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Under
beautiful cloudless skies on a warm spring day in Italy,
the Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB kicked off their
2008 campaign with an excellent performance from the
team, with one pole position, a race win and another
podium finish in the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli –
Coppa Shell Championship which started at Monza this
weekend.
Team Vertu
Racing driver, Mike Cantillon in Car 128, scored another
pole position and fantastic race win to add to his extensive
tally of strong finishes last year. After starting from the
front, Mike held the lead for most of the race and was under
constant pressure from behind, with several close encounters
particularly at the first chicane where the cars concertina
heavy under braking and provide most of the action during
the weekend.
Although losing
the lead temporarily towards the end of the race, Mike was
determined not to lose the advantage of his pole position
and managed to clinch the lead again on the last corner.
Taking the top step of the podium, Mike was cheered on by
the team and by guests from the Ferrari GB dealer network
who were invited to enjoy the race weekend and the exclusive
hospitality that is offered by Ferrari GB to valued Ferrari
clients.
Team Vertu
Racing’s second driver, Jamie Constable, started Race 2 in
6th place and was in the middle of a pack of cars which
leaned on each other – quite literally – at every corner,
but managed to scythe his way through the pack and finish an
excellent 5th in a race which was a concentrated rush of
adrenaline for both the drivers and fans. Jamie’s pre-race
pace suggested he could have made up more places during the
race, but the constant jockeying for position with those
around him, and the back markers which became a feature of
the latter half of the race, meant that Jamie’s 5th place
result was well deserved.
Jack Gerber, a
new driver who joins the Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB
this year, also competes in the Coppa Shell category for
gentleman drivers and his car runs in a very distinctive
team livery which also includes the flag of his native South
Africa. After a successful first race on Saturday, when he
qualified mid-field and brought the car home in
an excellent first race 18th position out of 25 finishers,
Jack started Race 2 on Sunday in the middle of the field,
this time in 19th out of 28 starters. Throughout the Race,
Jack’s lap times kept showing significant improvement as he
learnt his way around the circuit and challenged for places
in the middle of the field. The Ferrari Challenge may be for
gentleman drivers, but that doesn’t stop them from trying to
go around the Monza chicane 2 or 3 wide, as Jack found out
in the middle of the race when another competitor decided
he’d like to occupy the same square inch of tarmac as the
South African, with the Team GB car unfortunately having to
retire from the race. Jack is excited about his first race
weekend as a Ferrari Challenge driver and is confident of
improving his qualifying and race positions now that he
knows what to expect when the Ferrari Challenge comes to
Silverstone in the middle of April.
The remaining
Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB’s driver, Yannick Mallegol,
also suffered from contact during Race 2 and finished
watching from the side lines. However, Jean Marc Bachelier’s
excellent qualifying and podium finish in Race 1 on Saturday
demonstrates that Car 129 has the pace to keep up with the
best of them, and Yannick now has the benefit of analysing
the data and race telemetry from Jean Marc’s confident drive
in Race 1 to understand how he can improve his racing lines,
braking points and throttle modulation. This is one of the
advantages of the Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB, with
every car having full telemetry and experienced race
instructors to help the drivers analyse their performance
throughout the weekend and think about where improvements
could be made.
The
representatives from the Ferrari GB dealer network who were
hosted by Ferrari GB throughout the weekend were treated to
a very special event, not just at the track with exclusive
pit and paddock access and unrivalled hospitality from Team
Vertu Racing, but also with an exclusive demonstration and
dining experience from luxury partners KitchenAid at the
Sadlers Restaurant in Milan on Saturday evening. The Team
Vertu Racing hospitality at the Ferrari Challenge events is
reserved exclusively for VIP guests of Ferrari and the
team’s partners at each round of the Ferrari Challenge
Trofeo Pirelli. The next round of the championship is at
Silverstone from 18-20 April, when the Ferrari Challenge
drivers will have the chance to mingle with the FIA GT
drivers who will also be racing at the Northamptonshire
circuit during the same weekend.
Saturday 29 March – Race
Report
The Ferrari
Challenge Dealer Team GB’s 2008 season fired up in true
competitive style, with a very strong qualifying performance
and race pace, with Jean Marc Bachelier in Car 129 finishing
Race 1 on the podium in 3rd place, while Team Vertu Racing
driver, Mike Cantillon in Car 128 qualified in Pole Position
for Race 2 on Sunday. These results demonstrate that the
team has the right drivers and the right equipment to put
forward a strong challenge throughout the season, with the
intention of scoring more pole positions, podiums and race
wins than the many they scored in 2007.
