Ferrari Challenge Completes Thrilling Weekend at Daytona

The Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli made a thrilling debut on the high banking of the Daytona International Speedway in support of the 24 Hours at Daytona.  Saturday morning’s race was run under cloudier skies, but less wind than earlier in the weekend.  Drivers took the green flag just a few minutes past 9:30 and raced hard for thirty minutes.  Fierce competition marked the thirty minute race with some podium winners earned penalties for their driving tactics.   Trofeo Pirelli. Peter Ludwig (Wide World Ferrari) took the top step of the podium in the Trofeo Pirelli class after a late braking maneuver took him past pole-sitter Cooper MacNeil (Ferrari of Silicon Valley).  Cooper did his best to keep Peter honest, but besides late drama with a back-marker, Peter was able to hold on for the win.  James Weiland (Boardwalk Ferrari) took his second podium of the weekend as well in a distant third.   Trofeo Pirelli AM – Rob Hodes took the top step of the podium in the Trofeo Pirelli AM class in his Ferrari of Vancouver 488 Challenge car.  Rob was able to take a fairly comfortable victory after contact between Dave Musial (Lake Forest Sportscars) and Alfred Caiola (Ferrari of Long Island) sent Alfred back to 9^th in class and earned Dave a post-race time penalty.  Barry Zekelman (Ferrari of Ontario) and Osvaldo Gaio (Miller Motorcars) were promoted to second and third place respectively.   Coppa Shell -  The Coppa Shell class results were marred by post-race penalties, most importantly to Mark Fuller of Ferrari of Westlake.  While Mark was first to cross the line, a driving infraction meant a 1 second penalty dropped him to second.  That advanced Brian Kaminskey (Ferrari of Long Island) to the top step of the podium with Chris Carel (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) in third.   Coppa Shell AM – Thomas Tippl (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) took his first ever victory in his first Ferrari Challenge weekend at the Daytona International Speedway, holding off his rival, Dale Katechis (Miller Motorcars) by two seconds.  Brian Simon of Cauley Ferrari of Detroit finished in third position.     [playlist4me id="9dbaee44-30b8-47a4-b22a-5c1f82335624"]