Legendary Mercedes-Benz racing sports cars and a super sports car hovering high above the shores of Lake Como: Mercedes-Benz Classic caused a sensation with this spectacular scene during the preparations for FuoriConcorso 2025. The Mercedes-Benz C 11 Group C racing car from 1990, the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR racing sports car from 1997 and the exclusive production version of the CLK GTR Coupé were brought into the garden of the Villa del Grumello by mobile crane.
On May 24 and 25, 2025, the Silver Arrows of the 1990s thrilled the audience at the young and dynamic event. The program also included talks on 25 May 2025 with an extremely high-calibre panel at Villa Sucota. The panel included Vittorio Roberti, motorsport engineer and author, Alex Caffi, former Formula 1 racing driver, Claudia Peroni, presenter, motorsport expert and former rally driver, Arturo Merzario, former Formula 1 racing driver, and Vincenzo Gibiino, President of Ferrari Club Italia. Marcus Breitschwerdt, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Heritage GmbH, also took part in the "Rally and F1" and "Italian Racing" discussion rounds.
Remembering two championship years
FuoriConcorso has been around since 2019 and is considered one of the most attractive events on the classic car scene. The two racing sports cars presented by Mercedes-Benz Classic in the garden of the Villa del Grumello have a connection to Italy: the Mercedes-Benz C 11 celebrated its debut in 1990 with a one-two victory in the 480-kilometre race in Monza (Jean-Louis Schlesser/Mauro Baldi ahead of Jochen Mass/Karl Wendlinger). The CLK GTR racing sports car took second place in the 1997 FIA GT race in Mugello (Alessandro Nannini/Marcel Tiemann). These Silver Arrows won the title in both the 1990 Group C season and the 1997 FIA GT Championship.
A small series of road-legal hypercars with 450 kW (612 hp) was derived from the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR racing sports car in 1998. Only 20 of these extremely rare CLK GTRs were built as coupés, and only five as roadsters. The coupé at FuoriConcorso comes from the national car museum The Loh Collection.
