Ferrari Challenge punctuated its North American season in style with Sunday’s races at the historic Road America circuit in Wisconsin. The Sunday races also saw the first champion of the 2023 North American season crowned as Matt Kurzejewski (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) secured the necessary result to obviate the need for the points available at the Finali Mondiali in October. Further back, however, the championships remain tightly competitive as drivers will now begin their preparations to head to the famed Italian circuit where their championship aspirations will be fulfilled or deferred to another season.
Trofeo Pirelli. Onofrio Triarsi (Ferrari of Central Florida) took a clean sweep on the day with pole position, fastest lap and the race win, but it was Matt Kurzejewski (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) who secured the Trofeo Pirelli title in North America with two races yet to run. In a race that was punctuated by the only safety car period of the weekend, Kurzejewski stayed out of trouble and earned the final step on the podium while his closest challenger, Jason McCarthy (Wide World Ferrari) could only manage sixth. That meant that Kurzejewski had the requisite point differential to make any challenge mathematically impossible. At the front, however, it was Triarsi’s race, as he never came under significant challenge throughout the thirty minutes and he managed the sole restart of the weekend without drama. His closest challenger was Dylan Medler (The Collection) who finished 2.530 seconds behind at the checkered flag. In the AM category, Chris Cagnazzi (Ferrari of Long Island) took his second win of 2023 after last standing on the top step in Miami at the very start of 2023. He led home Omar Balkissoon (Ferrari of Ft. Lauderdale) in second while championship leader Justin Rothberg (Ferrari of Palm Beach) rounded out the podium.
Coppa Shell. Cameron Root (Ron Tonkin Gran Turismo) completed his weekend sweep, also earning pole position for Sunday’s race. The result capped Root’s most successful Ferrari Challenge weekend in his young career as he earned two wins and two poles from the two races held this weekend. The result was also essential for his championship aspirations as he grew his gap to David Voronin (Foreign Cars Italia) which now stands at 17 points with a maximum of 34 available at the Finali Mondiali. The race itself ran under green flag conditions from start to finish, but numerous small incidents punctuated the proceedings and there were quite a few post-race penalties applied. Root earned the win on the road, but a penalty applied to Grey Fauvre (Ferrari of San Francisco) saw him demoted from his second-place finishing spot, and thus promoted Sureel Choksi (Ferrari of Denver) and Voronin to second and third respectively. In Coppa Shell AM, the winner on the road, Bruce Cleveland (Ferrari of Silicon Valley) was demoted from that perch due to incident responsibility, promoting Lisa Clark (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) to the top step ahead of Dan Cornish (Ferrari of Austin) and Darren Bernstein (Ferrari of Washington) in third. It was an essential change that had a significant impact on the championship standings, as Cleveland lost ground to Clark, now sitting 19 points behind going into the Finali Mondiali weekend.
Schedule. The drivers of the Ferrari Challenge in North America will converge on the Mugello circuit for the 2023 edition of the Finali Mondiali beginning on October 24 through the 30th.