No. 32 WRT BMW in Zanardi Tribute Livery for Monza
Photo: John Dagys
The No. 32 WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO is sporting a special Alex Zanardi tribute livery in this weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship season-ending 6 Hours of Monza, an idea spawned from Zanardi’s longtime friend and competitor Augusto Farfus.
The LMGT3 entry sports an eye-catching design, created by Vanuf Art Design, depicting the Italian’s face and a mural of his Dallara-built hand-cycle that took him to four Paralympic gold medals.
Zanardi, who lost both of his legs in a devastating crash in the CART race at the Lausitzring in 2001 and came back to race in touring car and GT competition with BMW, passed away in May at the age of 59 following complications of a hand-cycling accident in 2020.
“Augusto came up with the idea when we heard that we were going to race in Monza to do a tribute to Alex,” explained the team’s FIA Bronze-rated driver Darren Leung.
“I confess I didn’t know too much about his background, but when we had that conversation, I went away and watched some documentaries and kind of got to know the guy a little bit through the lens of a journalistic viewpoint.
“He was just such an inspirational guy, an inspirational story. Obviously, he went through a huge moment in his life and it just never really seemed to cause him to skip a beat.
“That kind of resilience and determination is very formidable and was quite inspirational, really. It was a story that I found quite moving.
“Speaking to people who actually knew Alex very well personally, that kind of all extended through to all those people. It was a great pleasure to come up with an idea for the livery.”
Farfus, who was teammates with Zanardi in both WTCC competition and at the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona, added: “When the whole story of WEC coming to Monza was kind of in the air, I said to Darren, ‘If it happens, let’s do a Zanardi car. That would be cool.’
“And then eventually it happened, so we did.
“Alex was one of a kind, in all aspects as a fighter, as an inspiration, and as an athlete, driver, and so on.
“So, having the possibility to just pay attributes for him here in Monza, I think he would have been, and I’m sure he’s very proud of what we have done.”
When asked if the special livery will give him, Leung and Sean Gelael the motivation to fight harder for a second WEC class win of the season, Farfus said: “We always fight hard.”
He added: “We always give our maximum. But I think if there was a fighter in motorsport, he was definitely the fighter.
“So, I’m very pleased with that. And I think we just should remember those who inspire a lot of people. And I think here the Italians will be very pleased and happy to see this car around.”
Leung said he’s trying to get pineapple stickers made to be put on their helmets this weekend.
The fruit became famously linked to the Zanardi after he was nicknamed ‘Pineapple’ by then-team owner Chip Ganassi and chief engineer Mo Nunn back in the CART days.
“The story of the pineapple is actually quite interesting,” added Leung. “Basically, he was having an argument with his team about needing to change all the gear ratios at like 10:30 p.m. before a race.
“And then one of the guys said that he had a pineapple head, which was like slang for saying, you’ve just been really hard headed about it, you’ve been too driven and too determined.
“So they did the change that Alex pushed for, and they won the race in the end with it.
“The engineer just drew a pineapple on the back of his helmet, and that’s the thing that always followed him through.
“I quite like that as a symbol. There’s quite a few of us, myself, Augusto, and Sean, we’re quite determined people, and actually, it was just quite a nice story to find out.”
Photo: BMW
Photo: BMW
Source: Sports Car 365