24 Vittorio Rosa
V. Rosa
Alfa Romeo RL SS

22 Walter Kaufmann
W. Kaufmann
Steiger 10/50 hp

18 Josef Ludewig
J. Ludewig
Bugatti T30

Rosa wins the Eifel-Rennen with Alfa Romeo

1 Guido Ginaldi
G. Ginaldi
Alfa Romeo RL TF 24

8 Gino Minciotti
G. Minciotti
Bugatti T30

23 Pasquale Croce
Count A. Maggi
Bugatti T22

Ginaldi wins the Coppa Acerbo with Alfa Romeo

The 26 starters at the Coppa Acerbo included 7 Bugattis, two Alfa Romeos, three Fiats, one each Itala Special, OM, Chiribiri and many others. Materassi (Itala Special) had the fastest car but never-ending tire failures set him back and allowed the trouble-free Alfa Romeo of Ginaldi to hold the lead. When second placed Bertocci (Alfa Romeo) pitted, Minciotti (Bugatti) took his place on lap 10. Materassi carried on with his fast sprints interrupted by tire stops until he ran out of tires and ended his race on lap 17. Ginaldi won ahead of Minciotti, Croce (1500 Bugatti), Balestrero (2000 OM), Weber (1500 Fiat), Clerici (1100 Salmson), Platè (1500 Chiribiri), Fagioli (1100 Salmson), Lagorio (1100 Amilcar) and Sandonnino (900 Citroën). Three drivers exceeded the maximum time and 13 retired.

The Automobile Club di Pescara held the 1925 Coppa Acerbo for the second time. In 1924 Minister Giacomo Acerbo had named the race in honor of his brother Capitano Tito Acerbo, a decorated war hero, who was killed during the last year of WW I. The same triangular 25.5 km Pescara circuit was used, over 20 laps or a total of 510 km for all cars. The start was at Castellammare, north of the seaside resort of Pescara, where the road went straight for about one kilometer along the shore of the Adriatic Sea. Before Pescara the course made a wide right turn heading inland for about 11 km along a winding road up into the Abruzzi Mountains through the villages of Villa Raspa, Spoltore and Capelle. From here, the road led into the approximately 11 km long Montesilvano downhill straight to the coast where cars could reach their maximum speed. A right turn at Montesilvano railroad station led into the Lungo Mare straight along the coast and back to the start and finish at Castellammare.       The entries were divided into five categories, over 2000 cc, up to 2000, up to 1500 cc, up to 1100 cc and up to 900 cc. The Pescara Automobile Club had a total prize fund of 108,000 lire. The overall winner, who completed the race in the shortest time, received the Coppa Acerbo and 50,000 lire. In each of the five categories the winner received 6,000 lire and a gold medal, second 4,000 and third 2,000. The fastest lap of the race was awarded with a gold medal by Mussolini.

Entries: The Coppa Acerbo promoters received a total of 39 entries but only 26 drivers, all independents, started in this national event. The favorites besides Materassi in the 5.8-L Itala Special were the 3.0-L Alfa Romeos of Bertocci and Ginaldi, the 2-Liter Bugattis of Minciotti and Antonelli and the OM of Balestrero, all candidates for one of the leading positions. Materassi's Itala Special had only a few Itala parts (clutch, gearbox and transmission) so to call it an Itala 55 Special, as it is often done, is misleading. The car had a custom-built chassis and suspension, but it was called an Itala for publicity reasons as Materassi owned the Itala agency in Florence. The engine was half of a V8 Hispano-Suiza aircraft engine so the capacity was about 5.8 liters. The source of the figure of precisely 4722cc which is to be found in contemporary motor sport literature is a mystery. This is explained in Alessandro Silva's article about Italian aero-engined specials, which was published in The Automobile magazine. A complete list of entries is shown at the beginning of this report.

Race: Sunday at 8:00 AM the stands were already crammed with spectators and crowds were all along the circuit. Only 27 cars entered the track, stopped at the pits, waiting to take place on the grid. Ruggeri's Alfa Romeo broke the cam drive chain when driving to the pits forcing him to give up. The starting area was cleared as the now 26 cars lined up on the grid. The start was in order of the race numbers with an interval of two minutes between each category.

4 Materassi Itala Spl. 2 Bertocci Alfa Romeo 1 Ginaldi Alfa Romeo

The starter General Attilio Teruzzi, assisted by timekeepers Marley and Celpi, lowered the flag at 9:00 AM to release the three large cars of Category V when Materassi shot into the lead. After an interval of two minutes, the three cars of the Category IV were started.

