Oliver White
Alessandro Zanardi, a former Formula One and Champ Car driver completed the New York marathon last Sunday, setting the fastest time for a racing driver (1h 33m 17s), albeit on a hand-cycle. Zanardi lost both his legs in a horrific racing accident at the Lausitzring in 2001, but his remarkable comeback to competitive racing sees the Italian race in the World Touring Car Championship. His entry into the marathon came about simply because of Zanardi’s competitive nature, and the former CART champion finished fourth in his class. Congratulations Alex!
Also competing in New York was Renault driver Heikki Kovalainen. The Finnish driver managed a time of 3h 36m 56s, and this lead him to being placed in 592nd for his age group and perhaps more importantly, ahead of his trainer. Alianora has some more details on La Canta Magnifica.
Alister Replaces Colin At RoC
Staying with racing’s extra curricular activities, it has been announced that Alister McRae will take his brothers place at the upcoming Race Of Champions held at Wembley in London. The Race Of Champions showcases all types motorsport and pitches drivers from various categories against one another in kart racing. The event has become hugely popular, and Colin McRae always seemed to enjoy himself at the event. Sadly the former World Rally Champion will be missed after the Scotsman died in a helicopter crash earlier in the year. Colin’s brother Alister, also a successful rally driver, will compete and will lead the tributes to his sorely missed sibling.
It will be difficult to be there but when Colin competed he always put on a good show. It was one of the things the fans loved about him. As far as Colin was concerned, it was about driving as quick as possible and being spectacular. Being there in his place will be difficult for me but hopefully we will do him proud. Alister McRae.
Losing Colin was a tragedy. Colin was one of the sport’s best-loved competitors and a very good friend so we want to pay tribute to him at Wembley Stadium, as does the international line up of drivers and all the British fans. Fredrik Johnsson, President of IMP.
Photos courtesy of Alex-Zanardi.com.
Pleased to hear that Alistair McRae will be doing the RoC. Best of luck to him.
@Ali: I admit you showed me the light regarding the correct spelling of Bourdais’s first name, but I have to say that I researched for all of a few minutes on Alister McRae’s. I’m pretty confident it is indeed spelled with an ‘e’. 😉
Best of luck to the Scotsman though. He did well a few years back, a finalist I seem to remember. But the finishing position will almost seem irrelevant. Colin had a way of being incredibly enthusiastic about these motorsporting events. I feel this is the real task Alister is taking on here (all things considering). Not that I’m saying he isn’t as passionate, just that the elder brother had a way with the fans. I hope Alister does the McRae’s proud at ROC – I have every confidence he will.
According to the Race of Champions site, you’re right about Alister McRae’s correct spelling. Thanks for the correction. And the Sebastia(e)ns would be a lot easier to write about if they had the same variant of the name 🙂
I’m sure Alister will carry the McRae banner well.
[…] also takes a keen interest in sports outside of motor racing, the Italian recently took part in the New York Marathon on a hand bike. Zanardi lost both his legs in an accident in 2001, but took part in the 26-mile […]