After a gorgeous qualifying session, the heavens opened in the middle of the Coppa Shell race, making for a chaotic end to that race and the forced postponement of the Trofeo Pirelli race until Sunday.
Coppa Shell. Starting under ominous skies but dry conditions, the cars of Coppa Shell and Coppa Shell AM made their way on track for the first races of the 2021 season. Starting from the second position, Todd Coleman (Ferrari of Denver) stormed to the lead in the opening moments, passing Dave Musial Jr. (Ferrari of Lake Forest) and beginning to establish a bit of a lead. Further back, the field was completely jumbled up as drivers jockeyed for space and the optimal line through the first few corners. From there, the field began to string out as drivers became more comfortable racing and several went on the offensive, pushing up the field.
And then the rain began, slowly at first but quickly picking up intensity. Several cars went off in the treacherous conditions and the race was quickly red flagged so that drivers could come to the pits and switch onto the rain tires. With the change accomplished, drivers went back out for a thrilling final two laps of green-flag racing.
At the end of the day, Todd Coleman (Ferrari of Denver) claimed the first win of the season, narrowly beating out Dave Musial Jr (Ferrari of Lake Forest) who found a turn of speed in the wet conditions. Charles Whittall (Ferrari of Central Florida) rounded out the podium in third. In Coppa Shell AM it was Brandon Kruse (Ferrari of Central Florida) who bested pole sitter Franck Ruimy (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) to the win while Lance Cawley (Ferrari of Atlanta) began the year in fine fashion, and finishing in third.
Schedule Update. Tomorrow’s activities will run to a compressed timetable due to forecasted weather conditions. The Trofeo Pirelli race originally scheduled for this afternoon will begin instead at 9:15AM (all times Eastern) followed by the second Coppa Shell race at 10:05AM and concluding with the second Trofeo Pirelli race at 10:55AM. Grids for the second races of the weekend will be set using the drivers’ second fastest lap time from the qualifying sessions that took part this morning. All racing sessions will continue to be streamed as usual on live.ferrari.com, motorsports.tv and the @FerrariRaces Facebook page.