Motorsport in Italy

One of the first instances of Italy's involvement in motorsport was the 1904 Gordon Bennett Cup, which featured three Italian entrants all racing in FIAT's.

[2] A year later, the 1907 Peking to Paris motor race was won by the Italian Prince Scipione Borghese in his Itala 35/45 HP.

While there were no Italian entrants, Italian-born American Ralph DePalma was in the field, driving his Simplex to a sixth place finish.

[10] The race has been a part of Formula One World Championship calendar every year since the sport's inception in 1950 and it is the most held national Grand Prix in history.

[19] Three Italians -- Goffredo Zehender, Guglielmo Sandri, and Diego de Sterlich -- took part in the first-ever Monaco Grand Prix in 1929.

[20] 1931 was the inaugural season of the AIACR European Championship, an annual Grand Prix racing competition throughout Europe that was one of the primary predecessors to Formula One.

[30] One year later, the 125 F1 was created and became Ferrari's first Formula 1 racecar, driven by future two-time F1 world champion Alberto Ascari.

Giuseppe Farina earned pole position, fastest lap, and won the race in his Alfa Romeo, catapulting him to his eventual world championship title.

[38] Meanwhile, in 1963, the European Touring Car Championship was established and many Italian drivers and teams found success in the early years of the sport.

Fiat and Lancia won a combined five of the seven championships that took place in the 1970s, and Italian Sandro Munari was the sport's first drivers' champion in 1977.

[40] The most successful period in Scuderia Ferrari's history occurred in the early 2000s, when the team won five consecutive and six out of eight constructors' championships from 2000 through 2008.