24H SERIES – Season Review 2018
Posted: 05.01.2019
Source: Ferrari
Three victories for Ferrari of Scuderia Praha
Maranello, 5 January 2019 – The Ferrari 488 GT3 of Scuderia Praha, crewed by Jiri Pisarik, Josef Kral and Matteo Malucelli, was extraordinarily competitive in the 24H Series season. The car clinched three wins and always finished among the points, even in the most difficult situations. After debuting in the European series with a fourth place at Silverstone, the Czech team won the 12 Hours of Navarra, failed in their assault on the 12 Hours of Imola but then triumphed at the 24 Hours of Portimao. In the fifth round at Barcelona, the three Ferrari drivers in car no. 11 held the lead for much of the race but finally had to settle for second place following a technical hitch. They then bounced back in the 12 hours of Spa-Francorchamps where they claimed their third victory, bringing Scuderia Praha in second position in the championship standings.
VdeV Endurance – Season Review 2018
Posted: 05.01.2019
Source: Ferrari
Visiom dominates the season
Maranello, 5 January 2019 – Visiom Racing and its Ferrari 488 GT3 once again dominated the GTV1 class of the VdeV Endurance championship. Jean-Paul Pagny, Jean-Bernard Bouvet and Thierry Perrier only lost to their rivals in the first race at Barcelona, but then regularly got the better them, with victories (in chronological order) at Magny-Cours, the Paul Ricard, Dijon, Navarra, Le Mans, the shorter Bugatti circuit, and the Portuguese track of Estoril.
Nürburgring 24H – Season Review 2018
Posted: 04.01.2019
Source: Ferrari
Ferrari of Team Monschau best in Pro-Am class
Maranello, 4 January 2019 – The 488 GT3 of Wochenspiegel Team Monschau, assisted by Rinaldi Racing, was the only Ferrari entered in the Nürburgring 24 Hours, completed the race and won the Pro-Am class. As always, the 23 km of the German track presented a series of hazards. In truth, the 2018 race lasted less than 24 hours due to severe bad weather.
Interruption. Having started in good conditions, a real storm hit the track in the early hours of the morning, putting many drivers in difficulty. After it blew over, the air temperature started to rise again with the water soon evaporating and turning to fog. Proceedings only resumed a few hours later.
Restart. In the end, the Ferrari of George Weiss, Jochen Krumbach, Oliver Kainz and Christian Menzel pulled off a grand finale to finish eighth overall. They were also the best car with a crew in the Pro-Am class.
Intercontinental GT Challenge – Season Review 2018
Posted: 04.01.2019
Source: Ferrari
Rinaldi Racing wins at the 24 Hours of Spa
Maranello, 4 January 2019 – The Intercontinental GT Challenge is an SRO championship built around a number of iconic races on various continents. The 2018 calendar included the 12 Hours of Bathurst in March, in which no Ferrari crews took part, the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in July, the 10 Hours of Suzuka in August and the California 8 Hours in October.
Spa 24H. The Ferrari drivers and customer teams won no points in the standings, but did clock up two important results in the Pro-Am class. The first was the victory of the Rinaldi Racing 488 GT3 with David Perel, Alexander Mattschull, Daniel Keilwitz and Rinat Salikhov at the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
Suzuka 10H. The second was the second place obtained by the 488 GT3 of HubAuto Corsa at the 10 Hours of Suzuka, with Nick Foster, Hiroki Yoshida and David Perel again. The only Ferrari in the California 8 Hours, the 488 GT3 of Vital Speed Motorsport, driven by Trevor Baek, Marino Franchitti and Jeff Westphal, retired due to an accident after it had been up among the early leaders.
‘Michael 50’, Schumacher exhibition opens today
Posted: 03.01.2019
Source: Ferrari
Fans from all over Europe flock to the Ferrari Museum
Maranello, 3 Jan 2019 – Fans and representatives of Scuderia Ferrari Clubs from all over Europe are flocking to the Ferrari Museum today for the opening of the ‘Michael 50’ exhibition on the occasion of the champion’s 50th birthday.
Maranello has put together a special exhibition telling the story of Michael Schumacher’s extraordinary record-breaking F1 career: the German champion won an as yet unequalled seven world titles, 91 victories, and 155 podiums.
