Ferrari newsletter 2008-10-20

F430 triumph in four countries

Maranello (Modena) - This weekend the F430 was the star of no less than four different international GT competitions, taking three one-two finishes in the FIA GT Championship, the American Le Mans Series and the Italian GT Championship, in addition to first and third positions in both Spanish GT Championship races.

In the ninth outing in the 2008 FIA GT Championship at Zolder in Belgium, Toni Vilander and Gianmaria Bruni, already crowned champions during the Norgaro (France) round, celebrated their fifth victory of the season. Matteo Malucelli and Paolo Ruberti finished second behind the AF Corse Ferrari, thereby consolidating their overall second ranking in the championship. The third step on the podium went to the Porsche of Marc Lieb-Markus Palttala. The next and final round of the FIA GT season gets underway on November 23rd at San Luis in Argentina.

The 11th and last round of the American Le Mans Series played out last Saturday at Laguna Seca (California), with victory in the GT2 class going to the F430 of Dominik Farnbacher and Dirk Muller, ahead of the Ferrari of Mika Salo-Jaime Melo (Risi Competizione), which finished second despite a broken suspension, and the Panoz Esperante of Tom Milner-Joey Hand. Thanks to those vital points, the Tafel Racing team held on to its position second from the top in the overall championship rankings, just behind the Porsche of newly crowned champions Jorg Bergmeister-Wolf Henzler and ahead of that of Johannes van Overbeek-Patrick Pilet.

In the two races held for the fifth round of the Spanish GT Championship at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Spain, the F430s took both first and third podium positions. Ricardo Bravo and Lourenco B da Veiga (ASM Team) did the honours in Race 1 while in Race 2 Manuel Cerqueda-Luis Perez Sala (Automobil Club D'Andorra) triumphed. Miguel Amaral-Miguel A. de Castro's Porsche and Josep Mayola-Marc Carol's Ferrari (Josep Mayola) took second and third positions respectively in both races also. The Spanish series is back on the weekend of November 9th at the Algarve circuit in Portugal where the sixth and final round of the season will play out.

The conclusive round of the Italian GT Championship at Vallelunga saw the title go to Max Busnelli and Gabriele Lancieri at the wheel of the Ferrari F 430 fielded by Playteam Sarafree. The new champions finished fifth in Race 1 and won Race 2, to finish two points ahead in the overall rankings of Alex Caffi and Emanuele Moncini (Villorba Corse), who finished second in both races. Portuguese driver Cruz Martins, winner of Race 1 paired with Richard Leitz, in a Porsche, ended the season in third position, 17 points behind the winners. The F430s of Salvatore Tavano-Rui Aguas (Advanced Engineering) and Marco Cioci-Piergiuseppe Perazzini (Megadrive) took the third step on the podium in both races too.

-credit: ferrari