The seventh, and penultimate, round of the season for the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli Europe, hosted at Spa-Francorchamps circuit, has completed its first day of racing for the 296 Challenge cars. Victory in the Trofeo Pirelli class went to Felix Hirsiger (Ineco – Reparto Corse RAM), who extends his lead at the head of the overall standings, while in the Coppa Shell the first win went to John Dhillon (Formula Racing).

Hendrik Viol (Scuderia Praha Racing) won in Trofeo Pirelli Am, taking another step towards clinching the class title, while Jan Sandmann (Kessel Racing) prevailed in Coppa Shell Am.

During the Ferrari Racing Days, which also brings together all Prancing Horse's exclusive non-competitive programmes at the Ardennes circuit, Olivier Beretta, Ferrari Ambassador Driver, and Yifei Ye, Ferrari Factory Driver and winner of the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans, are present at the iconic Ardennes circuit in their capacity as Race Advisors for the Ferrari Challenge races.

Trofeo Pirelli. Victory for championship leader Felix Hirsiger who, also thanks to the bonus point for pole position in qualifying and for the fastest lap in the race in 2’19”084, pulled further clear of his rival Jasin Ferati (Emil Frey Racing). The latter was the first to take the chequered flag after a prolonged battle with the Ineco – Reparto Corse RAM driver, but his overtake on leader Hirsiger on the first lap, which was completed outside the track limits, earned him a 5-second penalty that demoted him to second place. Joining the two Swiss drivers on the podium was local man Gilles Renmans (Francorchamps Motors Brussels) who, after losing positions at the start, managed to recover to take third place.

In Trofeo Pirelli AM it was another victory, his third consecutive after the twin wins in Barcelona, for Hendrik Viol, who edged ever closer to the title, also thanks to setting the fastest lap in the class. The Czech, with an excellent getaway, took the lead of the race and never relinquished it until the finish. Second place went to David Gostner (CDP – MP Racing), ahead of Venezuelan Angelo Fontana (Rossocorsa), who climbed the podium of the series for the first time this season.

Coppa Shell. A first win of the season for John Dhillon, who benefited from the double 5-second penalties given to Oscar Ryndziewicz (Kessel Racing) and Ernst Kirchmayr (Kessel Racing) for exceeding track limits; the pair had been fighting for the lead for a long time and took the chequered flag in first and second place respectively. After the penalty, Ryndziewicz, who started from pole and also set the fastest lap of 2’22”290, still held on to second place, while third went to Cristiano Maciel (FBO - Motor Sports).

A solid race, in Coppa Shell AM, for Jan Sandmann, who started from pole position and steadily increased his advantage until the line. Thanks also to the bonus point for the fastest lap of the race, the Kessel Racing driver closed the gap to championship leader Sven Schömer (Penske Sportwagen Hamburg), sixth today.

A tight battle ensued behind Sandmann, with Andreas König (Emil Frey Racing) successfully defending second place right to the final lap ahead of ‘Boris Gideon’ (Autohaus Ulrich) in third, while Norikazu Shibata (Formula Racing) finished just off the podium.

Programme. On Sunday, 21 September, the second day of racing in the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli Europe at Spa will see the 296 Challenge cars of Coppa Shell Am be on track at 10.30 a.m. At 1.40 p.m. it will be the turn of Race-2 of Trofeo Pirelli and Trofeo Pirelli Am, with Coppa Shell following at 3.45 p.m. Tomorrow’s races will also be broadcast live on Ferrari’s YouTube channel and on live.ferrari.com. In Italy they will be shown live with Italian commentary on the DAZN television platform.