Passione Ferrari Challenge Edition at Snetterton

The opening round of the Passione Ferrari Challenge Edition took place at Snetterton last weekend, alongside Ferrari Challenge UK. The event was a great success for us, with a total of six test drives in our white 488 Challenge Evo. Each test driver had 45 minutes on track with a professional driver coach, Miguel Faísca, alongside them to ensure they got the most out of their session – check out the glowing brake disks!

We were also running a customer in their own car, who made great progress throughout the six 45 minute sessions on track with Charlie Hollings coaching.

Ferrari customers brought along a fantastic array of cars which were a delight to see in the paddock, the Ferrari hospitality was excellent, and even the weather was kind to us!

The next round is at Oulton Park on 19th & 20th May, please get in touch if you’d like to join us.

FF Corse enter dynamic duo in Ferrari Challenge Europe

GT Winter Series Estoril FF Corse Garage

FF Corse have confirmed a two car team for the 2023 Ferrari Challenge Europe championship, with two young and talented drivers. James Owen and Tom Fleming are to contest a full season in the longest-standing one-make Ferrari championship. After a pandemic-related hiatus to European racing, FF Corse look forward to taking the fight to our European colleagues and teams.

The championship, which visits seven famous European circuits throughout the season, consists purely of Ferrari 488 Challenge cars. The 3.9 litre V8 engines provide a staggering 670hp and 760nm of torque.

Neither James nor Tom had competed in car racing prior to 2023 other than to obtain signatures on their race licenses in 2022 – Tom in a Radical, and James in a Mazda MX5 and an Audi TT.

So, 2023 began with both drivers competing in two rounds of the GT Winter Series in order to get a feel for their Ferrari 488 Challenge Evos ahead of the first Ferrari Challenge round, and the results were impressive! Between them they managed six podiums at their first round in Estoril: three first places, two seconds and a third. And the results at the second round in Valencia were equally as exciting, with Tom doing a sterling job to secure another three wins, and James fought his way impressively through the field in the first two races to finish 4th in both. British Touring Car driver Bobby Thompson joined James for the endurance race, in which they finished in a fantastic second place. This round of the GT Winter Series served as an excellent warm-up for the opening round of Ferrari Challenge next month, which is also in Valencia.

FF Corse Racing Ferrari

James, an avid road car collector, competed in Ferrari Club Challenge with FF Corse in his 488 Challenge Evo to hone his on track ability as part of our Driver Development Programme. Despite his limited race experience, James is showing excellent pace already and is only going to get more competitive as time goes on.

Previously, Tom has competed successfully in the British Kart Championship, finishing 3rd in the standings in 2021. He then graduated to ‘big cars’ with FF Corse in 2022 in our Development Programme and completed a number of tests and races in various vehicles, showing great promise and natural ability.

Ed Barton-Hilton, Development Manager for FF Corse says, “We are delighted to be back racing in Ferrari Challenge Europe, representing Ferrari as the UK’s only partner team. It’s a great addition alongside our existing UK and European track and race operations. To have a pairing like James and Tom is a fantastic opportunity for the team and for their racing development. Working with two young, quick and keen drivers is a real privilege. I’m expecting some strong results this year….”

We are very excited to see what the 2023 season is going to bring for both drivers, who have shown enormous potential in the two rounds of the GT Winter Series.

Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo Valencia

Race Calendar

Valencia 25th – 26th March
Misano 22nd – 23rd April
Spielberg 13th – 14th May
Le Mans 9th – 10th June
Estoril 15th – 16th July
Spa-Francorchamps 16th – 17th September
Tom Fleming FF Corse

GT Winter Series – Valencia

GT Winter Series Valencia

The Dream Team! Congratulations to Tom, James and Bobby for their results in the GT Winter Series in Valencia at the weekend – Tom did a sterling job to secure another three class wins, and James fought his way impressively through the field in the first two races to finish 4th in class in both. Bobby then joined James for the endurance race and they achieved a fantastic 2nd in class.

And as always, a massive thank you to our amazing team who have worked tirelessly in the run-up to this weekend, and throughout the event in order to make sure everything ran smoothly.

Now onward to Ferrari Challenge Europe, we’re very excited to see what the guys can do! We are back at Valencia for the first round of the season, 24th – 26th March.

