Alfa Romeo is going racing again… with a sailing boat

Spot the odd one out: a) Formula 1, b) Le Mans, c) the European Touring Car Championship, d) the America’s Cup. If you said d), congratulations! You’ve successfully identified the one that isn’t motorsport.

That isn’t stopping Alfa Romeo though. The Italian brand – known the world over for its cars, which are also known the world over for not really working very well on water – is entering the 2027 America’s Cup in partnership with sailing outfit Luna Rossa Team. Let’s get #AlfaLogic trending immediately.

But “it’s not just about putting a logo on the sails or on the boat” says team skipper Max Sirena. “We actually started the engineering work and transfer between the two teams even way before signing the contract.”

Allow us to explain. Sort of. Alfa argues that there will be an “exchange” of know-how that will benefit both it and the sailing team, chiefly in aerodynamics, materials and (please don’t snigger back there) quality control.

And there will legit be some Luna Rossa-based limited edition Alfas too. “I don’t want to reveal too much, but the idea is to make some specific cars, developed together with Luna Rossa,” teases Cristiano Fiorio, head of global marketing, communication and strategic projects.

“That means some performance cars, some limited edition cars that will embed the best know-how of both brands. We believe that a limited edition of cars carved together with Luna Rossa Team will be the answer to sell, as we were saying, additional cars.

“So ideally we want to do something a little more bespoke, maybe more limited, and we are also working on ideas that can touch a higher number of people, because the DNA of Alfa Romeo is doing something very hard and very strong.”

So not necessarily just themed trim levels for stuff like the Junior and Stelvio EV. More as we have it/understand what the heck is going on.