29 July 2016
Sochi, 29 July 2016 - The Russian fans in Sochi know Formula 1, or at least the era of the hybrids that have raced since 2014, the year of the first ever Russian Grand Prix. The first spectators who flocked to the first Ferrari Racing Days in Sochi were astonished by the extraordinary sound of the naturally aspirated engines of the F1 Clienti cars which put on a show with a series of track sessions. The tutor was Andrea Bertolini, a longstanding Scuderia Ferrari test driver and familiar face in Russia who won the European Le Mans Series 2014 and the World Endurance Championship 2015 with the 458 Italia GTE of local team SMP Racing.
Cars on the track. Among the cars on track to remember was a F300 that belonged to Michael Schumacher, who drove it in 1998 to within a hair's breadth of the title battling it out all season with Mika Hakkinen, and an F2005 driven by Rubens Barrichello. Both cars are equipped with the V10 engine used in Formula 1 from the end of the nineties to the mid-2000s. The Sochi Autodrom also saw an F10 that belonged to Fernando Alonso and an F60 that Bertolini will drive on track on Sunday in an exclusive Scuderia Ferrari exhibition with thrilling accelerations, fast tyre changes and spectacular burn-outs.
The XX cars. The cars of the XX Programmes joined those of F1 Clienti on track for the first day of the Ferrari Racing Days in Sochi.These extraordinary vehicles represent a unique specimen that only Ferrari could conceive. The FXX, 599XX and FXX K can only be driven on track, but they are not homologated for any championship. The first of the line was the FXX of 2005, built on the basis of the Enzo, which was followed by the 599XX in 2009 and then, starting from 2015 (although the presentation took place in Abu Dhabi at the end of 2014), the FXX K, a car as beautiful as it is powerful, with 1050 horsepower and equipped with extraordinary technology that also takes advantage of the experience gained in Formula 1 with hybrid technology.
Challenge and range. As always the Ferrari Challenge races complete the offer to the public and customers at the Ferrari Racing Days. In this case the European series are primed and ready to send the fans into ecstasies with blistering accelerations and breathtaking overtaking, but there is also the range of customer cars that will lap the track thanks to the Passione Ferrari initiatives. Three days in Russia not to be missed with thousands of fans expected.