📷 Daniel Buergin

GT Winter Series – Estoril

GT Winter Series Estoril

6 Podiums for FF Corse

The GT Winter Series entered its second round of the season on 14-15 January 2023 in Estoril. The legendary ex-Formula 1 circuit near Lisbon had a lot of action in store and provided one or two surprises. With 44 entries, the field was not only large, but also high-class, featuring GT3, GT4, and three Cup Classes.

Q1 & Q2 – From wet to clammy

The Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Estoril was literally pounding the night before the 2023 GTWS opener, with waves up to 7m high and plenty of rain along the coast. So the morning qualifying session was to take place wet, but looking increasingly friendly as the clouds visibly cleared. So the secret of the fast times seemed to lie in the right timing, as the Portuguese sun slowly ate up the drops.

As Q1 began, a wet session was declared. Not why we went to Portugal! Unfortunately James was unable to set a time during qualifying owing to a failed component out of our control, and placed him P36 for the first race. Tom had better fortune, quickly demonstrating his pace, qualifying P1 in class and P12 overall.

Sprint Race 1 – 25 minutes but shorter than expected

Although the track gradually dried over course of the morning, it was still decidedly wet and all the drivers had decided to start on slicks. However, as the track still showed changing conditions, the experienced race director Werner Aichinger decided to increase the number of introductory laps to two so that the drivers could familiarise themselves with the conditions. This sightseeing didn’t seem to work for everyone, as the safety car was deployed almost immediately. The race was barely reopened after two laps of clean-up when another car left the tarmac and caused the next safety car phase. With the safety car back in, only a few laps remained however in the Cup 1 class, which was exclusively occupied by Ferrari 488 Challenge Evos, Tom came in P1 in class and P9 overall ahead of James who put in an impressive recovery drive to P2 in class and climbed 13 places to finish P23 overall. A solid start for the pair.

Sprint Race 2 with real performers and an absurd interlude

Race 2 and while a dry line had appeared on track, it was still wet off line. As the cars headed to the grid, there was a divide of those who had opted for slicks or wets. We went slicks.

The wet circuit off line claimed victims early on, resulting in another two safety cars but this time only for a one lap each, so it gave our drivers plenty of time to reset and push forward to climb the field.

Tom relished the dry line and made his way to third place overall with surgical precision. Unfortunately, he lost out on the fruits of his labour, albeit by the skin of his teeth, as he overtook just before the safety car line on the restart and was handed a 25-second penalty. It was only a matter of a few centimetres, but the rule is the rule. However, he had built up such a superior lead that he was still able to celebrate the class victory.

Again having not set a lap in qualifying, James started P33 for race two, but put in yet another remarkable recovery drive, climbing up to P17 overall, taking another 2nd place in class, in just 25 minutes. Quite impressive given his qualifying woes.

1 Hour Endurance Race, with many battles

The starting grid for the 60-minute Endurance is determined by the combined results of Q1 and Q2, Tom starting P10 overall and James back down to P34. A now fully dry circuit meant we send the drivers off to see what they could do, and they didn’t disappoint.

Over the hour, James made steady working picking off cars ahead climbing a total of 20 places overall. Mighty impressive on his first ever race in a 488 Challenge Evo. During the race, James maintained P3 in class, only to be slowly caught by a pro-driver who had taken over from the car’s owner during the mandatory pit stop. A thoroughly exciting 5 laps ensued as James did his best to fend him off as long as he could. Finally, the pro slipped through dropping James back to P4 in class but in true racer form, James kept pushing for the last two laps and his efforts paid off. The car previously running P2 in class had backed off and slowed. James was able to catch and pass, on the last corner, of the last lap recovering P3 in class! Thoroughly exiting to watch!

Once again Tom showed his class. Efficient in his driving style, fast as an arrow in his lap time, he grabs P1 in class for the third time of the day and an outstanding P3 in the overall, beating plenty of quicker machinery. Remarkably, this too is Tom’s first race in a 488 Challenge.

The entire team at FF Corse are delighted with the results and look forward to the next outing, Valencia, 18-19 February.

Thanks to The GT Winter Series.

Photography Credit: Daniel Buergin, GT Winter Series.