STORY OF THE DAY: Number 27 Wins Again at Imola

On 1 May 1983, Patrick Tambay won the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola in Ferrari 126C2B number 27. The emotional World Championship victory came one year after Gilles Villeneuve’s final race and gave Ferrari success before an intensely supportive Italian crowd.

Tambay led earlier in the contest before Riccardo Patrese passed him in the Brabham. With six laps remaining, Patrese crashed at Acque Minerali, returning first place to the Ferrari. The crowd’s response reflected both relief and remembrance as Tambay carried Villeneuve’s former number to the finish.

The 126C2B was an interim development of Ferrari’s successful 1982 car. It retained the 1.5-litre twin-turbocharged V6 and adapted the chassis and aerodynamics to new rules that required flat bottoms and eliminated the previous generation’s ground-effect underbody tunnels.

Born in Paris in 1949, Tambay won two Can-Am championships before establishing himself in Formula One. Ferrari recruited him in 1982 after the death of his close friend Villeneuve, and he brought calmness and dignity to a traumatized team. His Imola victory, the second and last of his Grand Prix career, carried significance far beyond its championship points.