Cheste (Valencia), 29 November

The Ferrari Finali Mondiali got underway today, back in Valencia having previously been staged here in 2009 and 2010, offering a unique spectacle for owners and fans of the marque. It’s a busy four day programme, featuring competitors in the three Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli series; Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific and demonstrations from teams that competed in international GT championships. Adding to the excitement, are Formula 1 cars from the past, that have written much of Scuderia Ferrari’s history and also the laboratory cars used in the exclusive XX Programmes for extreme sports cars designed for track use and therefore free of the restrictions of any need to meet homologation rules.

Competitors in all three divisions of the Trofeo Pirelli tackled the first round of qualifying today, to decide the grid for tomorrow’s Race 1. The first pole of the day went to Alessandro Balzan (Ferrari Moscow 1.37.512) who got the better of Stefano Gai (Rossocorsa) and Lorenzo Casè (Motor/Piacenza). Also in action, the Coppa Shell competitors from the North American and Asia Pacific series. Fastest was Canada’s Eric Cheung (Motor/Piacenza) in 1.39.402, followed by Francesco Piovanetti from Ferrari Ft. Lauderdale and Jim Booth of Ferrari of Atlanta. Next on track for qualifying were competitors in the European Coppa Shell, with Daniele Di Amato (CDP-1.37.674) fastest, followed by Giacomo Stratta (Forza Service) and Raffaele Giannoni (Motor/Piacenza.)

Tomorrow sees the second round of qualifying and the first races, with competitors grouped as follows; Asia Pacific and North America (Coppa Shell) and Europe, North America and Asia Pacific (Trofeo Pirelli) and Europe (Coppa Shell.) Tomorrow’s races will be shown live on Sky Sport 2 in Italy, while the Ferrari one-make series will also make for exciting viewing in over sixty countries around the world.