The opening round of this
season’s Italian and European editions of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli
took place this weekend at the
Autodromo Nazionale
Monza,
with the focus of attention being the debut of the new 458 Challenge. The car's
maiden outing was watched by special guests in the shape
of Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa and Enrico Galleria,
Ferrari Commercial and Marketing Director, who were in
Monza for this special debut. A good crowd, which on
Sunday alone reached 24,000.
Victory in the second and closely contested leg of the European division
was decided pretty much at the start with the advantage
going to Alexandr
Skryabin (Ferrari Moscow) who, of the drivers
in the Trofeo Pirelli category remained solidly in command for the
entire race, despite the arrival of the safety car after
Howard Blank’s (Motor Piacenza) accident. The Ferrari
Moscow man crossed the line ahead of Max Blancardi
(Motor Malucelli) and Alexey Vasiliev (Ferrari Moscow)
with both men driving great races featuring amazing
climbs up the order.
Equally closely fought was the race
to the podium for the gentleman drivers in the Coppa Shell:
Jean Marc Bachelier
(Motor Piacenza) took the win ahead of Dirk Adamski
(Baron Service) and Dennis Andersen (Formula Automobie),
while of those in the, Alexadner Moiseev (Motor Piacenza) was first, beating Carsten Andersen
(Formula Automobile.)
In the Italian Trofeo
Pirelli, the top step of the podium was
occupied once again by Stefano Gai: the Rossocorsa driver led all 35
minutes of the race, to finish ahead of Giorgio
Sernagiotto (Motor Piacenza) who drove a consistent and
error free race. Lorenzo Bontempelli (Kessel Racing)
having started alongside Gai, had to pit early and then
climbed up the order to stand on the third step of the
podium. In the Coppa
Shell race, Benedetto Marti (Motor Piacenza) took a
fantastic win, getting the better of Mario Molteni (Rossocorsa)
and Emilio Rossi (Motor Piacenza.) In the second leg of
the F430 Challenge Giosuè Rizzuto (Motor/Modena) was impressive on his way to the win over
Sossio del Prete (CDP) and Andrea D’Antonio (Ineco/Ram.)
Competitors in the European Ferrari Challenge Trofeo
Pirelli will be back in action at the Ricardo Tormo
circuit, Cheste near Valencia over the weekend of 8 May,
while they and the Italian competitors will both race in
the brand new round at the Le Mans circuit on 11 June,
in one race with separate classifications, as a curtain
raiser to the famous Le Mans 24 Hours.
