The North American leg of Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli is set to continue this weekend with the third round of the 2021 season at Watkins Glen International. With 45 racing entries, a further eleven participating in the Club Challenge lapping experience, and the attendees of the Club Competizioni GT programme, the paddock is once again full of GT racing Ferraris.
A Historic Venue. The famed Watkins Glen circuit has been the site of numerous historic and important victories, even dating back to when the circuit acted as the home of Formula 1 in the United States. With Grand Prix wins in 1975 (Lauda), 1978 (Reutemann) and 1980 (Villeneuve), and the most recent GT win in 2019 earned by Toni Vilander and Daniel Serra, Ferrari has amassed a significant history at one of the most iconic venues in the US. The Challenge series made its most recent stop in 2018 when Cooper MacNeil (Ferrari of Westlake) secured back to back wins on his way to earning the 2018 Trofeo Pirelli class championship and Thomas Tippl (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) secured an incredible 9th consecutive victory in the Coppa Shell category.
Championships continue to develop. On the back of perfect weekends thus far, Cooper MacNeil (Ferrari of Westlake) continues to be the sole entry in the Trofeo Pirelli category and thus leads that category. Meanwhile, Jason McCarthy (Wide World Ferrari) was promoted to Trofeo Pirelli AM1, and preliminarily leads the category with 64 points over Martin Burrowes (Ferrari of Ft. Lauderdale) by six points before their first races since this re-classification. McCarthy departing Trofeo Pirelli AM2 has promoted Brian Davis (Ferrari of Palm Beach) to the head of the AM2 category, leading John Megrue (Ferrari of Long Island) by eleven points. In Coppa Shell, Todd Coleman (Ferrari of Denver) leads Dave Musial Jr. (Ferrari of Lake Forest) by six points while Lance Cawley (Ferrari of Atlanta) leads the Coppa Shell AM category.
Club Competizioni GT Returns. After starting the season at Virginia International Raceway in March, returning to Europe for a round at the world temple of speed, Monza, Club Competizioni GT will make its North American return at Watkins Glen. Open to Ferrari GT racing cars from the past 30 years, this weekend will mark the North American debut of the Ferrari 488 GT Modificata as the first North American delivery will be completed during the weekend.
Schedule. Testing sessions will run on Wednesday and Thursday as drivers have eight hours per day in available track time. Official sessions will begin on Friday with practice for much of the day on Friday and qualifying and racing on both Saturday and Sunday. All qualifying and race sessions will be live streamed at live.ferrari.com.