At Lime Rock, one of the shortest and most twisty tracks in the world, last weekend the F430 fielded by Team Risi, crewed by former Scuderia Ferrari driver, the Finn Mika Salo and Brazilian Jaime Melo, the GT test driver for the Corse Cliente department of Maranello, made it to the third step of the podium. Photo: Risi Competizione/Regis Lefebure.

It was a busy weekend for the Ferrari F430, involved in three prestigious sporting events, as well as the traditional Festival of Speed meeting at Goodwood (England) which was as popular as ever with fans from around the world.

On Saturday, at the Lime Rock Park circuit (Lakeville, Connecticut) after a seven week break, the cars and drivers of the American Le Mans series were back in action, for the sixth round of their season. On one of the shortest and most twisty tracks in the world, the F430 fielded by Team Risi, crewed by former Scuderia Ferrari driver, the Finn Mika Salo and Brazilian Jaime Melo, the GT test driver for the Corse Cliente department of Maranello, made it to the third step of the podium, behind two Porsches, after a tough race, which included a puncture. The Tafel Racing F430, in the hands of Dominik Farnbacher and Dirk Mueller, finished fourth and is now second overall, just one point off the leaders, Bergmeister-Henzler. The series will be back on track this coming weekend at the Mid Ohio circuit (Lexington, Ohio).

Ferrari celebrated the return of the GT Open Championship at the Portuguese Estoril circuit, after a break of six weeks by taking the top three places. First across the finish line in the Pro-Am GT2 class was the F430 of Michele Maceratesi and Andrea Montermini, at the end of a thrilling race: the Playteam crew got the upper hand right on the last lap with a perfect passing move on the duo of Xavier Pompidou-Henri Moser (Trottet Racing,) who finished second. Thanks to a third place for the Portuguese duo of Manuel Giao-Pedro Couceiro (Playteam) the team further consolidates its lead in the general classification of the championship. The next round, the fifth, is scheduled for 31st August at the German circuit of Oschersleben (Saxony-Anhalt.)

Of the five cars entered in the sixth round of the British GT Championship, held at Brands Hatch, Ferrari scored a one-two in Race 2, courtesy of the crews entered by CR Scuderia, made up of Paddy Shovlin-Michael Cullen and Luke Hines-Jeremy Metcalfe, while a strong showing from the F430 driven by Hector Lester and Allan Simonsen (Christians in Motorsport) yielded a second place in Race 1. The English series is back on track at Silverstone on 17th August.

On a weekend to remember for race fans from all over the world, the Goodwood Festival of Speed was held in England, with the event staged in the grounds of Goodwood House (West Sussex.) It brought together historic cars of all types; sporting, collectors and competition. The event consists of a short hillclimb on private land, which saw Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro test driver Marc Gene compete in an F2007, as used by the team to win both F1 titles last year. Among the cars taking part, an F430 Fiorano, the 612 Scaglietti used on the Ferrari Magic India Discovery Driver and a 599 GTB Fiorano.