It was a historical moment for Ferrari today as the first ever race of the Ferrari Challenge UK series took place at Brands Hatch.
Podium protagonists. Jason Baker (Dick Lovett Swindon) was the outright race winner, as well as the Trofeo Pirelli class. In the Coppa Shell category, Mark McAllister (Lancaster Ferrari Colchester) was victorious. Both drivers converted pole position into a win. In the Trofeo Pirelli, Jamie Clarke (Stratstone Manchester) and Wayne Marrs (Dick Lovett Swindon) finished second and third respectively, with the podium in the Coppa Shell class being completed by Toby Flanagan (Maranello Sales) in second and Alex Moss (Graypaul Birmingham) in third.
Action-packed race. The race featured plenty of action and overtaking from start to finish, even though the race was punctuated by the occasional yellow flags, a safety car and a red flag in the closing laps. Jason Baker initially pulled out a strong lead over Jamie Clarke, until contact between Josh Kirkwood-Jones (H.R. Owen London) and David Grover (H.R. Owen London) left Grover stranded in the gravel at the bottom of Paddock Hill bend, which prompted a safety car. This bunched the field back up, and from the restart Jason Baker was unable to pull out a lead. For the rest of the race, a heated battle ensued with Jamie Clarke right on Baker’s tail, until the race was brought to an abrupt end due to a red flag caused by the car of Gary Redman (Graypaul Nottingham) coming to a halt in an unsafe position on the outside of clearways.
Race-2. On Sunday 19 May, a second qualifying session will take place at 11.15 ahead of Race 2 which gets underway at 14.50.