Zanardi wins at Mugello

Alex Zanardi celebrates

BMW Photo

Inspirational Alex Zanardi triggered an outpouring of emotions when he won the final race of the Italian GT Championship at Mugello.

In his first drive behind the wheel of the BMW M6 GT3, Zanardi was victorious after finishing sixth earlier in the weekend.

Having not raced for more than a year, Zanardi's win came on the back of his two paracycling gold medals and a silver at the recent Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Qualifying third, Zanardi was promoted to start second after the withdrawal of a rival before he ended the first lap in third.

Zanardi claimed the lead when the pit stop window opened and again held the advantage after he completed his compulsory stop in the BMW Team Italia/ROAL Motorsport entered machine.

"There are no words to describe what I feel. Today I saw the sun setting and it never looked that beautiful. What a year, not only what a day," said Zanardi.

"Once more I enjoyed beautiful moments in Rio de Janeiro, and now just jumping into this beautiful car was amazing."

Zanardi even afforded time to acknowledge the effort of Marco Wittmann who claimed his second title for BMW in the DTM finale at Hockenheim.

"He is an amazing and super fast young driver. He and the whole BMW DTM team with all the drivers can be proud of what they did this season," he added.