Abu Dhabi, 6 December

Max Blancardi and Ricardo Perez (Team Ferrari of Houston) are the new world champions of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli Pro and Am categories. The Italian driver Blancardi, who races under a Monegasque licence, benefited from the retirement of the leader Philip Baron (Team Rossocorsa) to take the lead of the race. The fight back through the field by Daniele Di Amato (Motor Piacenza) was too late: having started fifth he needed too much time to get past Dario Caso (Rossocorsa – Pellin Racing) who ended up third at the flag. The world champion from the Europe series set off on a great comeback but it didn’t allow him to reach Blancardi, who has come to these World Finals in splendid form. One victory each day: this has been his extraordinary roll of honour in Abu Dhabi.
The same could be said for Ricardo Perez who, having dominated both the races in the Challenge North America, also ruled the roost in the race to decide the Pirelli Am world championship. The Mexican finished ahead of the Asia Pacific series champion Philippe Prette (Auto Italia Hong Kong) and the European series champion Ezequiel Perez Companc (Motor Piacenza) which demonstrates just how high the quality of the competition was.

Abu Dhabi, 5 December

The Ferrari Challenge Europe ended its season with a spectacular race which was full of incident. Just as in yesterday’s race, today the 458 Challenge Evo cars of all three race categories were involved in duels. On more than one occasion these went beyond what could be described as regular ‘wheel-to-wheel’ ending up in real and proper contact – a sign that there was still a lot of will to push and to chase the very best position possible. Such determination and will to win will be crucial in tomorrow’s race that will decide the world championships in the Trofeo Pirelli and the Coppa Shell.
In today’s race Germany’s Bjorn Grossmann (Octane 126) won after leading away from pole position and duelling for a long time with Philip Baron (Rossocorsa). The Austrian tried to overtake his rival up to halfway through the final lap, when, as he was trying to get on the gas before Grossmann, he lost control of his car and had to give away several positions. Second place therefore went to Dario Caso (Rossocorsa – Pellin Racing), who partially made up for yesterday’s disappointment, while the new champion Daniele Di Amato (Motor Piacenza) made it onto the third step of the podium.
In the Pirelli Am category the win went to Sweden’s Martin Nelson (Autoropa) who came home ahead of the champion Ezequiel Perez Companc (Motor Piacenza), who made yet another appearance on the podium, and Belgium’s Florian Merckx (Kessel Racing). In the Coppa Shell there was more German success thanks to Dirk Adamski (Saggio Racing Team) who got the better of India’s Gautam Singhania (Stratstone Ferrari) and the new champion of the category Massimiliano Bianchi (Kessel Racing).

Abu Dhabi, 5 December

It was a day of doubles in the Ferrari Challenge North America and the Asia Pacific series, which ended today at the Yas Marina circuit. The North American Trofeo Pirelli series was dominated this year by Mexico’s Ricardo Perez and today he was the clear winner ahead of Henrik Hedman and Marc Muzzo.
The Coppa Shell produced the only winner who hadn’t already taken a win yesterday: Canada’s Robert Herjavec actually won ahead of the pair that had been dominant this year, Chris Ruud and the American Darren Crystal.
In the Asia Pacific series the win went to Max Blancardi in the Trofeo Pirelli Pro, to Philippe Prette in the Trofeo Pirelli Am and to local hero Tari Hanna in the Coppa Shell. Blancardi took charge of the race right from the opening lap while Prette led the rest of the Asian series drivers without giving anyone a chance to pass him. Behind him came Australia’s Steve Wyatt and Italy’s Angelo Negro. In the Coppa Shell the win, as mentioned went to Tari Hanna who came home ahead of Vicente Floirendo from the Philippines and Australia’s Paul Van Loenhout.

Maranello, 26 November

A total of 75 drivers from 27 nations are en route to Abu Dhabi to bid for the three Ferrari Challenge series titles (Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific) and the World Champion crown in a race that will see all three groups competing on the same track.
Looking down the list of participants, Italy is the best represented nation with 13 drivers. These include Daniele Di Amato and Dario Caso, who are competing in the Trofeo Pirelli Pro in Europe, and Massimiliano Bianchi, leader of the Coppa Shell in Europe. There are 10 US drivers in the running, not least Chris Ruud and Robert Herjavec, both exerting huge power in the Coppa Shell in North America. Germany and Russia will be represented by five drivers: Dirk Adamski is the latter’s strongest contender while Vadim Gitlin is Russia’s.
Thirteen nations will be counting on just a single driver. These include Mexico whose Ricardo Perez de Lara is the star of the North American series, Indonesia whose David Tjiptobiantoro is dominating the Coppa Shell Asia-Pacifico, Argentina whose Ezequiel Perez Companc is leading the Trofeo Pirelli Am in Europe, and Holland whose Fons Scheltema is currently topping the standings of the Coppa Gentlemen for drivers of over 55.

