The Ferrari Challenge completed the first half of its North American season at Homestead-Miami Speedway with the completion of Race 1 on Friday evening. With forty drivers taking the green flag across the two races, all in the Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo, drivers braved the typically hot and humid conditions of south Florida in the middle of June. With a schedule shifted to the evening hours to help minimize the impact, drivers reveled in the unique challenge of racing under a setting sun.
Trofeo Pirelli. Cooper MacNeil (Ferrari of Westlake) again took the overall victory in the Trofeo Pirelli category, waltzing away with nearly 30 seconds of margin at the end of the thirty minute race. Further back, it was a hard-fought affair throughout as tire degradation played a significant role in the final outcome. Martin Burrowes (Ferrari of Ft. Lauderdale) exhibited his usual exuberant style of driving, but found success, winning the Trofeo Pirelli AM1 category as he made good use of his tires to execute a number of passes while minimizing the time lost to tire wear. He was chased hard at the line by Jordan Workman (Ferrari of Central Florida) who finished just a tenth off. Dave Musial (Ferrari of Lake Forest) rounded out the top three. Meanwhile, Marc Muzzo (Ferrari of Ontario) enjoyed a fantastic qualifying session to start second overall. While he had a bit of a tough start, he held strong throughout the 30-minute contest and earned his first win of 2021, besting Justin Wetherill (Ferrari of Central Florida) by only three tenths at the flag. Watkins Glen standout Keysin Chen (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) rounded out the top three.
Coppa Shell. Dave Musial Jr. (Ferrari of Lake Forest) took the win in the Coppa Shell category in a hard-fought affair as the young driver started strong but suffered more tire degradation than his nearest competitor allowing Ian Campbell (Ferrari of New England) to close back in the later stages of the race, ultimately finishing only four tenths behind Musial Jr. Chris Aitken (Ferrari of Houston) rounded out the top three as he was able to get by Todd Coleman (Ferrari of Denver) for the last step on the podium. In Coppa Shell AM, John Cervini (Ferrari of Ontario) marked the third Canadian on the top step as he won the category, besting Franck Ruimy (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) who ran in second. Third place was claimed by Roy Carroll on the road, but he was deemed to be responsible for an incident, and thus was assessed a penalty, promoting Lance Cawley (Ferrari of Atlanta) to the third and final step on the podium.