Team Vertu Racing driver, Mike Cantillon in Car 128, once again showed the way in Race 2 of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli – Coppa Shell series, with a dominant performance from pole position in difficult conditions to take his second win of the weekend, and his third in four races so far this season. Mike capitalised on two excellent pole positions and led both races from the front with a confident and calculated drive to finish on the top step of the podium and add two more trophies to his growing collection.
With a damp track and very poor visibility on a foggy Northamptonshire circuit, the Ferrari Challenge demonstrated once again that it truly is a Challenge – with even regular series competitors struggling to cope with the tricky track conditions, including Mike’s Team Vertu Racing team-mate, Jamie Constable in Car 127 spinning at the first corner after starting alongside Mike on the front row of the grid. Jamie dropped down to 6th place by the end of the first lap, but pushed lap after lap to make his way back up the field, narrowly missing out on a second podium for the weekend and finished in 4th place.
The Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB’s two other drivers in the series for gentleman drivers also demonstrated growing confidence and race pace, with Yannick Mallegol finishing 10th – his first top 10 finish of the year, and new driver for 2008, Jack Gerber, again finishing in the points with a 17th place finish to add more points to his 13th place finish yesterday. Jack Gerber is still in his first season of racing in the Ferrari Challenge, and has already impressed the team with his consistency and dedicated approach to improving race by race.
Massimo Fedeli, Managing Director of Ferrari GB, also unveiled a special car as a surprise for Les Ireland, President EMEA of Black&Decker, who have been a sponsor of the Ferrari Challenge for a number of years and have the benefit of seeing a car with dedicated Black&Decker livery start Race 2 from Pole Position – yet another accolade for the team at their home round this weekend. This particular car, number 99, is being driven by Andrea Piccini, who is an experienced racing driver participating in the FIA GT series also competing at Silverstone this weekend, and who is participating in the Ferrari Challenge as a guest driver in the Trofeo Pirelli category.
The Ferrari Challenge now moves to the warmer climes of the south of France at the end of May, with another action packed weekend of Ferrari racing at the beautiful Paul Ricard circuit.
