Strong Weekend at British GT, Ferrari Challenge and Ferrari Open

gary eastwood

Donington- British GT

It was a fantastic and busy race weekend with nine FF corse drivers competing in the British GT Championship finale at Donington Park, along with the Ferrari Racing Days event at Silverstone. the Ferrari race meeting saw both FF Corse entries in the European Ferrari Challenge and the UK Pirelli Ferrari Open.

At Donington Gary Eastwood and Ollie Hancock had a great weekend with a second place finish to secure another podium in the British GT season finale.

Ron Johnson and Piers Johnson were back in the Ferrari 458 GT3, having previously raced in GT Cup at Silverstone Last month.

Gary and Ollie (Standing in for Adam Carroll) came charging through from 7th on the grid to almost snatch a last minute victory, eventually finishing under 3 seconds behind the winning car.

Ron & Piers also had a strong result, finishing just outside the top 10 in their first British GT race for a year.

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Ferrari European Challenge

FF Corse Driver Sam Smeeth tasted the champagne after securing pole position and winning race 2 of the European Ferrari Challenge race in dominant style at Silverstone.

Gautam Hari Singhania was making his debut in the Trofeo Pirelli Coppa Shell, improving dramatically throughout the weekend before qualifying on row 3 for the final race and running third overall.

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Pirelli Ferrari Open

Two FF Corse drivers, Malcolm Jones & Stuart Shield were making their racing debut in the UK Pirelli Ferrari Open with their Ferrari F430 Challenge cars.

Robert Macfarlane was also racing in his beautiful yellow Ferrari 360 Challenge. All the drivers had success in the races and managed 5 class podium finishes between them.

European Ferrari Challenge success at Monza

Sam Smeeth

FF Corse driver Sam Smeeth came away from his Monza debut last night smelling of Champagne and leading the European Ferrari Challenge Championship (Pirelli – AM class)!

The weekend was a sensational start to the year with Sam lining up third overall on the grid  for both races (with class pole in race 1) . In the first race a lack of front grip hampered progress and Sam battled hard to bring the car home 4th in Class. Amends was made in race two with Sam taking a commanding AM class win in the top tier Trofeo Pirelli race.

Meanwhile FF Corse team-mate Jacques Duyver was also having a fantastic debut in the European Ferrari Challenge series. In the separate Coppa-Shell races, Jacques qualified 3rd for his first race at Monza, matching Sam’s achievement earlier in the day and raced well to also get a taste of Champagne with a 3rd place podium position, setting fastest lap en-route.

The weekend’s success in Italy leaves FF Corse/Stratstone Ferrari at the sharp-end of the Teams’ Championship and in second place overall. The next round of the Championship is at Mugello (IT) on May 16th-18th.

sam smeeth -podium

More photos from the European Ferrari Challenge race can be seen in the FF Corse online website gallery section.