The Hall of Victories displays some of the most important Ferrari single-seaters driven in his eleven years with the Scuderia. They range from the F310 of 1996, with which Schumacher won three GPs in his first season with the Prancing Horse, to the F399, the car that won the Constructors’ title in 1999 to set Formula 1’s oldest team off on an exceptional run of victories. There is also the F1-2000 of the legendary ‘Alba Rossa’ (‘Red Dawn’), when at Suzuka Michael secured Ferrari its first the world title since Jody Scheckter 21 years before. Then of course there are the record-breaking F2002 and F2004, and the 248 F1 of 2006, in which he triumphed at the Chinese GP for his 72nd and final victory with Ferrari.
Fans will also be introduced to a lesser-known side of Schumacher, that of developer. Indeed, after leaving Formula 1, the German driver remained at Ferrari not only to help the Scuderia but also to contribute to the development of various road cars, such as the 430 Scuderia in 2007 and the Ferrari California in 2008.
The exhibition will run alongside ‘Driven by Enzo’ and ‘Passion and Legend’, which are already open at the Maranello Museum.
‘Michael 50’ has been organised in partnership with the Keep Fighting Foundation.
FIA GT Nations Cup – Season Review 2018
Posted: 03.01.2019
Source: Ferrari
Two Ferrari crews on the podium at Sakhir
Maranello, 3 January 2019 – The Ferrari 488 GT3 cars were key players in the first edition of the FIA GT Nations Cup reserved for GT3 vehicles and Silver and Bronze drivers. There were no less than nine cars from Maranello at the start and two of them managed to finish on the podium in the Main Race that decided the title. In fact, behind the Turkish crew that won the race, the Team Uk and Danish team’s cars finished, both managed by AF Corse.
Main Race. The Main Race, held under the artificial lighting of the Sakhir track, had a start that was chaotic to say the least with four cars ending up out of the race. This left Turkey’s Mercedes, the Team Uk Ferrari, the Russian one and the Danish 488 GT3 in the lead with the latter capable of a great start from tenth on the grid. In the final part of the race Turkey pulled away in front of Team Uk’s and Denmark’s Ferraris. The Russian 488 GT3 finished fourth and the Italian one sixth.
Blancpain GT Asia – Season Review 2018
Posted: 03.01.2019
Source: Ferrari
Nick Foster and HubAuto Corsa close to the title
Maranello, 3 January 2018 – The two Ferrari customer teams in the Blancpain GT Asia championship enjoyed a good season, with both winning at least one race in their respective categories.
HubAuto Corsa. HubAuto Corsa deployed two 488 GT3s including Nick Foster’s no. 27, which was always up among the leaders. The Australian driver finished second having been in the running down to the final race. After starting the season with a second place at Buriram paired with Leo Ye Hongli, the Brisbane based driver teamed up with the experienced Jono Lester. The new pair scored a second place at Fuji and two victories at Shanghai and Ningbo, to put them in the mix for a great finish to the season.
ARN Racing. The team was placed fifth in the standings while ARN Racing, which deployed its 488 GT3 in Pro-Am and Am classes, won at Suzuka in this category with Shinji Takei and Hideki Nagai.
Pro-Am class. Morris Chen’s creditable eighth place in the Pro-Am class is worth a mention: he finished second at Fuji together with Davide Rigon, and third at Suzuka and Ningbo, along with Tim Slade.
CIGT – Season Review 2018
Posted: 02.01.2019
Source: Ferrari
Four wins for Stefano Gai and Scuderia Baldini
Maranello, 2 January 2019 – Four wins and two podiums kept the Ferrari of Stefano Gai and Scuderia Baldini in the title race to the very end. Gai formed a stable partnership with Giancarlo Fisichella, except at Misano, where Michele Rugolo took his place.
Perfect start. The year began perfectly, with a first and second place at Imola, but only one podium came in the following five races. Gai returned to winning ways at Mugello, and again at Vallelunga, but did not pick up the points he had hoped for at Monza so went into the last round at Mugello five points behind Daniel Zampieri and Giacomo Altoé. However, a victory in Race-1, the fourth of the season, wasn’t enough for the title.
The other Ferraristi. In 2018, other teams and drivers also came to the fore: Daniel Mancinelli and Andrea Fontana won at the Circuit Paul Ricard in the 488 GT3 of Easy Race, while Antonio Fuoco and Eddie Cheever III were second at Vallelunga with Scuderia Baldini.
GT3 Light. In the GT3 Light, Matteo Cressoni, the victor at Misano with the 458 Italia GT3 of AF Corse, came second in the class standings while Marco Magli (Easy Race) won at Misano, Maurizio Ceresoli and Satoshi Tanaka (Composit Motorsport) at Vallelunga and Matteo Davenia (Easy Race) at Monza.