Jean Marc
qualified an excellent 6th on the grid for Race 1, but
quickly moved to the front of the field and kept up a
determined pace throughout the race; he pressured the top
two cars lap after lap but was unable to make a passing move
and finished only a couple of seconds behind the leader
after a grueling 38 minute race in the warm Italian spring
sunshine at Monza. Jean Marc’s co-driver, Yannick Mallegol,
drives in Race 2 on Sunday.
Team Vertu
Racing driver, Mike Cantillon in Car 128, started his
Ferrari Challenge 2008 season with a well rewarded pole
position in Race 2 at Monza, following an off-track
excursion in the practice session that meant he missed
qualifying for Race 1 while the team worked through the
night to re-prepare his car ready for qualifying 2 on
Saturday morning. Mike’s qualifying time of 1’55.516 was
only 2/100ths of a second ahead of 2nd place driver Kralev
in Car 171, demonstrating the incredibly competitive nature
of Europe’s most exclusive and glamourous single-marque
racing series.
Having missed
qualifying for Race 1, Mike was forced to start from the
back of the starting grid on Saturday afternoon, but soon
made his way through the field to finish in an incredible
6th place. Before the start of the race on Saturday
afternoon, Mike said the best he could hope for would be to
finish in the points, with a full grid of evenly matched
cars ahead of him. However, Mike’s pace throughout the race
was often quicker than the leaders, and he quickly made his
way past the back markers to contend for a top points’
position. His car was clearly set up well, with a sterling
performance in qualifying in the morning and a blistering
pace in the race in the afternoon. With the confidence of a
quick car and a prime starting position, the team was
confident Mike would be a main contender for a win in Race 2
on Sunday.
In his second
year in the Ferrari Challenge, Mike drives for Team Vertu
Racing and is partnered by Jamie Constable who won at Spa
and shared the podium with Mike at the last race of the
season at Mugello during the World Finals in 2007. This
weekend, Jamie qualified for Race 1 with an excellent time
of 1’56.023 putting him 4th on the grid, and for Race 2 with
a similar time of 1’56.042 which meant a 6th place starting
position – losing 2/100ths of a second and two grid
positions for the Race on Sunday. Unfortunately, in Race 1,
Jamie suffered some contact with another driver in the
notorious chicanes at Monza, and had to respect a drive
through penalty which pushed him down the order and out of
the points.
The Ferrari
Challenge Dealer Team GB’s newest driver this year, Jack
Gerber, driving Car 126 dressed in the flag of his native
South Africa, settled in well to the team and qualified in
an excellent 16th (out of 25) for Race 1 and 19th (out of
28) for Race 2. His excellent qualifying sessions meant he
was in the thick of the action at the first chicane on the
famed Monza circuit for his first race – not a place for the
faint-hearted – but managed to keep the car on the black
stuff and brought the car home a very credible 18th out of
25 finishers.
The
Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli
It was in 1993
with the Ferrari 348 Berlinetta that the Ferrari Challenge
first took to the race tracks of the world. With the
development of the F355 and then the outstanding 360
Challenge, the series has grown to take in three
championships: the USA, Europe and a dedicated Italian
series. All of which offer the chance for clients to enjoy
the unique sensation of being a Ferrari racing driver with
the full support of factory trained technicians and race
crew.
The racing
follows the format of any professional race series with a
three-day meeting around a weekend. There are two distinct
classes within the Ferrari Challenge: the Trofeo Pirelli for
the more experienced drivers and the Coppa Shell for those
who are new to racing. In the European Championship, there
are seven six weekend race meetings on some of the most
challenging and iconic race circuits: Monza, Silverstone,
Paul Ricard, Misano, Budapest, Nürburgring and at the World
Finals in Italy (location TBC). Each race weekend starts on
Friday with free practice and qualifying and includes 40
minute races on both Saturday and Sunday, allowing time for
the drivers to relax and enjoy the luxury of their
surroundings – this is a Ferrari event after all.
The latest
technology on the cars, the best pit crews with the most
sophisticated equipment, the most enthusiastic Ferrari
owners driving the most modern F430 Challenge cars on the
finest racing circuits can only mean one thing - The Ferrari
Challenge Trofeo Pirelli is in town.
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