As Canadian fans gathered at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Saturday afternoon ahead of Formula One qualifying, Ferrari Challenge North America gave the audience plenty of excitement across all four classes – including a first-lap stack up and a last-lap lead change – in the first of two races for the series this weekend in Montreal.
Trofeo Pirelli. Martin Burrowes (Ferrari of Quebec) showed up for his hometown crowd with a pole position in Trofeo Pirelli, but was outdueled by championship leader Dylan Medler (The Collection) on the first lap. Medler continued in dominant fashion by winning his second race of the season by more than eight seconds.
Burrowes, who was victorious in Race 1 last year in Montreal, easily held on to finish second place, while David Musial Jr. (Ferrari of Lake Forest) finished third.
The winner of Trofeo Pirelli Am was decided on the last lap of the 30-minute race, as Brian Cook (Ferrari of Seattle) was poised to capture a flag-to-flag victory after earning his first pole position of 2024. However, Cook’s car suddenly dropped down the charts in the closing seconds and elevated Tony Davis (Continental AutoSports) to his first win of the season.
Omar Balkissoon (Ferrari of Fort Lauderdale) finished second behind Davis, while the Trofeo Pirelli Am class podium saw another local driver, Benoit Bergeron (Ferrari of Quebec), stand on its steps in third.
Coppa Shell. Eric Marston (Ferrari of Westlake) continues to reap the benefits of Sureel Choksi’s (Ferrari of Denver) misfortunes, carrying over from last round at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca to Race 1 in Montreal.
Choksi started on pole and was eager to gain crucial points after not running one of two races at Laguna Seca due to a qualifying incident. But another incident plagued Choksi on Lap 1 on Saturday afternoon when he was an innocent bystander to a first corner incident, but was nevertheless collected in the melee.
After starting second, Marston then inherited the lead and went on to his third consecutive win of the season. Chuck Whittal (Ferrari of Central Florida), who started sixth-in-class, dashed through the field and made a maneuver on Bruce Cleveland (Ferrari Silicon Valley) late in the race that finished the pair second and third, respectively.
In Coppa Shell Am, Darren Bernstein (Ferrari of Washington) capitalized by keeping competitors from other categories around him to maintain a buffer and lead from start-to-finish for his first win of 2024. Two cars behind him was Roger Monteforte (Ferrari of Central New Jersey) finishing second while another Canadian, Jerri Walters (Ferrari of Vancouver) finished third, capturing her best result of the year and also the class’s fastest lap of the race.
Sunday Schedule.
One final race is on the books for Ferrari Challenge North America in Montreal, taking place on Sunday morning just prior to Formula One pre-race activities. The green flag for Ferrari Challenge will fly at 10:55 a.m. ET and stream live on the Ferrari YouTube channel. The Formula One Grand Prix du Canada then goes green at 2 p.m.