Ferrari Challenge Europe – Wins for Babalus, Rocca and Duyver in Monza
Monza, 18 April – The Ferrari Challenge Europe season has opened with two absolutely scintillating races. After the rain of yesterday, the drivers were greeted by a much warmer, sunnier day, allowing them to unleash the 458 Challenge EVO’s full potential in the first round of the European series of the world’s most famous single-make championship.
Trofeo Pirelli. The Trofeo Pirelli had the honor of officially opening the season with a race that delivered a whole slew of dogfights and thrills. At the start, Bjorn Grossmann managed to nip past the Italian Babalus who was in pole position, while Dario Caso hung on to third ahead of Florian Merckx. Just behind them, there was a bit of confusion in the pack.
Thankfully, all the drivers managed to emerge unscathed from the first chicane, except for Maxim Lukyanov whose wheels went onto the grass, resulting in an ultimately harmless spin. Grossmann and Babalus then got locked into a one-on-one battle for the lead, which allowed Caso to catch up. Shortly afterward, at the Parabolica, Joe Macari and Stephen Earle’s cars made contact, ending the race for both drivers. On lap five, Dario Caso coasted up to the pitwall and retired, causing the Safety Car to come out.
When the race was restarted, Babalus (Autoropa) was virtually glued to Grossmann’s tailpipes and, two laps later, managed to come out best of the Parabolica, slipping past the Octane 126 driver at the first chicane. Behind them, Florian Merckx was having no problem staying in third. Once out in front, Babalus put some distance between himself and Grossmann, eventually crossing the finish line 5”132 ahead of the German and 13”728 ahead of the Belgian Baron Service driver.
Pirelli Am. The Trofeo Pirelli Am race was dominated by a fiery battle between Swede Martin Nelson and Alessandro Vezzoni. The Italian Rossocorsa – Pellin Racing driver made several valiant but fruitless attempts to get past his rival. Tommaso Rocca, on the other hand, clawed his way back skillfully from 16th on the grid to eighth overall, earning himself the third step on the podium in his category. After the race, anyway, the final standing was altered by two decisions of the Race Direction: both Nelson and Vezzoni were penalized and Rocca was promoted first. Second went to Germany’s Andreas Selger (StileF) while third was Swiss Nicolas Sturzinger (Foitek Racing).
Coppa Shell. Two hours later was the turn of Coppa Shell cars. The first lap really delivered on drama. Making superb use of his pole position, Erich Prinoth (Ineco – Mp Racing) managed to keep his lead ahead of Belgian Jacques Duyver while Indian driver Gautam Singhania almost immediately moved up into third. 2014 Coppa Gentlemen winner Fons Scheltema, however, was pranged by another driver, while Rick Lovat spun at the Variante della Roggia and ended up retiring. Out in front, Prinoth and the two Kessel Racing drivers quickly pulled away from the rest of the field along with Thomas Lindroth (Baron Service) and Eric Cheung (AF Corse). Tension rose several notches at the last corner of the last lap, however, as halfway through the Parabolica, Prinoth found a slower car right in his line and had to slow. Duyver, who’d got fastest out of the corner, quickly took advantage of Prinoth’s misfortune. He had an easy time of it on the straight, going on to win with a 1”624 lead over Prinoth and a 6”118 over Singhania, author of the fastest lap of the race. Prinoth won the Over-55 race with his teammate Thomas Gostner taking second and Australian Paul Van Loenhout of AF Corse third. Tomorrow, they do it all over again with Race 2 in each series: the Trofeo Pirelli at 13.55 and the Coppa Shell at 15.55.