After the thrills and spills of the opening rounds of the American one-make Ferrari series, the drivers in Sunday's Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli North America gave an encore performance, offering unexpected finishes and bringing to the forefront new faces who will be able to play a leading role in the rest of the season.
Trofeo Pirelli. Marc Muzzo (Ferrari of Ontario) took the overall win in the Trofeo Pirelli race after getting the jump on the rest of the field after a mid-race caution period. From the start it was pole-sitter Manny Franco (Ferrari Lake Forest) who looked set to cruise to another convincing win, but a yellow flag for an on-track incident bunched the filed back up mid-way through the 30-minute contest. When the green flag flew, Franco and those behind him were a bit slow to throttle and Muzzo dove to the inside to jump the que and take the lead into the first corner. The chaos also benefitted Joe Rubbo (Ferrari of Long Island) who went on to finish second, just under two seconds adrift. Jason McCarthy (Wide World Ferrari) secured the final step on the podium, hounding Rubbo to the end and finishing just four tenths behind.
Trofeo Pirelli AM. Samantha Tan (Ferrari of Tampa Bay) took the win in the Trofeo Pirelli AM category, converting the strong pace she has shown in nearly every session this weekend into the best possible result. In fact, she spent much of her time chasing after Trofeo Pirelli competitor Brad Horstmann (Foreign Cars Italia) suggesting there is still more to come from the young driver. Ferrari Challenge newcomer Custodio Toledo (The Collection) took second, less than two seconds adrift and was chased by John Cervini (Ferrari of Ontario) who was a further second off the winning time.
Coppa Shell. Brian Kaminskey (Ferrari of Long Island) took his first win in the Ferrari Challenge championship since his 2018 win at Daytona International Speedway in a wild race that saw multiple incidents in the final minutes bring out the full course yellow which continued all the way to the checkered flag. Starting from pole, Kaminskey certainly made use of some defensive lines while Sureel Choksi (Ferrari of Denver) tried to make his way past, but the lines paid off as he was able to conserve his tires and Choksi made a mistake mid-way through the race. He was chased to the line by Omar Balkissoon (Ferrari of Ft. Lauderdale), another new addition to the Ferrari Challenge paddock. Eric Marston (Ferrari of Westlake) rounded out the top three after a long and engaging battle with Frank Chang (Ferrari of Seattle) who did succeed in passing Marston, but soon after made a mistake in the fast esses portion of the circuit that brought out the final yellow-flag period.
Coppa Shell AM. Paul Kiebler (Ferrari of Central New Jersey) took his first win in the series in a very competitive Coppa Shell AM category. Lisa Clark (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) continued her momentum from earlier in the weekend with a second place finish, equaling her best-ever result in the series to date. She was followed across the line by Anthony Davis (Continental Autosport) and yesterday’s winner Todd Johnson (Ferrari of Rancho Mirage) who were both aggressively trying to push their way forwards after a chaotic start.