Speed Motors scores mixed results at Castellana hillclimb

Speed Motors enjoyed a productive weekend at the Cronoscalata della Castellana in Orvieto, though fortune proved uneven across the team's entry list. The 53rd edition of the hillclimb, counting towards the 2026 Italian Mountain Velocity Championship, saw strong performances from the squad's touring and historic car pilots offset by mechanical setbacks in the prototype category.

Paolo Biccheri claimed victory in the Turbo Cup 1 class of the Racing Start Cup, making his debut in the category at the wheel of a Renault Clio provided by Tuder Motorsport. Biccheri covered the 6,190-metre circuit in 3'54"35 and 3'52"25 for a combined time of 7'46"60. Despite having only tested the car on Saturday, Biccheri felt confident in the machine's potential. "I managed to extract an excellent time without pushing too hard, since it was completely new to me," he said. "The Clio is very enjoyable to drive, and I reckon there were still 2–3 seconds to find."

Ludovico Manni narrowly missed victory in the Racing Start 2.0 naturally aspirated class, finishing second in his Renault Clio Rs to Claudio Pio's Honda Civic Type R by just 73 hundredths of a second across both runs. However, Manni's second run proved significant: he set a new class record of 3'58"50, shaving 43 hundredths off the previous benchmark. "I did the maximum I could," Manni reflected. "Pio drove very strongly, and while losing by such a small margin is disappointing, lowering the class record gave me real satisfaction."

Deborah Broccolini returned to competition after a month away following an accident at the Luigi Fagioli Trophy, piloting a freshly repaired Mini Cooper S. She finished fifth in the Racing Start Plus 2.0 turbo class with times of 4'06"93 and 4'08"23 (8'15"16 combined), placing third overall among female competitors. Beyond her race result, Broccolini claimed the absolute group and class wins in the Racing Start Plus turbo south zone, the women's cup, and the Centritalia Hillclimb Cup. The Perugia-based driver, an ambassador for the Umbrian Association Against Cancer, competed in memory of her father Attilio, who died 30 years ago racing at the Castellana. "It was important to return to racing and move past Gubbio," she said. "The organisation was excellent, and I was honoured to present the memorial dedicated to my father to Loris Martino, who drove a Peugeot 106 in the N-S group."

The prototype contingent endured a frustrating day. Luca Giovannoni, making his first outing in a Wolf GB08 Mistral, posted a strong 3'07"16 in the opening run to sit second in the 2000cc class, just 3.62 seconds behind former Italian champion Domenico Scola. However, a turbine failure during the second-run warm-up ended Giovannoni's hopes. "I was very pleased after the first climb, with a small gap to Scola and having improved significantly on the official practice times," Giovannoni explained. "A second place would have been gratifying." Vincenzo Ottaviani suffered a similar fate in the up-to-1150cc class, his Wolf GB08 Thunder sidelined by a broken half-shaft after just 50 metres of the second run—a repeat of an earlier mechanical issue at Popoli.

Among historic entries, Lanfranco Pastorelli secured second place in the TC700 class (period H1) with his Fiat Giannini 650 Np, posting 4'25"11 and 4'23"49 for a total of 8'48"60, just 39 hundredths behind Cristiano Romoli's identical model. "The track was cold in the morning and I didn't have the right tyres, so I preferred not to risk it," Pastorelli noted. "The afternoon conditions were better and I was more competitive, but the main thing was to enjoy myself—and I certainly did that."