Ferrari took centre stage at the annual Autosport International racing car show at the NEC in Birmingham last weekend. This was the first time that Ferrari’s Competizioni GT and Corse Clienti departments had a motor show stand dedicated to the company’s racing activities.
On display were a Ferrari 488 Challenge, with which clients compete in the Ferrari Challenge European series, the world-championship 488 GTE driven by James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi, a FXX K EVO, the new entry into the XX Programmes cars, an F2004 F1 single-seater that takes part in the F1 Clienti activities, and the SF17H F1 car driven by Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen during the 2017 season.
As part of the company’s involvement in the show, Ferrari drivers and World Champions James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi were protagonists on the Autosport main stage, entertaining the live audiences with a recap of their experiences in Ferrari GT racing and what it feels like to be a world champion. Ferrari drivers Miguel Molina and Marc Gene joined the show on the Friday and Saturday.
Ferrari also presented its support for the “Muner” project (Motor Vehicle University of Emilia Romagna) which is a new initiative with four Universities in the Italian Motor Valley, based in the Emilia Romagna region, in partnership with several automotive manufacturers in the region.
The initiative will see the Universities offering a range of Master’s Degree level courses with the aim of preparing young top-class engineers for the automotive industry.
Finally, Autosport International was an appropriate location for Ferrari to announce the company’s intention to evaluate to launch a dedicated Ferrari Challenge series in the UK in 2019. A dedicated UK series of the Ferrari Challenge would be run to the same regulations as the Ferrari Challenge European Series, and would be open to any UK clients who own a Ferrari 488 Challenge race car. Further details regarding the potential race calendar and other technical details will be announced during the Ferrari Challenge Europe’s UK race weekend, which takes places at Silverstone in April.
