March, 28th 2025: The first race weekend of the Alfa Revival Cup 2025 Championship delivered an exciting and hard-fought battle on the rollercoaster Austrian Red Bull Ring circuit. The spectacular Alfa Romeo racing cars, GT and Touring models built between 1947 and 1981—including the GTAm, GTA 1300 Junior, Giulia Sprint GT Veloce, Giulia Super and GT Veloce 2000 – fired up the passion of fans from the very first free practice session on Friday, showcasing the qualities of both the cars and the drivers.
Saturday’s qualifying sessions were dominated by the more powerful GTAm models, with car number 23, Salomone-Barri of the Alfa Delta OKP Team, claiming pole position with a time of 1:50.795. Defending Champion Davide Bertinelli of Team Gatti, switching from number 87 to number 1, qualified in second place less than one second behind, while third went to Körber-Danner, number 100, bringing the former Alfa Romeo works driver back to the track after his successes in DTM and ITC with the 155 DTM.
A glorious spring day provided the backdrop for Sunday’s one-hour race, packed with drama from the start as Salomone lost positions at Turn 1, allowing Bertinelli to seize the lead, a position he would hold all the way to the chequered flag after 30 laps. A thrilling fight for second place developed between Laber (#69) and Oldendorff (#168), with multiple overtakes and counter-moves. This allowed Kamata to close back in, until, during the third lap, a puncture to his right rear tyre caused a spin that ended his race, bringing out the Safety Car to recover the Alfa Romeo GTAm number 34 from the gravel.
The restart on lap seven, with the field compressed, triggered several battles just ahead of the opening of the mandatory pit stop window, with driver changes for crews made up of two drivers.
Race leader Bertinelli pitted on lap 17, retaining first place as several fierce battles unfolded behind him, with car number 23 in the spotlight following the driver change from Salomone to Barri. Barri mounted an exciting comeback after the pit stop to claim second place, also setting the fastest lap of the race in 1:51.023
Third place went to Perfetti in car number 105, ahead of Laber in car number 69. Fourth place went to the Körber-Danner pairing. Team Formula GT also performed strongly, with Franceschetti in car number 27 and Luginbühl in car number 93. Also noteworthy was the duel between the Giulia GTA 1300 Juniors, where the Sordi brothers came out on top against Buratti in car number 30.
Alongside the teams fielding multiple cars with professional mechanics, there were also courageous drivers like Dutchman Andre Kardol and Italian Marco Milla, paired with Greek driver Ioannis Plagos, who organised their Austrian trip independently without external support, demonstrating that passion for Alfa Romeo still burns brightly in the hearts of enthusiasts today.
Winners across the other classes competing in the Alfa Revival Cup:
- G1 TC 1600 Class: Stefan Rollwagen, Alfa Delta OKP, Giulia Sprint GT Veloce
- G2 TC 1300 Class: Mattia and Giulio Sordi, Alfa Delta OKP, Giulia GTA 1300 Junior
- H1 TC 1600 Class: Marco Milla and Ioannis Plagos, Circolo della Biella, Giulia Super
- H2 TC 2000 Class: Andre Kardol, Alfa Race Team, GT Veloce 2000
