Salt Lake City, Utah (6 August 2018) – A pair of Ferrari teams will be looking to lock down championships this weekend when the Pirelli World Challenge SprintX series closes out its 2018 campaign with a pair of races this weekend at the Utah Motorsports Campus.
The SprintX competitors will compete in a pair of one-hour races on Saturday and Sunday – Rounds 9 and 10 of the season – on the twisty 14-turn, 3.048-mile Outer Course, with each event having a mandatory driver change.
Ferrari drivers enter the Portland leading the championship in both the Pro-Pro and Am classes, while a Pro-Am team is second in a tight battle for the title in that category.
SprintX GT Pro-Pro
Toni Vilander and Miguel Molina, drivers of the No. 61 R. Ferri Motorsport Ferrari of Ontario, Toronto, Alberta/Zekelman Industries Ferrari 488 GT3, lead the SprintX GT Pro-Pro championship by 14 points, 174-160.
The pair won the first race of the weekend in the most recent competition at Portland, and also swept the opening weekend of the season at Austin’s
Circuit of The Americas and won the second race at Lime Rock Park. Additionally, they have seconds at Virginia International Raceway and Lime Rock, giving them six podium finishes in eight races.
Vilander is also first in the GT Sprint and SprintX combined standings, leading Scott Hargrove by six points, 310-304. After the Utah weekend, the World Challenge GT titles will be settled with a final pair of races for the season at Watkins Glen International
on Sept. 1-2.
SprintX GT Pro-Am
Wei Lu and Jeff Segal are riding a streak of five consecutive second-place finishes in the No. 31 TR3 Racing Ferrari of Vancouver Ferrari 488 GT3. They enter the final weekend trailing TruSpeed AutoSport drivers Parker Chase and Ryan Dalziel by just eight points, 188-180. Lu and Segal won the second race of the year at Circuit of The Americas, and have finished off the podium only once in eight races.
Long-time Ferrari standouts Risi Competizione will race for the first time in World Challenge this season with the No. 82 Biocube Ferrari 488 GT3 for Pierre Mulacek and Anthony Lazzaro.
SprintX GT Am
Undefeated in 2018 competition with four weekend sweeps, Caesar Bacarella and Martin Fuentes enter the finale with an incredible 64-point lead over David Askew, 200-136. They co-drive the No. 07 Squadra Corse Garage Italia Ferrari 488 GT3. The car has sponsorship from Hulbot, Alpha Prime and Ferrari Fort Lauderdale.
Fuentes also holds an 18-point lead in the Sprint GTA standings, with four victories and three second-place finishes driving in the No. 07 Squadra Corse Garage Italia Ferrari. He has a winning record at Utah, finishing first and second in 2015 competition for Scuderia Corsa, while winning for that team in 2016 en route to the GTA title.
Series Returns To Utah
The Pirelli World Challenge has been a frequent visitor to the facility formerly known as Miller Motorsports Park since its opening in 2006, racing on 10 occasions. Last year, Henrique Casneros and Jonathon Ziegelman swept the Am/Am category driving the No. 30 MOMO/NGT Motorsports Ferrari 458 GT3.
Weekend Schedule
The Pirelli World Challenge SprintX GT class will practice twice on Friday, with a 50-minute session
beginning at 11:30 and a one-hour session
at 5 p.m. (all times MT). Qualifying is set for
10:40 a.m. on Saturday, followed by race one
at 4:45 p.m. Race two will be held
on Sunday at 3 p.m.
World Challenge will provide live streaming at
world-challenge.com.