Alessio Bellisai and Riccardo De Martis won the XIX Sardinian Gentlemen's Cup with vintage cars, thanks to a splendid performance in the final stage. The two drivers had led the standings after the first stage, but had slipped to fourth place after the second. In the final stage, they responded with the best overall time of all forty-one competing crews. Their 1960 Triumph TR3A —number 15, class E—passed the roads between Tortolì-Arbatax, Serri, and Cagliari for the last time with the same composure of those who never rush because they don't need to. Then came the finish in Piazza del Carmine, the awards ceremony in the City Council Chamber, and a victory that bears the weight of things achieved with patience.
Second place went to Maurizio Rossi and Mirco Cocilovo in the 1989 Bertone X1/9 —number 33, class H—with 873 total penalties. The Bertone X1/9 is a car that has never ceased to amaze: a wedge of steel and imagination, designed by Marcello Gandini as a challenge to the supercars of its time, it crossed three days in Sardinia with the same determination with which, half a century ago, it challenged Porsches on European circuits. Rossi and Cocilovo perfectly interpreted its character, earning a second-place finish that is as good as a victory.
Third place on the podium went to Mario Casula and Veronica Fanari in their 2000 Toyota MR2 16V —number 39, class I—with 965 total penalties. Casula had led the standings after the second stage with a precision performance rarely seen in this event; the third day reshaped the standings, but the final podium is an accolade no comeback can take away.
Three days, almost an entire Sardinia. Forty-one crews—from Australia, Ecuador, Great Britain, and half of Europe—traveled the four hundred and thirty kilometers of the Cagliari–Villaputzu–Tortolì–Lanusei–Arzana–Serri–Cagliari route in three days. Cars spanning nearly a century of automotive history: from the to Casula's , passing through Jaguar Each car has a story, each crew a different perspective on the same curves, the same timekeeping controls, and the same silences of Ogliastra.
