Cooper MacNeil (Ferrari of Westlake) and Dave Musial Jr. (Ferrari of Lake Forest) completed the sweep of the day at Watkins Glen, starting with pole positions earned Saturday morning and then capping off their performances with wins in the Trofeo Pirelli and Coppa Shell categories respectively. While the races took place under warm, blue skies, the on track action certainly brought plenty of heat as drivers and their Ferrari 488 Challenge Evos maximized their performance at the historic circuit.
Trofeo Pirelli. Cooper MacNeil (Ferrari of Westlake) took another dominant overall win and category win as the sole entrant in the Trofeo Pirelli category. Clearing the rest of the field by over seven seconds at the end of the thirty minute contest, MacNeil has of course kept his streak of perfection well intact heading into the second race and also extending his perfect record in Ferrari Challenge at Watkins Glen, extending back to 2018.
Trofeo Pirelli AM1. Jason McCarthy (Wide World Ferrari) survived a significant first lap incident with Jim Weiland (Ferrari of San Francisco) in the fast essess section as the two had side by side contact. Weiland eventually came off the worst for wear, spinning in front of the rest of the field and was collected by Jordan Workman (Ferrari of Central Florida), both of whom instantly retired from the race. The incident also necessitated a seven minute red-flag period to clear debris from the circuit. McCarthy, however, was able to continue once the race resumed and despite heavy bodywork damage cruised to the win. Further back, Martin Burrowes (Ferrari of Ft Lauderdale) scythed through the field on his way to a second place finish while Aaron Weiss (Continental Autosports) completed the podium in third in his first race back to the series since 2020.
Trofeo Pirelli AM2. Keysin Chen (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) took a miraculous win in his third ever race weekend in the Trofeo Pirelli AM2 category and earned second place overall, besting all of the Trofeo Pirelli AM1 drivers in the category. Rounding out the category was Brad Horstmann (Foreign Cars Italia) who finished 26 seconds off from Keysin but enjoyed a race-long battle with a variety of drivers in the Trofeo Pirelli AM1 category. Marc Muzzo (Ferrari of Ontario) in his return to the series after a prolonged hiatus caused by international travel restrictions in place earlier in the season completed the podium in third and found himself just one spot further back in that train, separated by a Trofeo Pirelli AM1 car and two seconds at the end of the race.
Coppa Shell. Dave Musial Jr. (Ferrari of Lake Forest) took the win in a lights to flag victory from pole position, and walking away from the rest of the field to the tune of 18 seconds by the end of the thirty minute contest. Further back the contest was much tighter, however, as Benoit Bergeron (Ferrari of Quebec) claimed second in his first race in the Coppa Shell category two seconds ahead of Sureel Choksi (Ferrari of Denver) who rounded out the podium in third position. In a race that ran from green flag to checkers without any incident, drivers were forced to manage and conserve their Pirelli tires as the high loading and relatively high ambient temperatures certainly affected driver’s pace towards the end of the contest.
Coppa Shell AM. John Cervini (Ferrari of Ontario) took his maiden win in his 2021 campaign in the Saturday race, besting Roy Carroll (Foreign Cars Italia) by three seconds at the end of the 30 minute contest. The podium was completed by Lance Cawley (Ferrari of Atlanta) who secured his fourth podium in five races, though his championship lead did close slightly as Roy Carroll’s second place will earn him two more points than Cawley.
Schedule. Racing activity resumes with qualifying on Sunday morning at 9:35 a.m. (all times ET) and racing action getting underway at 1:20 p.m. with recon laps and the first green flag at 1:35 p.m.