The fierce battle and adrenaline-filled competition continued on Saturday in Round 2 of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli Asia Pacific series at Yas Marina Circuit. The event in Abu Dhabi is the first of the two that make up the “Winter Series”, which is also open to drivers from the other Prancing Horse series.
In the Trofeo Pirelli AM class, Ange Barde (SF Cote D’Azur Cannes – IB Fast) scooped a surprise pole to lead the field at the start of the race. While Barde put some remarkable laps on the board throughout the entire race, he just could not rein in Christian Brunsborg (Formula Racing), who beat the rest of the field by a good five seconds to clinch his second win of the weekend. Claus Zibrandtsen of Formula Racing took the last step on the podium.
Once again, the competition was fierce in the Coppa Shell class, with the three cars of Roman Ziemian (Al Tayer Motors), Jay Park (FMK) and Andrew Moon (FMK) all very close until the checkered flag. Once again, it was Ziemian who emerged victorious, overtaking pole sitter Jay Park to grab his second win of the weekend with a superb performance. The race was even more intense behind the leader, with Park resisting a late charge from fellow countryman Moon and crossing the line with just a 0.9” gap.
In the Coppa Shell AM class, Rene Matera (Scuderia Praha) took pole once again, which set up a rematch between him and challenger Kirk Baerwaldt (Blackbird Concessionaries), whom he successfully defended against in Race 1 to take the win. Well determined to see the Singaporean flag on the top step of the podium, Baerwaldt did not let history repeat itself. After an early part of the race that saw Matera establish a 2-second gap, Baerwaldt started putting in some solid laps to close the gap and take the category lead, and sealed his first win of the weekend with a masterful drive. Matera took second while Brett Jacobson (Ferrari of Houston) came in third.