Ferrari Challenge Returns to Homestead-Miami Speedway for Sixth Round in 2019

Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli will return after a brief hiatus to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the final round of Ferrari Challenge competition in 2019 before the entire series packs up and heads to the Finali Mondiali.  Over forty drivers will take part in their Ferrari 488 Challenge machines around the 2.3 mile, 11 turn road course.

Trofeo Pirelli – Cooper MacNeil (Scuderia Corsa – Ferrari of Westlake) did all he needed to do at Indianapolis with a pair of second place finishes to put the Trofeo Pirelli championship almost entirely out of reach of Benjamin Hites (The Collection).  The young Chilean driver also did all he could possibly do to reel Cooper in, winning both races at Indy and trading pole positions and fast lap points with the American across the two races.  Martin Burrowes (Ferrari of Ft. Lauderdale) has also solidified his third place position in the Trofeo Pirelli championship, with a 19 point lead over Marc Muzzo (Ferrari of Ontario) going in to the final North American round at Homestead.

Trofeo Pirelli AM. While the Trofeo Pirelli category is largely decided, its AM counterpart is the most open in the championship, with five drivers still in contention for the top spot.  Leading the championship at the moment, despite missing the opening round at COTA is Neil Gehani (Continental Autosports) with 129 points.  He is trailed by Ziad Ghandour (Boardwalk Ferrari) who missed the most recent round at Indianapolis.  Ziad has earned 113 points, but has endured up and down weekends to date and will certainly look forward to the opportunity to close the gap to Neil at Homestead.

Coppa Shell. Mark Issa (Ferrari of Atlanta) has placed a stranglehold on the Coppa Shell championship in his first season of Ferrari Challenge competition.  He’s done it off the back of remarkable consistency earning eight podiums from 10 chances to date, and building a 31 point lead over Brian Davis (Ferrari of Palm Beach).  Brian’s first year in Ferrari Challenge has also been monstrously impressive, earning four wins from four chances to open the year in the Coppa Shell AM category.  After he was promoted to Coppa Shell for Laguna Seca, the American driver has steadily regained his footing and returned to the podium twice at Indianapolis, and earned the extra point for the fastest lap in race 2.  He leads Dale Katechis (Miller Motorcars) by eight points in the standings, a gap that narrowed in Indianapolis after Dale won race 1 and finished second in race 2.

Coppa Shell AM. Brad Horstmann (Foreign Cars Italia) has slowly but surely proven to be the dominant force in Coppa Shell AM, earning his first ever Ferrari Challenge win in race 1 at Indianapolis and following that up with another win in race 2, the first time this season that any Coppa Shell AM driver has taken consecutive wins.  It does not bode well for his competition, as Jay Screibman (Cauley Ferrari) and Gianni Grilli (Ferrari of Quebec) are separated by only four points for the second and third spots on the podium.  Jay’s championship ambitions took a bit of a hit at Indianapolis with the driver failing to finish on the podium in either race, while Gianni was able to take an important second place in race 1.  Both drivers will look to solidify their championship aspirations at Homestead before the long trip to Mugello.

Schedule. Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli will commence official practice sessions on Friday, September 6^th, followed by qualifying and racing action on Saturday, September 7^th.  Qualifying sessions will begin at 9:35AM (All times in ET) and conclude at 10:50AM.  Racing action on Saturday will begin at 1:20PM and continue through 3:00PM.  Sunday’s schedule will be broadly similar, with qualifying in the morning from 9:35AM through 10:50AM followed by racing action beginning at 1:25PM through 3:10PM.  All qualifying and race sessions will be available via live stream at live.ferrari.com.