Scuderia Ferrari's Felipe
Massa was the star turn during the Ferrari Racing
Days event at the Hungaroring over the weekend, the
Brazilian wowing the crowd by demonstrating a California
road car and an F1 single-seater on the same track that
he suffered serious injuries on just last summer. The
main on-track programme of the weekend featured the F430
Challenge racers which were contesting the European and
Italian series' reserved for these "one make" machines.
Also in action over the weekend were fifteen historic
single-seaters run by the F1 Clienti department, four of
the Ferrari FXX and fourteen 599XX sports cars, all
tackling several untimed sessions, while the final day
also saw Ferrari owners' able to take to the circuit
which is the home of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Ferrari Racing
Days programme got underway in earnest on Saturday
morning when the F430s contesting the Ferrari Challenge
Trofeo Pirelli took to the track for qualifying before
the afternoon saw the first of two rounds of races
scheduled for the weekend. In qualifying for competitors
in the European series, Bjorn Grossmann (Autohaus Gohm)
set the quickest time ahead of Philipp Baron (Baron
Service) and Alexey Vasiliev (Ferrari Moscow) while
Aleksandr Skryabin (Ferrari Moscow) was quickest among
the "gentleman" in the Coppa Shell, outpacing Tibor
Valint (Warm Up) and Wido Roessler (Baron Service). In
the Italian series, Stefano Gai (Rossocorsa) would start
Race 2 from pole position after outperforming Giorgio
Sernagiotto (Motor/Piacenza) and Lorenzo Casè
(Motor/Piacenza). Fastest lap among the Coppa Shell
drivers was set by Andrea Rizzoli (Motor/Piacenza) who
outpaced Flavio Pierleoni (Motor/Malucelli) and Vincenzo
Sauto (Ineco/MP).
Racing got underway in the afternoon with the first
event for the European Trofeo Pirelli and proceedings
were dominated by Baron who took victory in Race
1, ahead of Robert Pergl (Scuderia Praha) and Max
Blancardi (Motor/Malucelli). Aleksandr Skryabin (Ferrari
Moscow) was first past the flag in the Coppa Shell to
stand on the top step of the podium, with Roessler and
Valint alongside him in second and third spots. In Race
1 of the Italian series, the win went to Gai in a
spectacular race, held in the rain, in which he got the
better of Quinto Stefana (Rossocorsa) and Sernagiotto.
For the Coppa Shell competitors, Enrich Prinoth (Ineco/MP)
came out on top, crossing the line ahead of Pierleoni
and Rizzoli.
The final day, Sunday,
featured two more rounds of racing in the European and
Italian series of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli.
In addition there were more free practice sessions for
the FXX, 599XX and the historic single-seaters. The
highlight of the day was the appearance of Massa, who
drove a few laps of the track at the wheel of a Ferrari
California and then thrilled the crowds in the
grandstands with a demonstration run in an F60, the
single-seater with which Scuderia Ferrari contested the
2009 F1 season. There was also some non-racing track
activity, as many Ferrari owners' were able to get
behind the wheel of their own cars as part of the
special “Emozioni in pista” programme.
Back to the race action Victory in Race 2 of the
European Trofeo Pirelli went to Baron, his second win of
the weekend in the series, this time coming out ahead of
Vasiliev and Pergl, who had taken the runners-up spot
the previous day. As for the gentleman drivers in the
Coppa Shell, Skryabin also took his second win, crossing
the line ahead of Valint and Roessler, these latter two
drivers having also occupied the lower two steps of the
podium the day before, that time though with the
finishing positions switched. In the afternoon race
counting towards the Italian series, Gai once again had
the measure of the field, beating Sernagiotto and
Riccardo Ragazzi (Ineco/MP) into second and third
respectively. Coming out on top in the Coppa Shell was
the previous day's runner-up, Pierleoni, with Rizzoli
second and Massimo Mantovani (Motor/Malucelli).
The next round of the
European series of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli
takes place in France at the Paul Ricard HTTT circuit
(Le Castellet), over the weekend of 19 September, while
the Italian series of the one-make championship is back
in action at the Pietro Taruffi Circuit, Vallelunga on
10 October.