Ferrari Challenge Thrills as Part of Ferrari Racing Days

The bluebird conditions of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca continued into the afternoon as drivers took to the circuit to contest the opening round of Ferrari Challenge action at Laguna Seca.

Trofeo Pirelli. Cooper MacNeil (Scuderia Corsa – Ferrari of Westlake) took a lights to flag victory in Race 1 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.  The American pilot took a strong morning qualifying session and kept the momentum for Race 1 in the afternoon, setting fastest lap and leading every lap on the way to a perfect victory.  Benjamin Hites (The Collection) fell back a bit at the start as Cooper generated a 4 second gap, but the young Chilean driver managed his tires better and had begun to close the gap to Cooper towards the end.  By the end of the race, the two championship rivals were only 2.4 seconds apart.  The two were all alone as Martin Burrowes (Ferrari of Ft Lauderdale) burned off his tires a bit too early and spent the second half of the race in a defensive position.  On the final lap, Thomas Tippl made a bold move to the inside at Turn 5 before an error in the latter half of the lap allowed Martin to squeeze back by in Turn 10 before racing to the line.

Trofeo Pirelli AM. Neil Gehani (Continental Autosports) took the Trofeo Pirelli AM win after a prolonged scrap with Karl Williams (Boardwalk Ferrari).  The two diced closely and around Martin Burrowes as the Trofeo Pirelli driver sank back to them due to his overuse of the Pirelli tire.  In an effort to get by him as quickly as possible, Karl was a bit overeager on the throttle and spun at the exit of Turn 2, gifting the lead to Neil.  John Megrue (Ferrari of Long Island) took a strong third place finish but was 12 seconds back at the checkered flag.

Coppa Shell. Mark Issa (Ferrari of Atlanta) took a dominant win in the Coppa Shell category, winning by over second seconds compared to his nearest competition.  He set fastest lap of the race as well making for a perfect day with his pole position and leading every lap.  Oscar Paredes Arroyo (Ferrari of Ft Lauderdale) took second place and Gentleman’s Cup honors, holding off Dale Katechis (Miller Motorcars) by just four tenths as they crossed the line.  The two also found themselves isolated for much of the race, running a further ten seconds ahead of their nearest competitor in class, Geoff Palermo (Ferrari of San Francisco).

Coppa Shell AM. Jay Schreibman (Cauley Ferrari) also captured a perfect weekend, with pole position in the morning, fastest lap in class in the race and the win, beating new to the podium for 2019, Rodolfo Lenci (Ferrari of Ft. Lauderdale) by just over four seconds.  Rodolfo, however, had his hands full with a resurgent Lisa Clark (Scuderia Corsa – Ferrari of Beverly Hills) who finished only two tenths behind.  Besides taking the third step on the podium, Lisa also captured the Ladies Cup.

Schedule. Cars will take to the track again at 8:30am for warm ups followed by qualifying at 9:00am.  F1 Clienti will take to the track for the final time at 11:10am followed by Ferrari Challenge racing action starting at 12:30pm.  The XX Programme will conclude the weekend with their final session starting at 2:20pm.  All times in GMT +7.