North America - Close Competition in Monterey

Monterey, Calif. (7 May 2018) - A gorgeous spring day greeted Ferrari Challenge competitors at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca for the second day of action.   458 EVO Martin Burroues (Ferrari of Ft. Lauderdale), Trevor Baek (Ron Tonkin Grand Turismo) and Phil Trigiani (Ferrari of Ft. Lauderdale) made up the podium in the 458 EVO class.  Martin took over the lead on the very first lap, and never really looked back.  Trevor Baek soon followed on lap five while Phil made a monster start to jump two places in the opening two laps from sixth to fourth.  He managed to make up another place in the last few laps to round out the podium in third.  Lisa Clark (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) claimed the Ladies' Cup.   Coppa Shell AM  John Megrue (Ferrari of Long Island) claimed victory over Dale Katechis (Miller Motorcars) and Kevan Millstein (Ferrari of San Diego).  John spent the entire race battling not only with Coppa Shell AM class competitors, but also those in the Coppa Shell class, finishing seventh overall.  Brian Simon (Cauley Ferrari) started in second, but had a disastrous lap thirteen, falling two places and promoting Dale and Kevan into their respective podium positions.   Coppa Shell Thomas Tippl (Ferrari Beverly Hills), Chris Carel (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) and Michael Fassbender claimed the three steps of the podium.  While Thomas was able to race away early and build a gap, Chris Carel and Michael were locked in a race-long battle for second, never more than two or three seconds apart.  Mark Fuller (Ferrari of Westlake) ran well in the early going, but Chris and Michael were soon able to make their way by while Mark eventually finished fourth.   Trofeo Pirelli AM  John Boyd (Ferrari of Denver), Alfred Caiola (Ferrari of Long Island) and Rob Hodes (Ferrari of Washington) claimed the podium in the Trofeo Pirelli AM class.  Ross Chouest (Ferrari of Palm Beach) led much of the early-going and set the fastest lap in the class, but a mid-race spin caused him to fall several positions and out of podium contention.  Second place, however came down to the last lap, as Alfred Caiola and Rob Hodes swapped positons on the final lap of the thirty-minute race.   Trofeo Pirelli Peter Ludwig (Wide World Ferrari), Joseph Rubbo (Ferrari of Long Island) and Christopher Cagnazzi (Ferrari of Long Island) captured the podium in the Trofeo Pirelli race.  Cooper MacNeil (Ferrari of Beverly Hills), the winner of Race 1 was unable to join the competition due to other IMSA commitments.  The whole podium ran effectively line-to-stern for the duration of the race.  Peter was able to quickly build an unconquerable gap while Joe and Chris were perpetually under nearby threat from Benjamin Hites (The Collection) and Angie King (Ferrari of Beverly Hills).   Schedule Ferrari Challenge will return on June 8 as a support race to the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.     [playlist4me id="48f7474f-cd70-42ad-bf42-de2f8722b89c"]