Cinzano of the vermouth market in Europe was measured in the low single digits, sales that placed it a distant second to Martini. As a result of a 1997 merger, Grand Metropolitan became Diageo; two years later, Diageo sold Cinzano to the privately held Gruppo Campari. The Cinzano bicycling team had a central role in the film "Breaking Away". Cinzano was well known in Britain for its humorous television advertisements featuring Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins. One of these featured the pair on a plane journey, with Rossiter accidentally hitting the "recline" switch on Collins chair, causing her to spill a
James Rossiter initially testing a Formula Palmer Audi at the Bedford Autodrome. Rossiter then graduated to Formula Renault testing and racing with Falcon Motorsport in 2002. He moved to Fortec Motorsport for 2003 and finished third in the British Formula Renault Championship after a race winning season. Rossiter was recognised by a leading journalist as "the only driver to take the fight to Lewis Hamilton". In 2004 Rossiter stayed with the Fortec Motorsport team and graduated to the British Formula 3 Championship, winning three races and the British Formula 3 Avon tyres rookie of the year award. Rossiter also competed at the