Race 1 Thrills at Indianapolis

Trofeo Pirelli. Benjamin Hites (The Collection) did his championship quest a lot of good when he converted his pole position into a race 1 win.  The joy of victory was somewhat tempered by Cooper MacNeil’s strong second place finish, mitigating the damage.  The pair were in their own league, running over ten seconds ahead of their nearest Trofeo Pirelli competitors.  Further back, Martin Burrowes (Ferrari of Ft. Lauderdale) battled Joel Weinberger (Continental Autosports) hard, aggressively defending every attempt by the Chicago-based driver to get by.  The two went on to be separated by just a few tenths when the checkered flag appeared thirty minutes later.

Trofeo Pirelli AM. Neil Gehani (Continental Autosports) made it by John Megrue (Ferrari of Long Island) to return to the top step of the podium.  Neil took his 488 Challenge car to a five second advantage over John and the rest of the Trofeo Pirelli AM field.  Barry Zekelman (Ferrari of Ontario) rounded out the top three, finishing a further seven seconds behind Megrue.

Coppa Shell. Dale Katechis (Miller Motorcars) took a highly contested win in the Coppa Shell race, beating out Mark Issa (Ferrari of Atlanta) and Brian Davis (Ferrari of Palm Beach).  First lap drama set the stage for the remainder of the contest as the field compressed as they headed into turn 1.  Unfortunately two cars came together and caused the only full course caution of the day.  Also a significant factor to the competition was a penalty handed to Mark Issa for his driving in Qualifying that sent him down the grid from what should have been a second place starting spot.  After spending almost ten minutes behind the safety car, the field returned to green-flag competition and Mark Issa began his charge to the front.  It was a remarkable drive to net second position, but the day belonged to Dale, who finished seven seconds clear of everyone else.

Coppa Shell AM. Brad Horstmann (Foreign Cars Italia) took his first ever win in the Ferrari Challenge series, earning his win by just over a second from Gianni Grilli (Ferrari of Quebec).  The two both demonstrated their skills, finishing fifth and sixth overall, ahead of much of the Coppa Shell category.  A bit further back, Bill Kemp (Ferrari of Palm Beach) took the final step on the podium, just ahead of Ted Giovannis (Ferrari of Washington).  Lisa Clark, finishing in eighth in the Coppa Shell AM category, earned the Ladies’ Cup.

Schedule. Ferrari Challenge will return to the track on Sunday, beginning with warm up at 8:00am (all times in ET).  Qualifying sessions will begin at 8:40am and will be broadcast live on live.ferrari.com.  Racing action will kick off at 12:35pm with the standard format of thirty minute races, both of which will be streamed live at the same URL.