10 Antonelli Bugatti 8 Minciotti Bugatti 6 Balestrero OM

After a break of two minutes it was the turn of the nine cars of Category III up to 1500 cc, but the order of the line-up is not quite clear. The following cars started but not necessarily in this order: De Bernardinis (Fiat), Weber (Fiat), Nardi Pelagalli (Bugatti), Platè (Chiribiri), Montanari (Bugatti), Paris (Bugati), Spinozzi (Bugatti), Croce (Bugatti) and Ciriaci (Bugatti). After a two-minute interval, the seven cars of Category II were flagged away.

29 Borzacchini Salmson 28 Clerici Salmson 27 Lagorio Amilcar 35 G. Crespi SAM 34 Fagioli Salmson 31 L. Crespi SAM ? Vaghi SAM

After another 2-minute interval, the cars of Category I were flagged off, which were the four Citroëns of Favia, Sandonnino, Serventi and Sorrentino, but the line-up of this group remains unknown.       After the start Materassi assumed the lead until just five kilometers from the start at Villa Montani, when he stopped to replace a tire. Ginaldi passed him and at the end of the first lap was first after 16m09.4s. Materassi was chasing after Ginaldi and produced a spectacular run-up in second place. Bertocci, who followed in third place drove at a lesser pace and lost ground.       Materassi caught up with Ginaldi during the third lap and easily passed him along the first straight. But a rear tire thread separated again and forced Materassi to stop losing the lead again. Weber had a long pit stop due to carburetion problems while Platè was struggling with spark plug trouble. In the meantime, Antonelli's Bugatti retired and Ciraci walked back on foot after the gearbox breakdown on his Bugatti. Sorrentino with his Citroën also retired.       During the fourth lap, the two Alfa Romeos of Ginaldi and Bertocci were in front but the latter was heavily delayed. Materassi was gaining and his comeback was spectacular. When the Bugattis of Spinozzi and Nardi Pelagalli retired, Croce in another Bugatti, then took the lead in the 1500 class and climbed to fifth place overall. Clerici (Salmson) was first of the 1100 class and Sandonnini (Citroën) led the 900 class. Ginaldi and Bertocci headed the field with Minciotti in his 2000 Bugatti in third place, just four minutes behind Ginaldi. The field was down to 21 cars with the following times of the leaders after 5 laps: 1. Ginaldi (Alfa Romeo) 1h19m10.8s 2. Bertocci (Alfa Romeo) 1h21m25s 3. Mincicotti (Bugatti) 1h23m10s 4. Materassi (Itala Spl.) 1h30m49s On the 7th lap Minciotti made the record lap for the 2000 class with 16m31.2s at 94.328 km/h. During lap 6 and 7 Materassi was safe from tire problems, using his mechanically intact Itala with superior speed to catch up with the leading Ginaldi. Favia's Citoën retired on the 7th lap and Vaghi's SAM was also out of the race.       During the 9th lap, Borzacchini retired his Salmson. Materassi made the fastest lap of the race in 14m04s at 108.778 km/h average speed and exceeded the 1924 record of Bonmartini (Mercedes) in 14m05.4s at the average of 108.778 km/h.       On the 10th lap, mid race after 255 km, the 18 cars still in the race began their refueling stops. While Bertocci's Alfa Romeo lingered in the pits with an ignition problem, Miciotti with the 2000 Bugatti took over second place. Once the problem was fixed, the Alfa Romeo resumed the race, but with the engine still not running properly, Bertocci retired on the 11th lap.       Materassi was struggling once again with replacing tires, whose supply in the pits was being reduced at an alarming rate. The Ginaldi-Materassi duel intensified but the battle continued at a rather uncertain level. As Ginaldi maintained his very regular pace with long stretches in the Alfa Romeo, Materassi delivered dizzying high-speed runs in his Itala Special, interrupted by tire failures with pit stops. After the retirements of Serventi's Citroën on the 13th lap, Bepi Crespi's SAM on the 15th lap and Montanari's Bugatti 1500 on lap 16, Materassi began his 17th lap. He no longer had spare tires on board, since the stock in the garage was used up. The seventeenth tire failure happened and Materassi's race ended along the route.       There were only three laps left at the end of the race and the spectators finally realized that the leader was a driver from Abruzzo. At the end of the 20th lap, Ginaldi victoriously crossed the finish line in his Alfa Romeo. Minciotti in the 2.0-L Bugatti was second, almost nine minutes behind, while Croce in the 1500 Bugatti was over one lap down, followed by Balestrero, Weber, Clerici, Platè, Fagioli, Lagorio and Sandonnino the last finisher in tenth place. De Bernardinis, Paris and Luigi Crespi did not classify as they exceeded the maximum allowable time but completed 16 laps or more.