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GOODYEAR MARANELLO FERRARI CHALLENGE
Expensive Days………
Yet another excellent grid of 32 Ferraris turned up for the double-header at Castle Combe, with one qualifying session deciding both race grids.
The two F40s of Stuart Bowler and Peter Cook qualified quickest and the grid behind was not unexpected: the yellow "3 Series" of the Christopher brothers and Paul Ciardiello interspersed with the 512M of Alan Cosby and the Testarossa of Rory Fordyce.
Amongst the 'O' class Gary Culver (328GTB) turned in another excellent qualifying performance but Graham Reeder (F355) was lurking just behind.
Race 1
Bowler and Cook led away from the Christophers and Ciardiello, and began a contact-prone joust at the head of the field. Places swapped several times to the point where the Clerk of the Course hung out the black and white diagonal warning flag in an attempt at preventing further contact. All to no avail as the two bumped together at Old Paddock and Bowler spun down to sixth place, before recovering mightily to retrieve second, some 16 seconds in arrears at the finish. Andy and George Christopher took third and fourth, a long way ahead of the first 355 Challenge car, that of Marco Attard.
Attrition was high. David Ashburn (F355) and Mike Golding (F355/Ch) had heavy accidents, whilst Ciardiello, Marc Gachoud (F355/Ch), Cosby and Fordyce all retired with mechanical mishaps of varying severity.
Graham Reeder won the 'O' class from Gary Culver, just behind in his under-powered 328, and maintained his unbroken class winning record. He also finished an excellent sixth overall.
Race 2
Bowler made an indifferent start and it was the F40 of Peter Cook who took the lead. Bowler's subsequent chase was one of the features of the race and it took him 12 laps to catch and then force a way past Cook. Never more than a few lengths apart, the F40s thundered around until the final corner on the last lap, when Cook crashed heavily into the bank at undiminished speed, probably due to brake failure. The accident was violent and a rear wheel punched into a fuel tank, tearing the filler neck off. The ensuing conflagration was quickly doused by the marshals and the driver emerged unscathed.
Whilst Bowler took the win, Andy again led brother George Christopher home by the narrowest of margins, followed by Paul Ciardiello, who had borrowed Tony Winship's 308GTB for this race following the demise of his own engine in Race 1. Rory Fordyce brought his lurid-handling Testarossa into fifth, followed by a 355 Challenge train in the order of Pogson, Hetherington and Attard.
Graham Reeder did his usual fine job with a win in the 'O' class, again only narrowly ahead of Gary Culver, with Fred Moss (348tb) in third place.
Some excellent racing amongst the large field of Ferraris was overshadowed by an unusual amount of material damage but thankfully no-one was injured. A somewhat chastened crowd of Ferrari supporters gathered in the hospitality marquee afterwards to see Paul Ciardiello being presented with the Psygnosis Driver of the Day award for his outstanding race in Tony Winship's car from the back of the second grid to fourth place overall.
Click here to see the Qualifying Times and Race Results.
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