Sparco

Sparco thanks the Petronas – De Rooy – Iveco team for this extraordinary enterprise.

Special thank go to the drivers Gerard de Rooy, Hans Stacey, Miki Biasion, Pep Vila Roca and Jo Adua who gave us the chance to feel part of this splendid adventure.

Miki Biasion, Gerard de Rooy and Hans Stacey are the drivers for the Petronas-De Rooy-Iveco team that’s running in Dakar 2012 with Sparco as technical sponsor.
The race started on the first of January from Mar del Plata in Argentina and will be finishing in Lima on the 15th.

The Team is racing with four Iveco Trakker 4×4 and a prototype Strator built in Holland. The talent and experience of the drivers is really holding the Team standard high, despite some problems at the start: Gerard De Rooy has managed to win three consecutive stages and is now leading the general classification.

If we wanted to put the word “legend” alongside the name of a rally driver, then Veneto-born Miki Biasion would certainly be among the few worthy of that accolade. His experience in cars (Opel, Lancia, Subaru and many others) has proved to be extremely valuable in trucks, too, with which he has collected a good number of victories. Seven times at the Dakar, three times in cars and four in trucks, he’s now a true veteran.

Thirty-one year old Dutchman Gerard de Rooy was ‘born to the trade’ when it comes to racing trucks. His father is Jan de Rooy, winner (among other things) of the Dakar in 1987. Gerard is running in this year’s rally and currently holding the lead after 8 stages.

Hans “Racey” Stacey, Dutch and a real Dakar ‘expert’, won the rally in 2007 as navigator-mechanic along with Belgian Charly Gotlib and Dutch Bernard Der Kinderen.

Naturally, all three of them are great friends of Sparco.

We told you there was something new in the pipeline and here it is: the new Ergo suit, ready to race more safely and comfortably than ever.

The Ergo is a new ergonomic suit developed to offer maximum comfort during the race. It was designed directly on a driver in the driving position, sitting in a car or kart, which means there’s no excess fabric especially in the abdominal zone, and what’s more, without the zip on the chest like a traditional suit, there’s more space for sponsors logos, meaning you can customise it even more.

The Ergo suit comes in three versions:
Ergo M-9F, top of the range
Ergo M-5, entry level, always fireproof
Ergo K-9F, top range kart

Perfect for any race, safe, good-looking and above all comfortable. This is Sparco’s new suit.

Ready to give it a try?

Finally! the Monza Rally Show is back!

This year we’re not only there, but we’re official partners too.
You’ll find us at the Sparco stand, where you can ask us everything you want to know and get a really important exclusive preview of 2012. What’s in it? Come see us and find out

Then, if you stay around, there’s the chance to meet all the various champions who’ll be visiting, like Miki Biasion, who’s doing a photo and autographs session on Saturday the 26th. And not only, if you send us your questions, we’ll pass them on to Biasion and publish them on this Blog. 
So come on then, unleash your curiosity and ask us everything you ever wanted to know about this great champion!

Seeing as we’ve decided to really splash out this year, we’re also giving you Expo Rally 2012!
Anyone with a ticket for the rally can win free entry and a lap around the circuit with Miki Biasion for the next Expo Rally. All you have to do is fill in the card we’ll be handing out at the Sparco stand, or at the Expo Rally stand, and write a sentence that sums up your passion for rally. The best 50 phrases will win a ticket, and if you’re lucky enough to write the number one phrase you’ll have the chance to do a lap of the circuit alongside a real champion.

What else do you need to entice you to the Monza Rally Show?
So, warm up your engines, get your kit ready and don’t forget to visit Sparco!

Sometimes on holiday you meet some amazing people, like what happened to me a couple of days ago when I met a young German lady, Leoni Stiem, who races in German rallies driving a Ford Puma.

Leoni is extremely promising and equally determined to make her name on the racing scene along with her team, SPEED CAT Racing, which is actually the only women’s team competing in the German championship.
She lives on the shores of the Bodensee and when she’s not racing she makes the best pizza in the northern Alps at her restaurant the Fischerstüble. I’ve tried it so I assure you she’s not kidding.

I asked her a few questions to get to know her a bit better.

How and when did you start to race?

I started racing in 2006 – the first 2 years as navigator and since 2008 as driver.

Can you give us a summary of your race career?

During the first two years I clocked up my first special stage miles and got a lot of experience in the hot seat as co-pilot of a Ford Puma. Then came the chance to swap seats and finally my big dream came true, so I’ve been successfully driving the Ford Puma around Germany since 2008. I spent the first year just getting to know the car and all the situations you get into in a rally because unfortunately there are no training facilities here, just “on-the-job”. By the second year I was already winning my first races, and since then I’ve notched up several class victories and really honed my skills.

How was your championship this year?

I ran in eight rallies with my Speed Cat Racing Team in 2011. Four of them were valid for the German Rallye Mastership, during which I clocked up an incredible mileage, not to mention the experience.
Let’s say the balance of the last racing season was three class victories, three 2nd places, but a couple of failures due to technical problems as well, unfortunately.

What are your goals for the next year?

Keep on proving that women can be fast and kick some men’s butt!

Leoni and her team have won a lot of women’s trophies and championships in their category, so she’s pretty certain to keep her promise.
Good luck for next year Leoni!

The “Dress me for the finale” competition is over and now we can announce the winners: Tino Buschmann (Germany) and István Kalmár (Hungary).

There’s still one suit to see, the one for the Abu Dhabi GP, but we already know what Hamilton and Button will be wearing for the Brazil GP: the German suit for the former and the Hungarian one for the latter.
If the victory of the German suit was decided by a draw, for the second one there was a real and proper vote.
So what do you think? Do you like the winning suit or did you vote for another?

We at Sparco like them all, obviously, we made them.