16 July 2017
Bowmanville, 15 July 2017 – A glorious sunny day saw Wei Lu, Marc Muzzo, Karl Williams and Joel Weinberger take victory at historic Mosport Park in the third round of the North American series of the Ferrari Challenge while welcoming XX Clienti for Ferrari Racing Days.
Trofeo Pirelli. Wei Lu took his maiden pole of the 2017 season with an excellent lap of 1:19.352, two tenths faster than the best that Peter Ludwig, our points leader, could accomplish in his Wide World of Cars Ferrari. Cooper MacNeil rounded out the top three. Come the race, it was a close fought battle throughout, with lapped traffic playing a significant role in the action. However, Wei Lu, and his Ferrari of Vancouver 488 Challenge were able to prevail over Peter by 1.625 seconds. In a race that ran uninterrupted by caution periods, Wei absorbed serious pressure from Peter and Cooper throughout the thirty minute race. The three finished within three seconds of each other at the flag.
Trofeo Pirelli AM. Seven Trofeo Pirelli Am cars took to the track for qualifying in the morning with Marc Muzzo and his Ferrari of Ontario 488 Challenge car continued his strong run of form, taking pole, fastest race lap and the win on Saturday. While the race itself ran trouble free for much of its thirty minute duration, a hard incident into the Moss hairpin brought out a prolonged caution period that ultimately concluded the race. Further down the field, Chris Cagnazzi continued his impressive run of podiums, continued from Montreal, taking second place in his Ferrari of Long Island 488 Challenge car and Brent Holden completed the podium in third.
Coppa Shell. A strong field of fifteen cars took the green flag in Coppa Shell. Karl Williams set the pace in qualifying in the morning setting an excellent lap of 1:20.811, a tenth and one half faster than his closest competition, Murray Rothlander, who only claimed second by four one-hundredths of a second. Come race time, Karl and his Ferrari of Beverly Hills powered car led the class to the finish with Barry Zekelman and Amir Kermani rounding out the top three. Hollywood star Michael Fassbender took ninth place.
Gentleman’s Cup. Osvaldo Gaio took his Miller Motorcars 488 Challenge car to the front of the Gentleman’s cup field, and set the fastest lap in his class as well. His 1:22.444 was one tenth clear of the fast time set by Karl Williams, both on lap 12 of the truncated race.
Pirelli 458. Joel Weinberger took class pole in his first Challenge race of the 2017 season in his 458 Challenge EVO car, followed closely by Joseph Rubbo and Caesar Bacarella. The top four positions were incredibly tight in qualifying, spread by only four tenths of a second. In the race, Joel maintained his advantage, taking class victory with Naveen Rao overtaking Caesar Bacarella for third place.
Ladies Cup. Lisa Clark took victory in the Ladies cup class in her 458 Challenge EVO. The Ladies Cup was a typically close fought affair between Lisa and Debra Palermo with Debra finishing just behind Lisa.