Ferrari to auction F1 items to help Italian quake victims

Rome: Automobile giant Ferrari will auction a luxury sports car and Formula 1 memorabilia to help in relief efforts in Italy where two earthquakes killed at least 23 people and left around 20,000 homeless.

"At the beginning of next week we`ll hold a big global auction via the internet, even putting cars up for grabs to help the families of victims that were for the most part labourers," said Ferrari chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo. Among the items to be put on auction, there will be a Ferrari 599XX Evo, valued at 1.3 million euros, according to La Stampa, a daily owned by the Agnelli family which controls Ferrari corporate parent Fiat. Other objects to be sold are Formula 1 memorabilia like helmets and racing uniforms belonging to Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. The quakes that hit Emilia Romagna region last month caused modern and ancient structures to crack and crumble. The government has estimated damage at five billion euros. IANS/AKI