Ferrari Finali Mondiali Saturday report

Ferrari Finali Mondiali: Gai and Roessler champions in Valencia

Cheste (Valencia), 27 November -- The third day of the Ferrari Finali Mondiali got underway with the final qualifying session for the Ferrari Historic Race -- Trofeo Shell, with grid positions remaining largely unchanged from yesterday, with the exception of the appearance of Christian Chavy, who at the wheel of a Ferrari F40, set the third fastest time (2.03.694,) behind the Ferrari 512 BBLM of Mister John of B (1.52.510) and the 308 GTB of Pierangelo Masselli (1.57.873.) The first staging of this race saw victory in Race 1 go to Chavy, who managed to get into the lead on lap 2, before running a solitary race to the flag, ahead of Mr John of B and Pierangelo Masselli. The fantastic historic Ferraris will be back on track tomorrow morning, for their second race.

Also today, the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli crowned its 2010 champions in the final round which also saw competitors in the North American one-make series take to the track. Stefano Gai (Rossocorsa,) thanks to a sixth place in Race 2, took the Italian Trofeo Pirelli title, while Andrea Rizzoli (Motor/Piacenza) emerged victorious in the Coppa Shell. Among the competitors in the European series, the victor's laurels went to Wido Roessler (Baron Service,) in the category for gentleman drivers, while the European Trofeo Pirelli title had already gone to Philipp Baron, who won the championship at Le Castellet, just as Enzo Potolicchio has taken the North American title at Watkins Glen. Tomorrow, it is the world titles that are up for grabs in two races, at 09.50 and 12.10 for the Coppa Shell and Trofeo Pirelli drivers respectively.

In Race 2 of the Italian Trofeo Pirelli, the winner was Lorenzo Case (Motor/Piacenza) ahead of Dario Caso (CDP) and Riccardo Ragazzi (Ineco/MP.) Flavio Pierleoni (Motor/Malucelli) won the second race for the gentleman drivers in the Coppa Shell, getting the better of new champion Andrea Rizzoli (Motor/Piacenza) and Massimo Mantovani (Motor/Malucelli.)

In this afternoon's combined European and North American series race, Bjorn Grossman (Autohaus Gohm) was first past the flag ahead of Philipp Baron (Baron Service) and Max Blancardi (Motor/Malucelli) in the European Trofeo Pirelli. Wido Roessler (Baron Service) emerged victorious in the Coppa Shell, followed home by Marco Galassi (Motor/Malucelli) and Torbjorn Ekstrand (Autoropa.) Of the American runners, the best finisher was Scott Tucker (Boardwalk Ferrari) followed by Francesco Piovanetti (The Collection) and Guy Leclerc (Ferrari of Ontario.)

Adding to the appeal of this event, there were non-competitive appearances from Formula 1 cars from the past and cars entered in the FXX and 599XX programmes. Tomorrow will feature an exhibition from the GT cars followed by the demonstration of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team.

Ferrari Historic Race -- Act One

Valencia, 27 November -- The second qualifying session for the first ever Ferrari Historic Race -- Trofeo Shell got the Saturday of the Finali Mondiali Ferrari underway at Valencia's Ricardo Tormo circuit. Grid positions remained largely unchanged compared to yesterday's session, with the exception of the appearance of Christian Chavy, a new competitor, who set the third fastest time (2.03.694) at the wheel of a Ferrari F40, behind the Ferrari 512 BB LM of Mister John of B (1.52.510) and Pierangelo Masselli (1.57.837) in a 308 GTB. In Race 1, Mr. John of B immediately went into the lead, chased by Pierangelo Masselli and Chavy, the latter having made a cautious start to bring his tyres up to temperature. But as from the start of lap 2, Chavy made the most of his power advantage in the F40 to go into the lead: from then on he strolled to victory out on his own, in stark contrast to the efforts of his pursuers. Mr. John of B came home nineteen seconds down, with Pierangelo Masselli taking a well deserved third place. The fabulous historic Ferraris will be back on track on Sunday morning for their second race.

-source: ferrari