17 September 2017
Austin TX, 16 September, 2017 - The Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli series continued at the Circuit of the Americas for race two on Saturday morning. The sunshine brought with it intense heat and humidity, meaning drivers were challenged by not only the 3.4 mile circuit, but also by the high temperatures in their Challenge race cars. As a result of the attrition in the racing action on Saturday afternoon, forty-one drivers took the green flag on Sunday morning.
458 EVO. The 458 EVO class was dominated by a race-long battle between Ferrari of San Diego driver, Naveen Rao, and Ferrari of Long Island driver Joseph Rubbo. Mr. Rubbo maintained the lead lap after lap despite intense, consistent pressure from Naveen close behind. That is until the final lap, when an incident allowed James Walker and Francesco Piovanetti to sneak through in first and second respectively. By the time they crossed the line, the top four were separated by just over two seconds. Further down the field, Lisa Clark claimed her second Ladies Cup trophy of the weekend.
Coppa Shell. Fourteen cars took the green flag in the Coppa Shell class in race two, with Karl Williams lining up alongside Osvaldo Gaio, Saturday's Gentleman's Cup winner. Upon the start, however, Osvaldo did not make the perfect getaway, and fell down the order on the first lap. A full course caution at the end of lap one blunted any attempt at a charge up the field. Once the track was cleared on lap three and the race returned to green flag conditions, Karl set about building a gap that would last for the remainder of the race, setting fast lap along the way. Neil Gehani from Continental Autosport and Amir Kermani from Florida-based dealer, The Collection, took the remaining steps on the podium. Despite falling back to fifth, Osvaldo managed to retain the position required to capture his second Gentleman's Cup of the weekend.
Trofeo Pirelli AM. Joel Weinberger completed a lights to flag domination in the Trofeo Pirelli AM class, taking the win by nearly five seconds from the second place Brent Holden, and seven seconds up the road from Chris Cagnazzi. Further down the field, Marc Muzzo lost his fourth place after it was found that he had jumped the start, losing the position to Jean-Claude Saada.
Trofeo Pirelli. Cooper MacNeil completed his sweep of the weekend in strong fashion with an excellent drive from start to finish. Further back in the field, Martin Fuentes took second place from Wei Lu, a position he would not relinquish. The three remained close throughout, with the final finishing gap just five seconds between first and third.
Next Up. The final North America round of Ferrari Challenge will take place at the Homestead Miami Speedway on September 29 - October 1st.