Former CART champion Alex Zanardi will race at Monza this weekend in the FIA European Touring Car Championship, his first competition since losing both legs in a crash in September 2001 in Germany. Zanardi will drive a specially modified BMW 320i ETCC for Ravaglia Motorsports. The idea for the one-off race started as a joke when Zanardi took his road-going BMW 540i to the team, based in Italy, for modifications to allow him to drive it on the street. But team engineer Roberto Trevisan, who worked with Zanardi in Formula 3000, suggested the modifications could be made to a race car built for the 2001 season and last used for winter testing. For the weekend, the throttle has been moved to the steering wheel and Zanardi will use his left hand to operate it, while he uses his right hand to operate the gear shift lever.( Chicago Sun Times/AP ) AND mark it down — SPEED Channel is airing the full 2003 FIA European Touring Car Championship in order this winter, with a replay of this weekend’s race featuring the return of racing great Alex Zanardi scheduled for Dec. 27 at 6:00pm and 3:00am.(Speed Channel PR)(10-18-2003) UPDATE: In his first competitive race since losing both legs in a crash in a CART race in Germany two years ago, Alex Zanardi was involved in a six-car pileup Sunday in the first race of the closing event of the FIA European Touring Car Championship. Then he finished seventh in the second race at the Monza circuit, coming back from an eighth-row start. Riding a specially modified BMW, the former Formula One driver said he wanted to show he could race competitively again. More than 30,000 fans crowded the track and hundreds mobbed him for autographs before the race. “I still remember how to drive and I will see next year whether to repeat this experience,” he said. “I enjoyed it. I’m not enthusiastic about the result, but I enjoyed racing.” Zanardi last raced in Monza with the Williams Formula One team in the 1999 Italian Grand Prix. The 36-year-old Italian hand operated the car’s accelerator and clutch, which are attached to the steering wheel, and used his thigh to apply special brakes. In Race One, Zanardi started from the sixth row following his 11th place in qualifying. He was caught in a pileup of six cars at the first curve, ending the race after about a half-mile. Starting from behind in Race Two, Zanardi climbed to seventh place by the end of the nine-lap event, 15.3 seconds behind BMW German teammate Jorg Muller, who won ahead of Tom Coronel of the Netherlands and Gabriele Tarquini of Italy. U.S. drivers Jimmy Vasser and Tony Kanaan flew to Monza to support Zanardi.( ThatsRacin.com/AP )(10-19-2003)
