Podiums & Victories in British GT (Zandvoort) & GT Cup (Snetterton)

 

FF Corse drivers scored three race victories at Snetterton in the GT Cup this weekend and two podiums in the British GT Championship at Zandvoort.

Jacques Duyver & Charlie Hollings took the first win of the weekend with victory in the GT Cup pit-stop race at Snetterton. Jacques qualified the car in pole position and after a dealy on the first lap, the pairing charged through the field to take victory with a couple of laps remaining.

Alex Martin then followed up with wins in both Sunday’s sprint races, extending his Championship lead to 59 points with one round remaining. The first sprint race saw Alex seal overall victory with a dramatic last lap overtaking maneuver around the outside of Coram curve, passing two cars for the lead, including race one winner Jacques Duyver, who finished second in both sprints.

Shamus Jennings & Phil Andrews finished on the podium in the pit-stop race and Peter Jennings secured the third spot in races 2 & 3. Rupert Martin had a good weekend and despite not having driven at Snetterton for two years, drove strongly to record a trio of 4th place points finishes and maintain 3rd place in the overall Championship.

Zandvoort in Holland was the venue for the sixth round of the British GT Championship at the weekend and despite never having raced at the circuit before the FF Corse driver pairing of Gary Eastwood & Rob Barff achieved a 3rd place finish in Race 1 on Saturday and a 2nd place finish in Race 2 on Sunday. The FF Corse 458 GT3 was challenging strongly all weekend and was the fastest Ferrari. The team are the leading Ferrari team in the Championship with only the final round remaining at Donington.

Photos Courtesy of British GT

The final round of the GTC Cup Championship is at Doinington on 28th September. The final round of the British GT Championship is at Doinington on 5th & 6th October. For further information contact Anthony Cheshire at FF Corse on 01327 857601 or email [email protected].

FF Corse Drivers Race at Imola (European Challenge) & Donington (GT Cup)

 

Three FF Corse drivers achieved their best ever race results in the European Ferrari Challenge and the GT Cup Championship respectively over the weekend.

Northern Irish duo of Peter & Shamus Jennings achieved their best results with Peter taking his first class wins and an overall podium in the GT Cup Championship Finale at Donington Park on Saturday. Shamus achieved second place class finishes in both races to cap a very successful first full season in motor racing..

Rupert Martin was meanwhile competing in the Ferrari European Challenge round at Imola (IT) over the weekend and achieved an excellent 11th place finish overall in race 1 and 16th place in a very wet race 2. Alex retired from the first race with a puncture and finished 6th in the second race.

Despite their absence at Donington, due to their Ferrari Challenge commitments, Alex wrapped up the GTC Class in the GT Cup Championship and almost won the overall Championship – unfortunately missing out by a single point after leading all season. Rupert finished 2nd place in the GTC Class Championship to make it a Martin 1st and second with Peter Jennings finishing third.

 

 

The final round of the European Ferrari Challenge and World Final is at Mugello on Nov 8th-10th. For further information contact Anthony Cheshire at FF Corse on 01327 857601 or email [email protected].

FF Corse Trackdays at Monza & Mugello

 

FF Corse drivers visited “The Temple of Speed” at Monza and the beautiful Mugello circuit in Tuscany last week, in a 3 day Italian extravaganza.

8 cars and drivers went to Monza for the first day’s driving, staying at the renowned Hotel De’Ville for 2 nights before traveling South to Mugello, just North of Florence.

The event was deemed a great success and FF Corse is already planning a return trip and more similar events in 2014

A few track-day dates still remain on the calendar for this year, including a new date at Donington on October 14th, along with Silverstone on October 23rd, November 10th and Snetterton on November 30th. For details on availability please contact the office on 01327 857601 or email Andy O’Dowd on [email protected]

Ferrari 458 GT3 at Donington

 

Gary Eastwood & Rob Barff had a fantastic finish to the British GT season with a second consecutive 2nd place finish at the Donington Park Finale yesterday. The FF Corse driver pairing have scored consistently on the podium over the latter half of the season.

The weekend started well with the team appearing at the top of the time sheets in the first Free Practice, before qualifying in 4th place for the race. Gary started the race and got into the lead, before a 15 second pit-stop success penalty (a carry over from finishing second at the last round in Zandvoort) moved Rob Barff back to third. Rob worked his way back into second and into contention for the win, before eventually having to settle for 2nd, some five seconds behind the winner (despite the penalty).

The second place finish overall saw the team finish as the highest placed Ferrari in the Championship, a direct result of out-scoring all the other teams in the last three rounds of the Championship.

Photos Courtesy of British GT

The race was shown live on Motors TV and a recorded highlights package will be shown on Channel 4 and Motors TV later this month.

 

For further information on the British GT Championship contact Anthony Cheshire at FF Corse on 01327 857601 or email [email protected].

Ferrari Racing Days

The Ferrari Racing Days at Silverstone next month will see ten FF Corse drivers compete in both the Ferrari Challenge & Ferrari UK Open Races.

The action is non-stop with Qualifying for the Ferrari Challenge taking place on Saturday and four races on the Sunday. The UK Ferrari Open sees races taking place on both Saturday and Sunday.

 

The race meeting, held over 3 days, will be non-stop Ferrari activities and will include a Guinness world record attempt on the Saturday evening, when over 500 Ferrari cars are expected to take to the circuit. The Ferrari FXX programme and F1 Corse Clienti will also be in action.

