WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca proved to be a perfect host for the second round of Ferrari Challenge North America, and for Ferrari Racing Days which invited Ferrari enthusiasts for a weekend to celebrate in northern California.
Sunday’s trio of Ferrari Challenge races capped off the festivities, with some winners furthering their dominance and others learning from past mistakes to take the win.
Trofeo Pirelli. Jeremy Clarke (Ferrari Beverly Hills) wasted no time getting to the Trofeo Pirelli class lead, getting a great start at the drop of the green flag to lead every lap of Sunday’s race. Dylan Medler (The Collection) attempted to chase him down, but finished two seconds behind in second place. The battle for third, however, stole attention as Roberto Perrina (Ferrari of Seattle) hunted David Musial Jr. (Ferrari of Lake Forest) for the spot, but the latter persevered to finish third.
After a promising start but unsatisfactory finish on Saturday, Matias Perez Companc (Ferrari of Central Florida) achieved redemption with a flag-to-flag Trofeo Pirelli Am victory. Companc broke Brian Cook’s (Ferrari of Seattle) three-race win streak, although the latter still finished runner-up on Sunday. David Musial (Ferrari of Lake Forest) mirrored his son’s performance in Trofeo Pirelli with a third-in-class finish of his own.
Coppa Shell. Eric Marston (Ferrari of Westlake) was king of Coppa Shell at Laguna Seca, sweeping the weekend with another pole position and victory on Sunday. Yahn Bernier (Ferrari of Seattle) improved from third on Saturday to runner-up in Race 2, and Chuck Whittal (Ferrari of Central Florida) fended off an eager Sureel Choksi (Ferrari of Denver) – who was forced to forgo Race 1 after an incident in qualifying – for the final podium spot.
While Coppa Shell ran a clean race, it was anything but for Coppa Shell Am. Roy Carroll (Foreign Cars Italia) started from pole, but found himself fifth after the first lap. He valiantly fought back to regain the lead from Dana Goodwin (Ferrari of Seattle), going on to win Sunday’s race. It was Goodwin, Jerri Walters (Ferrari of Vancouver) and Roger Monteforte (Ferrari of Central New Jersey) who vied for the remaining podium positions, but each driver had their own spins and lost valuable track position. While fighting for second and third place, Goodwin and Walters even collided in the final three minutes of the race, causing a yellow flag and moving Monteforte, Saturday’s winner, to second and his Ferrari of Central New Jersey teammate, Jeffrey Nunberg, to third.
488 Challenge Evo. Massimo Perrina (Ferrari of Seattle) proved yet again that late cautions could not disrupt his dominance, as he endured a six-minute shootout en route to victory just one day after experiencing nearly the same. Perrina and Jason McCarthy (Wide World Ferrari) finished 1-2 as they did on Saturday, while Marc Muzzo (Ferrari of Ontario) held off Logan Broughton’s race-long pressure to secure third place.
After relinquishing his lead during Saturday’s last-lap shootout, Gregory Hopkins (Foreign Cars Italia) learned from his errors on Sunday to secure the Coppa Shell victory. Hopkins passed Gerdas Venslovas (Continental AutoSports) mid-race for the top spot, while Venslovas finished second ahead of Saturday’s winner Richard Pineda (Ferrari of Washington) in third.
Canada Calls. Ferrari Challenge travels internationally for its next round, going north of the border for a pair of races at the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada in Montreal, Quebec. This will be the 10th year that Ferrari Challenge has participated at the event after its first visit to the circuit in 2013 and a two-year hiatus in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Montreal will host the doubleheader on June 7 – 9 and all races, including replays from this weekend at Laguna Seca, are available on the Ferrari YouTube channel.