Team & Riders
First entry of all, Team Alilaguna of Gianluca Coltro, Mirco Narduzzi, Fabio Sacco and Ivan Zanella.
As expected, the first entries arrived overnight.
A few minutes past midnight on 9 January 2023, as pre-registration for the Prologue of the 9th Venezia-Montecarlo® opened, the first name landed. The crew of the Alilaguna signed at the top of the list: the very first entry of the new edition.
A Venetian crew at the head of the list
Four names tied to the lagoon and to offshore racing. Gianluca Coltro, former European Offshore 5000 champion, shares the cockpit with Mirco Narduzzi, a Venetian entrepreneur and pilot, alongside Fabio Sacco and Ivan Zanella. A home line-up, off from Venice for a race that takes its name and its start from Venice.
Signing up first, on the stroke of midnight, isn’t a footnote. It was the signal that the longest race in offshore powerboating was firing up its engines again, and that the Italian paddock wanted in from the first second.
The race ahead
The ninth-edition Prologue runs from 20 to 23 July 2023 over three Adriatic legs: from the Venice Arsenale to Cervia · Milano Marittima, then Marina di Pescara and a finish at Rodi Garganico, roughly 300 nautical miles always offshore. It’s the dress rehearsal for the full voyage, more than 1,500 miles from Venice to Monte Carlo: the “Dakar of the sea”.
From that January night the list filled with Italian, British and German hulls. But the first aboard the adventure was the Alilaguna. Every entry is in the stories from the Prologue; the route maps, history and roll of honour are on the The Race page.