Number 1, on the evening of the first Formula Monza race. It did not stay just a number: Montagnani won one of the two heats, then five of the season’s ten rounds, and became the first champion of the class.

He was twenty-four, a mechanic, from Casinalbo near Maranello. His car was a C.R.M. rebuilt and prepared by Gibertini and Oleari, which is why the entry list records him under that make. Behind him in the 1965 standings came Enzo Corti on a Thiele and Pino Pica on a C.R.M.

In 1966 the old car gave him trouble at first. Then, on a C.R.M., he won the new Coppa nazionale CSAI ahead of Luciano Pavesi and Fabrizio Viscardi. Later he raced in Formula 3 and in 3000-class sports cars.