Bentley celebrates best result at 2014 Mille Miglia.

• Bentley Blower secures highest position to date
• Continental GT3 racer Jerome D’Ambrosio excels on debut 
• Unique Bentley celebration held in Brescia

This year’s Mille Miglia challenge, which involved hundreds of classic cars from across the world attempt to complete a gruelling 4-day and 1700km drive through Italy, saw Bentley Motors secure its best position to date with one of the company’s iconic 4 ½ Litre supercharged Bentley Blowers.

Rolf Frech, Bentley’s Member of the Board for Engineering and Jerome D’Ambrosio, finished in 73^rd position out of the 438 cars that took part; the best result achieved by Bentley to date and also one of the highest British finishers.

Rolf Frech comments: “Once again Mille Miglia proved to be a real test of every driver’s stamina and ability. The Bentley Blower, which is now in its ninth decade, demonstrated that it is a remarkable piece of engineering and more than capable of meeting the challenge.” 

Bentley works racing driver Jerome D’Ambrosio, making his Mille Miglia debut, proved to be a great addition to the team. Using his considerable skills (usually employed behind the wheel of his Bentley Continental GT3 in the Blancpain Endurance Series) Jerome ensured the Blower was always competitive. Jerome explains:

“It was great to get behind the wheel of such a famous Bentley and understand the immense skills the original Bentley Boy racing drivers had. The car requires a lot of raw strength to drive but has such immense character that even after four days of hard driving it was a shame to reach the finishing line. Following in the footsteps of the first Bentley racing drivers was a great honour and I now feel like a true Bentley Boy.”

A unique meeting of Bentleys before the start of this year’s event ensured the Mille Miglia began in fine style for the Bentley team.

Customers and friends from the Bentley Drivers Club (www.bdcl.co.uk) joined the drivers in the city centre of Brescia. Fittingly, the location for the meeting of Bentleys was the Piazza Bruno Boni which is named in honour of one of the founders of the original Mille Miglia race.

Monaco win for C-Type and then straight off to the Mille Miglia.

• Historic Jaguar C-types race at the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique, and then immediately head to Italy to participate in the 2014 Mille Miglia
• The ex-Juan Manuel Fangio Jaguar C-type takes a convincing Monaco victory in the hands of Alex Buncombe, ahead of moving directly on to the Mille Miglia
• Another C-type, raced at Monaco by Andrew Frankel, is then driven straight to Brescia for the start of the Mille Miglia by its owner Richard Frankel

Two of the Jaguar C-types set to compete in this week’s Mille Miglia – as part of an extensive line-up of Jaguar sports car entries by Jaguar Heritage Racing – have driven directly from their race at the Monaco Historique on Sunday 11 May, down to Brescia in Italy for the start of the gruelling 1,000 mile Mille Miglia endurance event.

The well-known ex-Juan Manuel Fangio Jaguar C-type, race prepared by JD Classics and driven by Alex Buncombe, won a decisive victory in the Series C race for sports racing cars raced from 1952 to 1955 at the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique on Sunday afternoon.  He won the same race in the same car at the last Monaco Historic in 2012.  Following victory, the winning C-type was quickly packed up and transported to Brescia, Italy, where it will be driven by successful Belgian singer and songwriter Milow, and Jaguar Land Rover Regional Director for Europe Bernard Kuhnt in this year’s Mille Miglia (15-18 May).

Another Jaguar C-type entrant from the same Monaco sports car race – Richard Frankel – also drove his 1952 C-type the 200 miles from Monte Carlo to Brescia on Sunday evening, after this brother Andrew safely brought the Jaguar home in Monaco from a crowded grid of 37 cars.  This C-type is famous for the journey it made in 1952 - from Coventry to the Monaco Grand Prix - where it finished 6^th and was the first non-Ferrari home. The car was driven by Tommy Wisdom in that race – and then driven back to the UK!  

Richard Frankel will share his C-type with the ex-Jaguar Le Mans 24 Hours race winner and talented racer Andy Wallace in the 2014 Mille Miglia.

Hot from their racing exploits in Monaco, these two C-types will be joined in Brescia by a line-up of other historic Jaguar sports cars from the 1950s, driven by top-name celebrities.

These will include American TV chat show host, Jaguar collector and classic car enthusiast – Jay Leno – sharing the famous ex-Sir James Scott-Douglas Ecurie Ecosse 1951 Jaguar XK 120 roadster with Jaguar’s Design Director, Ian Callum.

Husband and wife team Elliot and Erin Gleave will share another well-known 1951 XK 120, as will author David Blakeley and TV presenter and model Jodie Kidd.

Jaguar Heritage Racing also has a C-type being driven by AC/DC lead singer and car buff Brian Johnson, with two motor racing stars – Martin Brundle and Bruno Senna – sharing the famous ‘Long Nose’ Jaguar D-type as this legendary Jaguar model celebrates its 60^th anniversary in 2014.

A number of new Jaguar F-TYPE Coupés will support the Jaguar Heritage Racing team, following the full Mille Miglia route through Italy with broadcast crews and VIP guests.

Bentley Blowers to take part in 2014 Mille Miglia.

Bentley Motors is competing in Mille Miglia 2014 (15‑18 May) with two of the company’s famous 4 ½ Litre supercharged ‘Blowers’ taking on the 1,700 km route.

The 1930 Le Mans ‘Team Car’ once owned by Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin, one of the most celebrated members of a group of British gentlemen racers known as the Bentley Boys, will be joined by a former company demonstrator Blower with its original Vanden Plas Open, Sports Four Seater body for this renowned race.

Even after nine decades on the road, this second Blower continues to delight customers and guests from around the world with demonstration drives during visits to Bentley’s Crewe Headquarters.

Both Bentleys have successfully completed the modern Mille Miglia challenge several times and, with their classic dark green livery and distinctive, rumbling exhaust note, they’re welcomed by the thousands of fans who line the route to support the drivers.

To celebrate the start of Mille Miglia 2014, the Bentley team will meet with customers and friends from the Bentley Drivers Club (www.bdcl.co.uk) in the city of Brescia on the afternoon before the race.

The pre-race gathering will see Bentley owners who have travelled from as far afield as Australia, Hong Kong, South Africa, the United States as well as the United Kingdom meet the Blowers and bring their own cars to create a unique line-up of machines bearing the famous Winged B emblem in Italy.

“We plan to see Bentley’s Blowers and their drivers off in style. There will be Bentleys from all eras, some of them extremely rare, in Brescia to mark the start of Mille Miglia and it should be a real celebration of great cars”, comments Steve Miller, Club Secretary of the Bentley Drivers Club.

Live updates from Mille Miglia 2014 will be provided over the course of the event via the Bentley Communications Twitter feed, @BentleyComms