Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB win Team Championship

After an action packed final race at Mugello on Saturday, the Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB had another reason for celebration as newly-crowned Coppa Shell Driver’s Champion, Mike Cantillon, finished on the podium and secured more than enough points for the team to win the Team’s Championship as well.

On the opening lap, Jean-Marc Bachelier and Mike Cantillon were trying to overtake the second place car of Gianluca Carboni, with Mike Cantillon taking the inside line and Jean-Marc unfortunately pushed wide on the outside of the first corner which meant that Jean-Marc spun and ended up at the back of the field. However an incident with some of the back markers during the middle portion of the race meant that the safety car came out for a few laps, bunching the field up for a restart.

As the green flag waved, Jamie Constable was in second place, with Mike Cantillon immediately behind in third. With a nail-biting first few corners following the re-start, Jamie made his way past Carboni to take the lead for the first time – but bumper to bumper racing for several laps saw the first three cars trade paint and positions every other corner, with fourth place Alex Santos even coming into play for the last podium positions towards the last few laps of the race. Eventually, Jamie pushed hard and spun, so dropped down the running order and eventually retired, as his Team Vertu Racing team-mate chased Santos down for the chequered flag. However, Mike was unable to make up the lost time but brought the car home in second place to clinch the Team Championship.

Massimo Fedeli, Managing Director of Ferrari GB Ltd, said, “Another fantastic result for the team, the drivers, all our sponsors, guests and friends! To add the Team Championship to the Driver’s Championship we won yesterday is just a dream come true. It’s all down to the incredible dedication and determination from everyone involved in the team. I can’t thank them enough.”

The Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB has another chance for celebration on Sunday as the team takes part in the World Finals – a grand finale race which pits competitors from the European, Italian and American Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli series for one final time to decide the “Ferrari Challenge World Champion”. With the starting positions for the World Final race decided by the cumulative times from the two qualifying sessions at Mugello this weekend, the Italian series drivers will start from pole position on the inside line of the track, with the European series drivers lining up on the other side of the grid. Mike’s excellent qualification times means he will start in 2nd position on the second row of the grid, with his Team Vertu Racing team-mate, Jamie Constable, only two rows behind starting in 4th place.

Also on track this weekend at the Finali Mondiali are the Shell Historic Ferrari Challenge, the F1 Clienti and the FXX Programme, along with a special display on Sunday from the newly-crowned Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro who clinched their 16th F1 Constructor’s Championship in Brazil last weekend. For the Tifosi, the Finali Mondiali is the only place to see so many beautiful, rare and valuable Ferrari cars being driven the way they were designed to be driven – on the track.

For more information about the Ferrari Challenge Dealer Team GB, please visit ferrari.co.uk. For more information about Ferrari’s Corse Clienti racing activities, which includes the Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge, the F1 Clienti and the FXX Programme, please visit: ferraricorseclienti.com