The Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli ended the season in fine style at Monza, the Temple of Speed, from 26 – 29 October, with glorious weather and frantic on-track action that saw the Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB’s Ross Kaiser secure pole position for all three F430 Challenge Trofeo Pirelli races. Ross qualified on pole for Race 1 with a stunning time of 1’54.744 which was nearly 0.25 sec ahead of second place, and for Race 2 he improved his time and qualified on pole with a 1’54.451 – which meant that he automatically qualified for pole position in the “Finali Mondiali” , in which drivers from the Italian, European and American Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli races compete in a race to determine who is declared the “World Champion”.

“Team GB really set the pace this weekend,” said Massimo Fedeli, Managing Director of Ferrari GB. “With Ross Kaiser’s stunning pace in both qualifying sessions, we were able to demonstrate once again that we are a team to be reckoned with. We started the season at Silverstone with two cars, but at Monza we had a fantastic team of seven cars, with three cars running in the Trofeo Pirelli categories and three in the Coppa Shell. We also had journalists from Autosport and Top Gear Magazine driving a Ferrari 360 Challenge in a special entry for the last race of the season. We are very pleased to have won several races and scored podium finishes in nearly every race meeting, all of which bodes well for our preparations for next year when we expect to be championship contenders.”

In Race 1 on Friday, Ross started from pole position and led Ange Barde for most of the race, but was unable to keep the charging Frenchman from taking the top step of the podium by snatching the lead with only a couple of laps to go. Ross’s second place finish means that he has finished on the podium at nearly every race meeting this year – which is an incredible achievement in only his first year in the series when other drivers have been racing in this championship for much longer. Despite starting Race 2 in pole as well, Ross had engine electrical problems which meant he was unable to finish the race after only 20 laps. However, the car was sitting on pole position again on Sunday morning for the World Finals, in which Ross finished a very respectable 7th place in a grid of cars from the Italian, European and American Challenge series.

Also competing in the Trofeo Pirelli category was Gilles Vannelet, a new driver for the team who won at Monza earlier in the year and managed to qualify 6th for Race 1 and in 2nd place alongside Ross Kaiser for Race 2. Gilles pushed hard in both races and managed a 5th place in Race 1, but was unable to finish Race 2 after an incident meant he retired from the race after only 18 laps. However, Gilles’ experience and race wins in the Ferrari Challenge means he will be one of the team’s lead drivers for the 2007 seasons.
 

Team GB also had an entry in the Italian Trofeo Pirelli category, with drivers Lorenzo Case and Christian Passuti who managed to qualify in 8th place for Race 1 and 10th for Race 2. The Italian drivers narrowly missed out on a podium finish by only 0.5 second in Race 1, but an incident forced them to retire after only 3 laps in Race 2.

In the Coppa Shell category for “gentleman drivers”, the Team GB’s drivers, Borislav Maletic and Peter Bamford continued to show improving form with a 13th place in Race 2 for Boris and a 16th place in Race 1 for Peter. Considering the grid was comprised of 39 cars, including several cars from the Ferrari Challenge North American series, the GB drivers did well to stay out of trouble and finish the race on the same lap as the leaders.

Also competing in the Trofeo Pirelli category was a Ferrari 360 Challenge – a special entry which was driven by Edd Straw from Autosport and Piers Ward from Top Gear Magazine. The Ferrari 360 Challenge has been the mainstay of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli series since it was introduced in 1995, and the race weekend at Monza was the last time the 360 Challenge could compete in the series alongside the F430 Challenge before being retired from the series. Despite neither of the two journalists ever having driven a Ferrari race car before, nor having driven at Monza, both Edd and Piers were quickly on the pace with very respectable times which were only a couple of seconds off the pace of the F430s. They finished an incredible 4th in Race 1 and 5th in Race 2, ahead of several F430s which have 90 hp more than the 360s, and ahead of several other 360s which were driven by far more experienced competitors.

“The whole team did an incredible job throughout the weekend,” Ferrari GB Motorsport Director, Enrico Bertaggia, commented. “Our drivers once again showed the way, with Ross on pole for both races and the World Finals, and a strong showing from all our drivers at the historic Autodromo di Monza. I’m particularly impressed with the team who prepared the cars, not just for the World Finals, but also throughout the season. With this level of dedication and professionalism from all involved, next year promises to be even better.”

The Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB is a collaboration of three of the UK’s official Ferrari dealers who along with Ferrari GB have created a championship winning race team ready to offer Ferrari clients the opportunity to take the chequered flag in this year’s European Championship. The dealers who provide technical support for the team are Graypaul Nottingham, HR Owen Kensington and Maranello Sales Egham. But it’s not only Ferrari technicians who support the F430 Challenge drivers each weekend, it’s also VIP guests who are invited by each dealer to spend the weekend enjoying the atmosphere of the pit lane and the Team GB’s hospitality, in a dedicated purpose-built hospitality facility which provides guests with the opportunity to meet the drivers and sample the life of a Ferrari racing driver. The Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB brings together the competitive spirit on-track with the Ferrari lifestyle during the weekend – we call it luxury lifestyle racing.