488 Challenge s_n 235667, Gary Redman |
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Brands Hatch, 18-19 May, 2019
The inaugural Ferrari Challenge UK race series meeting was held at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent over the weekend of 18-19 May. Despite it being a new stand alone series, as opposed to being part of the other European series in which British drivers have competed in the past, it attracted an impressive and colourful 20 car entry spread over the two classes Coppa Shell and Trofeo Pirelli. There were two races, one on the Saturday afternoon and another on the Sunday afternoon, with separate qualifying sessions for each one. They were supported by three races for the Pirelli Ferrari Formula Classic series organised by the Ferrari Owners’ Club, which has five classes, 1 - unmodified cars up to 3litres, 2 - lightly modified cars up to 3 litres, 3 – unmodified cars over 3 litres, 4 – lightly modified cars over 3 litres and 5 – modified cars over 3 litres, and these races attracted an 18 car field. The meeting also featured five “Customer Activity” track periods, four of 60mins duration and the final one of 90mins duration bringing the event to a close on the Sunday afternoon. Apart from a very brief light rain shower on the Saturday afternoon, fine weather was the order of the weekend, which with the races interspersed with the customer activity track periods and a lack of any major incidents, made for a very pleasant and relaxed weekend.
That said, the activity on the track was far from relaxed, as there were some good dices through the fields in all the races, making for entertaining viewing. In the Pirelli Formula Classic races, race 1 witnessed a great battle for the lead after Wayne Marrs made a slow start and had to fight his way back into contention, but try as he might for lap after lap he couldn’t get past the similar F355 Challenge of Tristan Simpson, who took the win by a scant 0.133sec. Wayne Marrs didn’t make the same mistake twice, and took the wins in races 2 and 3 quite comfortably, whilst Tristan Simpson had good dices with Tim Mogridge in both these races, managing to hold on to 2nd place both times, but by only 0.105sec in the third race. Races 2 and 3 also saw a really close race-long battle between the class 3 entered 328 GTBs of Chris Butler and Peter Everingham, which were rarely more than a couple of car lengths apart, with the former taking the class win in all three races, but by only 0.177sec and 0.180sec in races 2 and 3 respectively.
In the Ferrari Challenge races the battles were just as intense, with the # 29 car of Jason Baker, in his Dick Lovett Swindon entry, eventually being the first to take the chequered flag in race 1, but it was by just 0.201sec from the #79 example of Jamie Clarke, in his Stratstone Manchester entry, for the Trofeo Pirelli spoils. Wayne Marrs took the final podium spot in his #60 Dick Lovett Swindon entry, a busy man as he ran in every race of the weekend. In the Coppa Shell division the win was taken by the #8 Lancaster Ferrari Colchester entry of Mark McAllister, just over a second ahead of the #69 Maranello Sales example of Toby Flanagan. The second race saw the same duo of Jason Baker and Jamie Clarke battling for the overall race lead and the Trofeo Pirelli class win, with the same finishing order as in race 1, and only 0.414sec between them at the chequered flag, with this time the #6 Stratstone Manchester car of Paul Hogarth taking the final podium spot. In the Coppa Shell division it was the #13 example of Stuart Willson that had finished 3rd in Race 1 that took the victory, with the #69 entry of Toby Flanagan less than a second in arrears, whilst the 3rd place car, the #22 Graypaul Nottingham car of Gary Redman was only another second behind after an enthralling race long battle.
