Published on: 22/07/2024 Updated on: 20/02/2025

Dolomites Gold Cup, triumph of Mario Passanante

On the Dolomite passes, Mario Passanante, Mafra brand ambassador, repeats last year's success, strengthening his leadership in the Italian Great Events Championship

After his victory last year, Mario Passanante came out on top again in the Gold Cup of the Dolomites. A race that the Sicilian driver, ambassador Mafra, in his career has won a total of five times!

The 2024 edition of the Dolomite competition was as close as ever. This is evidenced by the smallest gap over the runners-up: only 19.70 penalties separate Mario from the Moceri-Dicembre pair, in a 1941 Lancia Ardea. And 31.79 were points ahead of the third-place finishers, Diana-Carrotta in a 1938 Fiat 508 C.

Accompanying Passanante in his 1937 Fiat 508 C was navigator Alessandro Molgora, president of the Scuderia Franciacorta Motori.

Everything under control

Mario got off to a great start right away: in fact, he came out on top already in the prologue of the race, held on Thursday , July 18. A 41.55-kilometer course started amidst two wings of crowds in the center of Cortina d'Ampezzo. The route ended in the same Dolomite resort, after passing through Misurina, Auronzo, Ponte Ruvadoi and tackling the Passo Tre Croci.

Passanante thus faced the first stage as the overall leader. His lead was 16 penalties over the Patron-Clark crew(1925 Bentley 3-liter) and 17 over the crew consisting of Diana and Carrotta.

Making life more difficult for competitors on Friday, July 19, were the downpours that characterized the late morning. Heavy traffic, due to the tourist season, also made it complicated for the crews to meet the imposed times for passes at time controls.

Passanante and Molgora still came out on top of the standings as well at the end of the first leg, which saw Patron-Clark's Bentley surrendered to an electrical system failure. Mario and Alberto's main challengers thus became fellow countrymen Moceri-Dicembre.

The trials on Saturday, July 20, were decisive in outlining the race's final standings. The route included timed passes at Pocol, on the Giau Pass, at Forcella Staulanza and near Longarone and Provagna, before returning to Cortina d'Ampezzo.

With his cool precision, Mario didn't miss a beat as he arrived at the finish line of the 2024 Dolomites Gold Cup as a winner, thus strengthening his lead in the Italian Great Events Championship.

The next and final round of the Championship is the Targa Florio Classica, which will be held October 10-13. Before then, however, Mario will also hold high the Mafra colors in another prestigious race, the Gran Premio Nuvolari of Mantua(September 19-22).

"With Heart in Throat"

"I'm always anxious about the condition of the car, having a good age," Mario confides to us friends at Mafra, "so much so that even this time, before the start I noticed a loose bumper and the lack of oil... Then, however, everything went well."

The challenge with rivals, in particular with Giovanni Moceri, was tough: "Being a pure regularist, that is, accustomed to passing to the hundredth of a second on the pressure switches of regularity trials, I don't like average trials (those in which competitors have to hold an imposed average at each point of a certain section of the course, which is checked by surprise by the timekeepers, ed.): so, in the first stage, I accumulated a few penalties and found myself Moceri very close in the standings."

Then, however, things turned out for the best, due in part to Mario's driving skills: "On long descents," he explains, "I saved the brakes, one of my car's weak points: by using the engine brake and pushing and releasing the brake pedal so as to avoid abrupt stresses, I avoided wearing out the brake shoes, finding myself with the brakes in perfect working order the next time I went over the pipes."

Passanante's long experience once again prevailed: "Winning the Coppa d'Oro," Mario concludes, "is a source of great pride for me, which I share with my Franciacorta Motori stable and with Mafra, which constantly supports me." And we at Mafra are equally proud of our Ambassador Mario Passanante, for whom we will continue to cheer in the coming races.