Ferrari Challenge Prepares for Indianapolis

The drivers of the Ferrari Challenge series are set for the fifth stop on the 2022 calendar – Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  As a venue that has hosted the series for the previous two years consecutively, many of the drivers are by now well familiar with its particular mix of technical corners and dramatic speeds.  Nevertheless, drivers will look to push their Ferrari 488 Challenge Evos to the limit over the coming weekend of action.

Trofeo Pirelli. With Indianapolis acting as the opening stanza of the second act of this 2022 season, the championship picture should theoretically be coming into focus.  Not so, however, in the Trofeo Pirelli category where no less than four drivers all sit within 10 points in the current standings. 

Jeremy Clarke (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) leads the way with 63 points on the back of strong weekends at Daytona and Montreal, but calamitous results at COTA and Watkins Glen have left the door firmly open for the rest of the field.  Chief among them is Matt Kurzejewski (Ferrari of Westlake) who sits just two points further back.  He too suffered mightily at COTA, but has followed closely behind Clarke at Daytona and race 2 in Montreal, but well timed fast laps plus a podium finish at Watkins Glen have given him the title of Clarke’s greatest competition. 

Two points further back we find the most dramatic driver of the group – Manny Franco (Ferrari of Lake Forest).  Franco took a dominant win to open the season at COTA, but has since struggled and missed the Montreal weekend, relinquishing a sizeable points advantage.  With his presence at Indianapolis in doubt, his presence at the green flag will be one of the most important questions of the weekend.  Meanwhile, Jason McCarthy (Wide World Ferrari) sits a bit further back on 53 points, but will need to rediscover his consistency from earlier in the season to make a real dent on the rest.  Hopefully his win in Montreal will support his cause. 

In the Trofeo Pirelli AM category, Dave Musial Jr. (Ferrari of Lake Forest) leads the way with a 10-point advantage over Alfred Caiola (Ferrari of Long Island) who sits a further ten points ahead of Todd Coleman (Ferrari of Denver).  Musial’s distaste for flying has been well known in the paddock so despite the advantage, he’ll be looking to push hard for the next couple of rounds to hopefully sew up his championship before the series heads off to Imola in October for the FInali Mondiali.

Coppa Shell. Michael Petramalo (Ferrari of Seattle) used the Montreal weekend to surpass Brian Kaminskey (Ferrari of Long Island) for the championship lead on the effort of back to back class wins.  Kaminskey wasn’t far behind, finishing third in both races, but it was enough to generate a 7-point gap between the two drivers.  The two are also completely in a class of their own as a number of drivers have missed various rounds in the category.  Their nearest competitor Frank Chang (Ferrari of Seattle) sits third, but already is over 50 points behind Petramalo. 

In the Coppa Shell AM category, Tony Davis (Continental Autosport) leads the way and has also developed a sizeable advantage of 30-points.  Besides misfortune at Daytona in April, Tony has stood on the podium at every chance serving as a metronome of efficiency and pace.  Sitting in second is Lisa Clark (Ferrari of Beverly Hills).  Enjoying her best-ever season of Challenge competition, Lisa saw a slight dip in form at Watkins Glen but made an important return to the podium in Montreal with a 3rd place finish in Sunday’s race as she attempts to consolidate her position ahead of David Schmitt (Ferrari of Palm Beach) who currently sits nine points behind her.

Schedule.  Qualifying kicks off the weekend on Saturday at 10:40am (all times ET), followed by racing action at 1:25pm with the same schedule mirrored on Sunday.  All qualifying and race sessions will be streamed live at live.ferrari.com.