Ferrari Challenge Race 1 Coppa Shell Podium
1st – #8, Mark McAllister 2nd – #69, Toby Flanagan 3rd – # 1, A. Moss
Ferrari Challenge Race 1Trofeo Pirelli Podium
1st – #29, Jason Baker 2nd – #79, Jamie Clarke 3rd – #60 Wayne Marrs
Ferrari Challenge Race 2 Coppa Shell Podium
1st – #13, Stuart Willson 2nd – #69, Toby Flanagan 3rd – #22, Gary Redman
Ferrari Challenge Race 2 Trofeo Pirelli Podium
1st – #29, Jason Baker 2nd – #79, Jamie Clarke 3rd – #6, Paul Hogarth
Pirelli Ferrari Ferrari Formula Classic Race 1 Podium
1st – #46, Tristan Simpson, F355 Challenge 2nd – #60, Wayne Marrs, F355 Challenge 3rd – #4, Tim Mogridge, F355 Challenge
Pirelli Ferrari Ferrari Formula Classic Race 2 Podium
1st – #60, Wayne Marrs, F355 Challenge 2nd – #46, Tristan Simpson, F355 Challenge 3rd – #4, Tim Mogridge, F355 Challenge
Pirelli Ferrari Ferrari Formula Classic Race 3 Podium
1st – #60, Wayne Marrs, F355 Challenge 2nd – #46, Tristan Simpson, F355 Challenge 3rd – #4, Tim Mogridge, F355 Challenge
Ferrari Challenge Entry List
Race # | Class | Driver | Model | Chassis # | 1 | S | Alex Moss | 488 Challenge | 245146 | 6 | P | Paul Hogarth | 488 Challenge | 241229 | 8 | S | Marc McAllister | 488 Challenge | 234888 | 9 | S | Paul Stevens | 488 Challenge | 243304 | 10 | P | Henry Simmons | 488 Challenge | 236939 | 13 | S | Stuart Willson | 488 Challenge | 236433 | 14 | P | Imran Kara | 488 Challenge | 245145 | 18 | S | David Grover | 488 Challenge | 246137 | 22 | S | Gary Redman | 488 Challenge | 235667 | 25 | S | Neil Miller | 488 Challenge | 236270 | 27 | P | Martin Smith | 488 Challenge | 236240 | 29 | P | Jason Baker | 488 Challenge | 230364 | 43 | P | Josh Kirkwood-Jones | 488 Challenge | 230880 | 60 | P | Wayne Marrs | 488 Challenge | 231804 | 69 | S | Toby Flannagan | 488 Challenge | 236946 | 72 | P | John Wood | 488 Challenge | 223907 | 74 | P | Andrew Bruce | 488 Challenge | 239490 | 77 | P | Paul Simmerson | 488 Challenge | 244896 | 79 | P | Jamie Clarke | 488 Challenge | 238911 | 83 | S | Richard Guy | 488 Challenge | 236255 |
S = Coppa Shell Class
P = Trofeo Pirelli Class
Pirelli Ferrari Formula Classic Entry List
Race # | Class | Driver | Model | Chassis # | 4 | 5 | Tim Mogridge | F355 Challenge | 107290 | 5 | 3 | Chris Butler | 328 GTB | 62523 | 12 | 3 | Peter Everingham | 328 GTB | 64521 | 14 | 5 | Carl Cavers | F355 Challenge | 110219 | 18 | 3 | Darren Mills | 328 GTB | 69477 | 25 | 2 | Richard Mills | Dino 308 GT4 | 13614 | 26 | 4 | Colin Sowter | 348 Challenge | 84789 | 28 | 4 | Myles Poulton | 328 GTS | 63429 | 29 | 1 | William Moorwood | Dino 308 GT4 | 13132 | 33 | 3 | Pauline Goodwiin | 328 GTB | 68063 | 35 | 2 | Richard Atkinson-Willes | Dino 308 GT4 | 13422 | 44 | 2 | Chris Compton-Goddard | 308 GTB | 19253 | 46 | 5 | Tristan Simpson | F355 Challenge | 101609 | 52 | 2 | Len Watson | 308 GTB | 29755 | 60 | 5 | Wayne Mars | F355 Challenge | 105518 | 73 | 5 | Tim Walker | F355 Challenge | 108083 | 85 | 5 | David Edge | F355 Challenge | 111966 | 308 | 2 | Nick Whitaker | Dino 308 GT4 | 15068 |
Keith Bluemel 05/2019
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