Complimentary access tickets are available to all FF Corse members and we will have our own hospitality available at the event, along with the Ferrari Corse Clienti hospitality unit.

To arrange complimentary entry and hospitality please contact Andy O’Dowd on [email protected] or telephone 0845 6535798 to pre-order tickets

 

Ferrari Racing Days at Silverstone (September 15th & 16th, 2012)

Gary Eastwood & Alex Martin took wins a piece in the UK Ferrari Open and the Coppa Giovani (young driver) class of the Ferrari European Challenge Championship at the weekend.

Gary put on a determined performance when he stormed through from 5th on the grid to take a dominant win in Sunday’s race.

Alex Martin also put on a great showing to record his first victory in the Coppa Giovanni class of the Ferrari Challenge. Alex showed great pace throughout the weekend on his home turf and recorded his best results of the season so far.

With FF Corse running 13 cars for drivers in the team, there was plenty of action throughout all the races. Mick Dwane finished 6th and second best of the FF Corse drivers in race 1 and podium positions were achieved in the top 3 Classes of the Ferrari Open. Toby Tarrant-Willis and Jacques Duyver in Class C3 and Robert Macfarlane in Class C4.

Of the drivers, Ivor Dunbar, Shamus Jennings, Rob Tarrant-Willis & Peter Jennings were making their debuts in the Ferrari Open with FF Corse. Peter Jenning’s amazed expectations by qualifying on in 5th and 6th positions for his first ever car race and followed this up with 8th & 5th place finishing positions.

Shamus & Ivor both put in very respectable performances to finish strongly in the very competitive 30 car field. Mark McAllister recorded to ten positions in both races and Ian Hartley, in his Ferrari F430 Challenge, challenged strongly throughout to finish just outside the podium in both races. Rob also driving an F430 Challenge ran well throughout to finish both of his first races ahead of some stronger opposition.

Rupert Martin also recorded his best qualifying and race performances of the season. In race one he finished just outside the top ten in 11 th position and followed this up with a 13th position against a very strong European driver line-up.

British GT title decider

After a winning drive at Donington, FF Corse drivers Gary Eastwood & Ryan Hooker are the GTC Class Champions in the 2012 British GT Championship.

The Ferrari 458 Challenge GTC driver pairing were never headed at the Donington finale and led from start to finish. Ryan Hooker started the race before handing the lead over to Gary after 59 mins. Gary kept a cool head to extend the lead and took the flag as comfortable winner.

FF Corse plan to return to the British GT Championship in 2013 in the main GT3 and GTC class.

FF Corse take wins at Nurburgring & Vallelunga

FF Corse drivers were racing at Nurburgring and Vallelunga this weekend and added another couple wins to their win tally.

Gary Eastwood and Mick Dwane opened up the account with one-two result for the Ferrari drivers. This took Gary’s win tally for the season in Ferrari Open to 7 wins. Meanwhile in Italy, Alex Martin won the Coppa Giovani Trophy for the second race meeting in succession.

In the second and final race of the Ferrari Open season at Nurburgring both visited the podium with 2nd and 3rd places respectively. Rupert Martin also had a good weekend and recorded a strong finish in both races of the Coppa Gentlemen in The European Ferrari Challenge.

The final round of the European Ferrari Challenge takes place at the World Finals in Valencia at the beginning of December.

Jerez (ESP): March 7th & 8th, 2013

The overseas FF Corse pre-season event has been confirmed at Jerez on March 7th & 8th (Thursday & Friday). The two day track hire has been booked by FF Corse and is exclusively for members and invited guests.

The number of cars participating in the event is limited to 15 cars and the track time will be open pit-lane throughout the two days.

Jerez Circuit

The former GP circuit is still a current F1 test circuit and is located in Southern Spain. The website link for the circuit is http://www.circuitodejerez.com/

Accommodation & Meals

3 nights Accommodation is included at the Montecastillo Golf Resort Hotel. It is 4 star venue and is ideally located next to the circuit. Team meals and restaurants in the evening are included.

Weather

The average weather temperature for the time of year is 20°C.

Booking

Places are strictly limited, please email us on [email protected] to pre-register you interest in the event, or for more information please contact Anthony Cheshire or Andy O’Dowd on 01327 857601

Gary Eastwood & Rob Barff in a Ferrari 458 GT3

The news was announced through Autosport magazine that Gary Eastwood is teaming up with Rob Barff for the 2013 British GT Championship. The 2012 Championship consists of 7 race meetings at UK race circuits, with 1 overseas round at Nurburgring.

“I really enjoyed the races we did this year with FF Corse in the British GT and look forward to stepping up to the main GT3 class next year. With my team mate confirmed as Rob Barff, I think we have a really good chance of winning.” – Gary Eastwood

“We see the main British GT Championship as the perfect opportunity to showcase our technical race expertise in the UK..” Anthony Cheshire

“The professionalism FF Corse brought to the series when they joined us at Snetterton this year was there for all to see. Gary is our 2012 GTC Champion and it was great to welcome him back aftersome time in other series. The team have experience with Ferrari on the continent as well in the UK. We’re very happy to have them with us in 2013 in both GT3 and GTC” Benjamin Franassovici – British GT