makes us super proud thanks to a great team and a young team. We have a very challenging world championship and we expect to always bring Ferrari and Italy into vogue in the world,” said Giovinazzi.
Receiving the Sicilian Excellence in the World Award was the very young Sicilian driver Gabriele Minì for his successes in Formula 3 who mentioned the profitable test in Bahrain, scene of the first and only Formula 3 pre-season test session.
He returned to compete with the colors of Prema, the team with which he won the Italian F4 title in 2020. The Palermo native from Marineo has thus begun the work in the wet that will lead him, in just three weeks, to compete in the 2024 world championship under those colors of the Italian team.
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