Blancpain GT Sports Club – Season Review 2018
Posted: 02.01.2019
Source: Ferrari
Earle by a nose over Frers for the Iron Cup
Maranello, 2 January 2019 – Ferrari and its customer teams again triumphed in the Blancpain GT Sports Club championship. In particular, the head-to-head between Stephen Earle and Klaus-Dieter Frers was repeated in the Iron Cup, a competition exclusively for the most experienced drivers. The American from Kessel Racing and the German of Artega Rennsport shared the spoils at Monza in both the Qualifying Race on Saturday and the Main Race on Sunday. Frers then took off, winning the two races at the Paul Ricard, Misano and Spa-Francorchamps.
Comeback. However, Earle won the Qualifying Race in Budapest while Frers retired. He then pulled even closer to his rival by finishing first in the Main Race with his opponent only finishing third. So, the title hung on Barcelona where two wins were all that Earle needed to turn the tables.
Mission accomplished. And that’s exactly what happened, with him beating Frers by two points in an exciting finish. We should also note several other Ferrari victories in the overall class: Mario Cordoni (AF Corse) won the two races at Monza, Luigi Lucchini (BMS Scuderia Italia) did likewise at the Paul Ricard and Misano, while Patrick Van Glabecke (AF Corse) triumphed in the last race of the season at Barcelona.
Ferrari Challenge North America – Season Review 2018
Posted: 31.12.2018
Source: Ferrari
Five new stars in America’s motorsport sky
Maranello, 31 December 2018 – This year the Ferrari Challenge North America celebrated its quarter century. The 25th season of the one-make series held in Canada and the United States, was marked as always by thrills and spectacle with heated duels and an array of drivers winning podium places.
Trofeo Pirelli. The Trofeo Pirelli season saw a duel from first to last between reigning champion Peter Ludwig (Wide World Ferrari) and last year’s third placed driver, Cooper MacNeil (Scuderia Corsa-Ferrari of Beverly Hills). At Daytona, MacNeil won Race-1 ahead of Ludwig, but the positions were reversed the following day. At COTA, the Scuderia Corsa-Ferrari of Silicon Valley driver beat Ludwig (Wide World Ferrari) in Race-1, while they both did poorly on Sunday. MacNeil’s victory on Saturday was counterbalanced by Ludwig’s subdued performance, but in Race-2 the Wide World Ferrari driver won while his rival went away empty-handed. This scenario repeated at Montreal and Watkins Glen while MacNeil took 32 points at Road Atlanta against Ludwig’s 34. At Monza, MacNeil wrapped it up in Race-1 winning his first Ferrari Challenge title.
Trofeo Pirelli Am. The Trofeo Pirelli Am was so hard-fought that four drivers arrived at the final round of Monza still in with a chance of the title. Rob Hodes of Scuderia CAVA-Ferrari of Washington, had long been at the top of the standings, with only two victories, Race-2 at both Daytona and COTA, but with five further podiums and four fourth places. Ross Chouest, on the other hand, suffered two mediocre weekends at Daytona and Laguna Seca but emerged in the second half of the year to bag three of the last four races at Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta where he did the double. In the final round, he won Race-1 so only needed a third place the next day to clinch the title.
Coppa Shell. Thomas Tippl, on the contrary, was the dominator in the Coppa Shell. The Scuderia Corsa-Ferrari of Beverly Hills driver was promoted to the Coppa Shell Am after the first race of the season and then literally dominated the scene, leaving just one win to Brian Kaminskey, Geoff Palermo and Mark Fuller, who finished in second place. Chris Carel came third in the championship standings.
Coppa Shell Am. Coppa Shell Am was clinched by rookie John Megrue (Ferrari of Long Island) winning seven races out of 14 at Daytona, Laguna Seca, Road Atlanta and Monza, in Race-1, with which he sealed the title. Kevan Millstein (Scuderia CAVA-Ferrari of San Diego) placed second, while Dale Katechis of Miller Motorcars finished third.
Trofeo Pirelli 458 Challenge EVO. The Trofeo Pirelli 458 Challenge EVO title for the cars that took part to the Trofeo Pirelli from 2011 to 2017, was only held in North America and had been reduced to just four rounds. Martin Burrowes of Ferrari of Ft. Lauderdale dominated with five wins out of eight races. The other three went to John Farano (Ferrari of Ontario), James Walker (Ferrari of Houston) and Trevor Baek (Ron Tonkin Gran Turismo), the latter second and third in the championship.