11 June 2017
Monza, 11 June 2017 – The second day of the Ferrari Challenge Europe at Monza, the Round 2 of the season, was packed full of excitement and spectacle with a number of drivers confirming their dominance and others rising to prominence for the first time. This was the case with France's Henry Hassid, who dominated the Coppa Shell in the second Ferrari one-make series race, while Jens Liebhauser just missed out on a first win on the final straight, losing out to Martin Nelson and Tommaso Rocca. The Trofeo Pirelli saw a second win for Daniele Di Amato.
Coppa Shell. The Coppa Shell again provided the first race of the day and a lot of excitement. At the start, Fons Scheltema in pole held onto first position while behind him Erich Prinoth (Ineco-MP Racing) sowed a bit of confusion at the first chicane. Shortly after, Vladimir Hladik (Baron Service) ended up in a spin at the Roggia chicane. The Safety Car was called out one third of the way through, when Murat Cuhadaroglu (Kessel Racing), who was in a battle with Eric Cheung (Formula Racing) and Fabienne Wohlwend, lost control of his 488 Challenge colliding with the woman Octane 126 driver. No one was hurt but the race was over for the pair. At the restart Henry Hassid (Team Charles Pozzi) overtook Fons Scheltema and broke away. However, the Dutch Kessel Racing driver successfully defended second position firstly from the attacks of Johnny Laursen (Formula Racing) and then from Christoph Hurni (Team Zenith Sion-Lausanne) who came third. Hassid also won the Gentlemen's Cup while the Ladies’ Cup went to Deborah Mayer (Kessel Racing) in one of the greatest performance of her Challenge career so far.
Trofeo Pirelli. In the Trofeo Pirelli Daniele Di Amato (CDP) started again from pole and totally dominated the race. At the start Philipp Baron (Rossocorsa) tried to keep up with the Italian driver, but in vain. He also had to look over his shoulder at a rampant Fabio Leimer (Octane 126). The three arrived in that order.
Pirelli Am. In the Pirelli Am class for most of the race Jens Liebhauser (Gohm Motorsport) did the lion's share of the work, scattering all his opponents from the start. Indeed he forced Martin Nelson (Scuderia Autoropa), dominant in Valencia and on Saturday in Race-1, to chase the lead for the first time this season. The German driver was ahead of the Swedish championship leader right down to the final straight. However, as luck would have it just at that point Liebhauser's 488 Challenge ran out of fuel. Nelson won, with Rocca second while the German salvaged third place. Japan's Yoshiki Ohmura (StileF Squadra Corse) was the best of the drivers in the 458 Challenge EVO. The next round is in Budapest in two-week time.
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