Portimao, 20 July

This was the final day of the fourth round of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli Europe, at Portimao circuit. Winner of Race 2 in the Pro category was Philipp Baron (Octane 126) while Florian Merckx (Kessel Racing) won the Am class. In the second Coppa Shell race, Dirk Adamski (Saggio Racing Team) emerged victorious. The next round takes place as part of the Ferrari Racing Days at Silverstone, over the weekend of 12-14 September.
Second in the Pro category, in this the last round prior to the summer break, was Dario Caso (Rossocorsa – Pellin Racing) with Alexander Martin (Motor Piacenza) third. Leading overall is Italy’s Daniele Di Amato of the Motor Piacenza team on 128 points, 12 more than Dario Caso.
In the Am category, Alessandro Vezzoni (Rossocorsa – Pellin Racing) finished second ahead of the Argentinian, Perez Companc (Motor Piacenza,) third place enough to see him still lead the overall classification on 105 points.

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Brno, 22 June

On a sunny Sunday, the third round of the Ferrari Challenge Europe came to an end at Brno. The last race was very closely fought and incident packed here in the Czech Republic. In the Pro category of the Trofeo Pirelli, the Italian Daniele Di Amato (Motor Piacenza) took his first win of the season, leading from start to finish. He also set the fastest race lap in 2.06.059. Right behind him, making his life difficult was another Italian Dario Caso, who right to the end tried to get the lead. Third was the Slovak driver Oknaj, driving for Scuderia Praha.
In the Am category, there was a first home win for the Slovac driver Thomas Kukucka (Scuderia Praha-Dino&Co) ahead of Italy’s Alessandro Vezzoni (Rossocorsa-Pellin Racing) and the Slovac Peter Vanco (Scuderia Praha-Dino&Co).
It was a really unlucky weekend for Giacomo Stratta (Forza Service) who had to retire on the final lap after a collision with the Argentine Perez Companc (Motor Piacenza) who was given a 25 second penalty by the stewards.
In the Coppa Shell, the Kessel Racing team had reason to be happy with a fantastic clean sweep of the top three places. First was Dutchman Fons Scheltema, who crossed the line ahead of Italian team-mate Massimiliano Bianchi and the Canadian Rick Lovat.
The next round of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli takes place on 18 to 20 July at Portimao in Portugal.

Monza, 6 March

An exciting second race among those chasing the win in the Coppa Shell. Victory went to Dutch Fons Scheltema, at the wheel of the Kessel Racing 458 Evo. Second place went to the Italian Massimiliano Bianchi, third was Swedish Christian Kinch.
Scheltema won also in the Coppa Gentlemen beating Thomas Gostner (Ineco-MP Racing) and Lovat.
Leading the Coppa Shell classification after two races is Bianchi, followed by Scheltema. In the Coppa Gentlemen, Scheltema has the most points. The next round takes place at Mugello from 16 to 18 May.

Monza, 6 April

In the second Trofeo Pirelli race at the Monza circuit, victory went to Daniele Di Amato, who was unbeatable driving his Motor Piacenza 458 Challenge Evo. The Roman driver was in total command of the situation after an early duel with Philipp Baron, then excluded by a puncture. Once he pulled away, Di Amato did a good job of controlling the race. Second was Dario Caso (Rossocorse-Pellin Racing) who overtook Stefano Gai on the last straight having been slowed by a puncture.
In the Pirelli Am battle, Sam Smeeth, driving for the Stratstone Ferrari team dominated the race. Behind him the was a great duel between the Motor Piacenza drivers Alexander Moiseev and Ezequiel Perez Companc. The battle was won, in the last lap, by the 20 year old Argentinian.
In top spot championship classification after two races is Stefano Gai, but he’s going to leave the series to concentrate on Endurance racing. So the real leader is Di Amato that leads over Dario Caso. In the Pirelli Am category, the leader after one weekend of racing is Perez Companc. The next round is at Mugello from 16 to 18 May.

Daytona, 24 January

Scott Tucker (Boardwalk Ferrari) was the winner of the first race of the season in the North American Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli series. Having started from the third row, Tucker came out on top after a very close fight with the Mexican, Ricardo Perez (Ferrari of Houston) which went on almost all race long. The third step of the podium featured the Colombian Carlos Gomez (The Auto Gallery.) In the Coppa Shell, Jon Becker (Ferrari of Beverley Hills) was the clear victor, starting from pole position and keeping the lead all the way to the chequered flag. The other two podium positions went to Chris Ruud (Ferrari of Beverley Hills) and Ugo Colombo (The Collection.)
The second race takes place tomorrow morning at 9.45 local time.

Austin, 15 November – This weekend, the Circuit of the Americas hosts the final round of eight of yet another North American Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli series. Returning from Italy and last weekend’s Finali Mondiali in Mugello, which saw Onofrio Triarsi take the title in his Ferrari of Central Florida car in the Trofeo Pirelli category, with Marco Muzzo driving for Ferrari of Ontario victorious in the Coppa Shell, competitors in the Stars ‘n Stripes one-make series will be back in action for two races, running on the same card as the Formula 1 Grand Prix. There was a group photo taken prior to the weekend, with competitors joined by Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal, Stefano Domenicali, Felipe Massa and the President of Ferrari North America, Marco Mattiacci, alongside two 458 Challenge cars, including the red and gold version celebrating twenty years of the series.