Team Vertu Racing and Ferrari Challenge Coppa Shell championship leader, Mike Cantillon put on another fantastic performance at the Nurburgring yesterday, with a dominant win in Race 1 on Saturday as part of the Ferrari Racing Days festival in Germany.
Starting from the second row, Mike quickly settled into a rhythm behind the leaders and pounced when presented with an excellent opportunity to take the lead under braking in the final chicane before the main straight, with only a few laps to go. Having sensibly preserved his tyres to make a move at the end of the race, Mike then quickly pulled out a few seconds lead before the race was red flagged following oil spillage from an accident involving some of the back markers.
Mike has an excellent chance of securing the Driver’s Championship in the Coppa Shell series for gentleman drivers in Race 2 on Sunday, as he now has an almost unassailable points lead with only 1 more race weekend left in November. His points haul also means the Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB extends its lead even further in the Dealer’s Cup points battle as well.
Joining Mike on the podium today was fellow Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB driver, Jean-Marc Bachelier in Car 129 who started the race in 4th position but managed to muscle his way into a podium position midway through the race and maintain an advantage over the rest of the pack for the remaining laps of a dry race which meant fast times and competitive racing after a very damp qualifying session on Saturday morning.
Jamie Constable in Car 127, also driving for Team Vertu Racing alongside Mike Cantillon, secured another excellent starting position for Race 1, with a time of 2:21.846 that means he started on the 3rd row of the grid. During the race, Jamie was in the middle of a tense 5-way battle but was well-placed to to improve on his current 5th place in the points standings and help the team clinch the Dealer’s Cup Championship as well. Jamie finally finished the race in 7th place.
The team’s fourth driver showing another measured improvement in qualifying is Jack Gerber who started Race 1 in 15th in a packed grid of 28 cars in the Coppa Shell category. However, during a difficult race in which Jack faced some challenging situations around the back of the circuit, his car unfortunately spilled oil which meant he was unable to finish the race. Jack starts Race 2 on Sunday in 20th place.
The Ferrari Challenge continues on Sunday at the Ferrari Racing Days spectacular at the Nurburgring, with further racing from the Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge, and demonstration sessions from the F1 Clienti and FXX programme.
