Bowmanville, Ontario 20 May 2019
R. Ferri Motorsport completed a successful home weekend with a second-place finish for Toni Vilander and Miguel Molina in Sunday’s Blancpain GT World Challenge America race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
The run to the Mosport podium closed out a strong weekend of performance for the team on home soil. On Saturday’s opening round of the traditional Victoria Day Weekend, Molina and Vilander scored an impressive victory in the No. 61 Ferrari of Ontario/Toronto/Alberta Zekelman Industries Ferrari 488 GT3.
Sunday’s event saw Vilander start second and maintain that position throughout his stint, closing down on the leader before pitting with a half-second gap after 38 laps on the 10-turn, 2.459-mile circuit. Molina returned to the race in second, just four seconds behind the eventual race-winning Bentley of Andy Soucek.
“I thought we had a good pit stop,” said Toronto-based team owner Remo Ferri. “I think we are very competitive, and the Bentleys are very competitive. It’s great racing. They’re fighting. That’s what racing is all about. It’s a fantastic day, and the fans are having a great time, because they’re seeing a battle on the track.”
Back on track, Molina spent several laps holding off the third-place Bentley of Rodrigo Baptisa. He eventually opened a seven-second gap and spent the remainder of the race gaining on Soucek, coming up just 3.374 seconds short at the checkered flag after an intense 90 minutes of racing.
Next on the Blancpain World Challenge America is California’s Sonoma Raceway for rounds seven and eight, set for June 7-9.