ANOTHER POLE POSITION FOR MIKE CANTILLON IN THE FERRARI CHALLENGE AT SILVERSTONE
Fresh from his race victory in the opening round of the Ferrari Challenge at Monza last month, Team Vertu Racing driver, Mike Cantillon in Car 128, put his car on pole position once again – this time at the famed Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire. On a cold and windy day, several drivers found it difficult to find the right set up for the cool conditions and the challenging crosswinds which are characteristic of the Grand Prix circuit, one of the fastest circuits on the calendar. But Mike Cantillon put in an impressive series of laps and snatched pole position with an excellent time of 1min 58.401 secs.
To demonstrate the highly competitive nature of the Ferrari Challenge, the most exclusive single-make racing series which provides Ferrari clients the chance to race on some of the premiere racing circuits in Europe, fellow Team Vertu Racing driver Jamie Constable was only 0.25 secs behind Mike, with a qualifying time of 1min 58.863, but is on the 3rd row of the grid in 6th place. However, Jamie's driving style means he's always pushing hard for the front of the pack and the first few corners of Race 1 on Saturday should see Jamie move through the field to challenge Mike for the lead. A 1-2 finish for Team Vertu Racing is certainly a possibility.
The Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB’s other drivers also fared well today, with Jean-Marc Bachelier in Car 127 also in the top 10, with an excellent time of 1min 59.516 which sees him start Race 1 in 7th place, just behind team mate Jamie Constable. Jean-Marc shares his car with fellow Ferrari driver, Yannick Mallegol, who will take to the track on Saturday morning to qualify their car for Race 2 on Sunday.
Jack Gerber, a new driver for the team in 2008, driving his distinctive black liveried Car 126, demonstrated his growing confidence and speed in only his second race in the Ferrari Challenge with an excellent mid-pack qualifying time of 2min 2.372 secs which sees him start Race 1 in 15th place. Jack has been driving his F430 Challenge in the Fiorano Ferrari series of driving activities which are exclusively for Ferrari clients in the UK and are the perfect preparation for Ferrari clients who want to progress from owning a Ferrari for the road to driving a fully-fledged Ferrari racing car.
The Ferrari Challenge is supporting the FIA GT at Silverstone this weekend, where the tifosi will also be able to see the championship winning Ferrari F430 GT2 compete for honours once again, with a series of endurance races for the various FIA GT categories on Sunday.
