Multiple Grand Prix winner and current Alfa Romeo Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas will thrill crowds this weekend at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival.
Using a part of the Adelaide Parklands Street Circuit where the VALO Adelaide 500 will be hosted later this year, the event is described as a museum in motion featuring a collection of the rarest and most significant race cars located in Australia.
Bottas will drive two different models representing Australia’s touring car history, the first being an Ignis Alfa Romeo GTV from the Group A era and the second being the Tekno Autosport Holden VF Commodore, which took victory in the 2016 Bathurst 1000.
Owned by Hugh Harrison, the Ignis Alfa Romeo GTV first raced successfully in the European Touring Car Championship by Luigi Racing before coming to Australia where it was driven by Alan Jones as part of a two-car Network Alfa alongside Colin Bond.
The pair thrilled throughout 1985 as the ATCC transferred to Group A in the class contending yet nimble Alfa Romeos, with Jones leaving for Formula 1 halfway through the season as Bond continued to fly the flag in his Australian-built example.
Transferring to the Luigi chassis for the Australian Endurance Championships, Bond was joined by the talented Gregg Hansford to finish third in the standings including a Bathurst class win.
Severely damaged in a multi-car crash at the end of 1985 caused by rain and oil at Surfers Paradise International Raceway, the Luigi Racing GTV was re-shelled and converted to right-hand-drive.
After a promising 1985 season, Bond was aiming to worry the bigger capacity entries in the ATCC, though the rise in competition not only dropped the Alfa Romeo back, but the title winning BMWs from the previous year proved left behind also.
It was replaced the next season by the 75 before Alfa left the scene after a single season with the model.
Harrison runs an Italian car repair business in Melbourne and has raced the Alfa Romeo in the Heritage Touring Cars category for some years.
Following this announcement, Bottas signalled his desire to drive a Supercar and this will occur when he slides behind the wheel of the 2016 Bathurst winning Tekno Autosport Holden VF Commodore.
The Finn will have a good coach in Supercars legend Craig Lowndes, who will be in action himself driving last year’s VALO Adelaide 500 race winning Red Bull Ampol Racing Holden ZB Commodore piloted by then-rookie Broc Feeney.
Held on the Victoria Park section of the Adelaide Street Circuit on March 25 and 26, the action at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival is fast, furious and frequently changing, with a different category of vehicles on track every 10 to 15 minutes. Ranging from open-wheelers headlined by classic Formula 1 models to Heritage Touring Cars, Supercars and special invitational classes, demonstrations, activations and much, much more.