12 June 2017
Montreal, 11 June 2017 - Marc Muzzo, Dave Musial and Jose Luis Valera completed sweeps of their respective classes in race two at Montreal, completing the second round of the North American Ferrari Challenge circuit. At the front, Peter Ludwig claimed a shock victory after an accident in front of the leading pack caused chaos and effectively neutralized the race with four minutes remaining.
Trofeo Pirelli: Martin Fuentes, leading from pole, made a clean getaway in his 488 Challenge, leading the pack into turn one. Behind him, however, Peter Ludwig and Wei Lu quickly moved in behind Martin, setting up a race long duel for the three podium positions. Initially it looked as though Peter Ludwig had the pace to Challenge, but he was unable to bring the gap to under one second. As the race developed, Wei Lu, of Ferrari of Vancouver, started applying the pressure, forcing Peter to defend, and ultimately losing time to Martin at the front. As the leaders traded fast laps, they quickly came among slower traffic, which provided both opportunities and obstacles. The leading three were able to get through cleanly until about four minutes remained in the 25 minute session when two drivers collided in front of the leaders in the Turn 8 chicane. Martin took his 488 Challenge to the right of the incident, but in the chaos Peter Ludwig and Wei Lu were able to sneak ahead of Martin and held their lead to the checkered flag.
Trofeo Pirelli AM: Marc Muzzo completed a dominant run in Montreal, winning race two ahead of Brent Holden of Ferrari of Newport Beach and Chris Cagnazzi of Ferrari of Long Island. Marc and Brent both started towards the front of the large field and so were able to get through turn one chaos relatively unscathed. Chris Cagnazzi, however, had it all to do starting in the ninth row - the middle of the pack. Chris, however, found a fantastic turn of speed, taking fastest lap in his class by around a second and holding off Frank Selldorff at the line by about two seconds.
Coppa Shell: Dave Musial also completed the double in Montreal in thrilling fashion, managing a tight battle throughout the race. Dave faced fearsome pressure from both Barry Zekelman in his Ferrari of Ontario 488 Challenge car and Karl Williams who was powered by Ferrari of Beverly Hills, but ultimately prevailed by less than a second.
Trofeo Pirelli 458 EVO: Fourteen 458 EVO cars took the green flag on Sunday with James Walker leading the field away at the green flag from the forth row on the grid. A chaotic opening few laps, however, saw Jose Luis Valera steam past with Naveen Rao and his Ferrari of San Diego 458 EVO car also making an excellent getaway. Naveen showed excellent pace early on, eventually taking the lead of the class from James Walker. An ill informed pass, however, into the tight turn two sent both of the cars spinning. James was able to continue, but Naveen was ultimately forced to retire on the back straight. This left the way clear for Jose Luis Valera to claim his second race win of the weekend with James Walker and Oscar Paredes Arroyo completing the podium.
Lady and Gentleman: Debra Palermo took the victory in the Ladies Cup after her rival, Lisa Clark was unable to compete due to an accident earlier in the weekend. Osvaldo Gaio also claimed his second win of the weekend in the Gentleman's Cup.
Next Round: The next round of the North American circuit of Ferrari Challenge will take place on July 14-16 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.