All Three Classic Saab 93s Complete the Mille Miglia 2011

This year’s Mille Miglia event, which saw a trio of historic Saab 93s competing, has concluded with a success for the Swedish manufacturer. All three cars have finished the contest and returned safely to Brescia.The number 332 car, piloted by Spyker Cars Chairman Hans Hugenholtz and his wife Laurence, was the first Saab car to finish the third and final leg of the 2011 event.

Earlier on Saturday, the classic Saabs had departed from the Castel Sant´Angelo in Rome, after which they made their way back to Brescia over a course that brought them past Viterbo, Siena, Florence and other highlights of the Italian landscape.

Another 93 was driven by Mats Fagerhag, Saab Automobile's Vice President Vehicle Product Development, with Peter Backstrom, Manager of the Saab Car Museum, sitting alongside. Long-time Belgian Saab enthusiast Jacques Beherman, whose company has been importing Saab cars for the Belgian market since 1979, was sitting behind the wheel of the third car.

The trio followed in the wheel tracks of Charlie Lohmander and Harald Kronegard, who won their class with a Saab 93 in the last 1957 Mille Miglia road race. They completed the Mille Miglia at a remarkable average speed of 96 km/h in a privately-entered car with factory support. It had finished the Acropolis Rally in Greece only a few days earlier.

Their success was followed by Erik 'Mr Saab' Carlsson's overall victory on the Finnish 1000 Lakes Rally later that same year, both results bringing early international recognition for the Saab brand. Carlsson would go on to achieve back-to-back Monte Carlo Rally wins and a hat-trick of RAC Rally victories in the early 1960s.